87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

[casper114]

I am a newbee at the boating thing, but i purchased an 87 thunderbolt with an 87 70hp johnson outboard motor, and the fist time i took it out on the water and pushed the throttle forward i started spinning around in circles becase it would only go in reverse! so i pushed the throttle in reverse and it still only went in reverse, this is a very frustrating problem and i don't know where to begin. Any advice would be great!

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

First of all, welcome!<br /><br />Lets see....... do you have neutral or is it stuck in reverse? What kind of and brand controls?

 

[casper114]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

 

[casper114]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

yes i have a neutral, and it idles just fine, and when i pull my warmup lever it starts up great, but i really don't know the brand of controls it's just a stick with a button on the botton of the handle that you press in to shift into forward and backward, it shifts fine, i guess but it only shifts into reverse no matter which way i push or pull the throttle

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

This may sound far fetched but its almost as if the cables are crossed. When you push in the button, that should allow you to rev up the motor without going in gear.

 

[casper114]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

yea i thought that to but if they were crossed shouldn't it go forward when i press reverse? it does rev up when i pull on the warmup lever, but just pressing the button on the bottom of the handle enables the lever to controll the cables inside the little box that the cables are in

 

[Bass Runner]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

My control has a lock to keep it in neutral, im with you sounds like the throttle is hooked to the gear shift

 

[casper114]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

there are 2 cables going into the box that the throttle lever is mounted into, both cables pull the same thing on the side of the engine when i try forward or reverse. should one of the cables be pulling a different pulley on the motor or something like that?

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 87 johnson 70 hp goes reverse when throttle is pushed forward

What I think may be happening is that the cable thats hookes to the throttle side of the control may be hooked up to the shift on the motor.<br /><br />The throttle side of the control always pushes from a neutral position. If that cable was hooked to the shift linkage, it would always try to go in reverse. <br /><br />Unhook the cables from the motor. Put the control in neutral. The handle should be slightly back of center. Now look at the cables.<br /><br />The cable thats fully retracted is the throttle. The shift cable should be in the center of its travel.