Controls Freezing

[FishHunt23]

I have a 1988 Evinrude 70 VRO on the back of my boat. I do a fair amount of cold weather fishing here in MN, which is possible even in sub-freezing temps on the river. My problem is that the shift/throttle control freezes when it gets too cold out. The problem is not in the control itself. There is apparently water either in the control cables themselves or in the motor.

Last year I actually broke two pieces inside the remote because I put too much pressure on it trying to control the boat. I got a used remote to replace it and installed the cables that came with it. Everything worked great until this winter when the same exact thing happened again. I broke the remote again (stupid, I know) and need to repair it one more time. The two pieces aren't available, of course, so I'm stuck looking on ebay and will likely have to buy a whole new remote.

So the cables aren't new, but they seem in good condition. Should I replace them with new?

I did go in the motor and take apart the main pivot point for the throttle. It was gunked up pretty good so I cleaned it up and put a light coat of grease on everything. That seemed to help, but I'm not sure I eliminated the problem.

I imagine that unless something is wrong (i.e. water somewhere) I should be able to shift and control the throttle at pretty much any temperature. Am I wrong about that?

Is there an updated control that I can retrofit that might work better?

I'm just wondering if anyone here has experienced a similar problem and has advice. Thank you.

John

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Controls Freezing

Hi John,
Chances are it is in the cables. Replacing with new is probably the only route to go, as your existing ones probably have a considerable amount of dampness in them. Not much at the motor end to freeze up, unless the lower unit has water in it, and then it wouldn't freeze with the unit IN the river unless the river itself was frozen. I had a steering cable that would freeze in the coldest of mornings for the same reason - dampness in the cable....
- Scott

 

[FishHunt23]

Re: Controls Freezing

That's probably all the encouragement I needed to replace the cables. I thought that it would be quite a coincidence that both sets of cables were bad, but maybe that's normal with older ones. New it is. Thank you.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Controls Freezing

they are stainless cables, even lubrication gets stiff in cold weather.

 

[F_R]

Re: Controls Freezing

Stuff rarely freezes here in FL, but controls get stiff anyway. I'm thinking the timer base mounting needs to be cleaned and re-lubed. Just a long-distance guess.