Amount Of Travel In The Throttle Cable

[Prairie Dog]

My motor is a 1982 90HP.
I'm looking at the throttle cable where is joins onto the motor. There is a long white plastic fitting that slides along a brass rod. When I operate the control lever at the front of the boat through its full range of motion, the white plastic fitting at the back only moves 5/8 of an inch along the brass rod. As a result, the throttle lever on the motor is not advancing a lot. Shouldn't my throttle cable be causing the white plastic fitting to move further?

 

[Joe Reeves]

That's normally caused by sideways play of the inner steel cable within the tubing. If a unusually long cable, the play will be excessive and may require that the cable be secured so that it cannot move about.

The problem may also be caused by a faulty control box mechanism... disconnect the cable from the engine momentarily, grab hold of the long white plastic fitting, push/pull that fitting to see how much play there is while observing the control handle of the box. Should there be more than 3/16" or so (very little), that will bear investigating.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Disconnected from the motor there is about 1/4 inch of free play in the white plastic fitting.
The cable is very long. There is about four feet of extra cable in a single coil in front of the transom and it is clamped down. Would a shorter cable give me better movement at the motor end?Also, the cable looks to be fairly old, would a new cable give me better movement at the motor end?

 

[Joe Reeves]

The coil you speak of at the engine is required in order for the engine to turn in both directions without kinking/breaking.

Without actually being there, it is difficult to say where the problem lays... BUT... to have the control handle move it's full length only to have the engine's end to move only 5/8" is ridiculous. Other than gambling on a new cable, I would suggest the same push/pull test as above BUT to have the control box handle in the forward gear position which should show up any excess play within the control box if it exists.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Did the push/pull test with the control box handle in forward gear and there's still only 5/16 of play in the cable.I'm stumped, why is the white plastic connector only moving 5/8 of an inch along the brass rod? ? How much should it move along the brass rod?

 

[Prairie Dog]

Problem resolved. I removed the cable from the boat completely. Pushing or pulling on either end, the inner cable only travels about an inch before it binds up tight. Time for a new cable.