Throttle Cable Stretched??

[BB63QM]

75 Mercury 850

Symptom A: throttle was not returning to idle (distributor not resting on Idle Stop at idle and if side throttle engaged, RPM went up but then not down when returned flat.
Symptom B: the unthreaded brass section of the throttle cable is more than that of the shift cable.
Symptom C: when disconnected, the engine side of the cable moves in and out of the black sleeve a tiny bit, and there are lines in the grease potentially indicating past movement.

See pics

Am I right and is there anything to do other than to replace?

 

[Davetowz]

There is no repair for cable issues. Just replace. and if 1 cable has issues, I replace both at same time.

 

[BB63QM]

75 Mercury 850

Symptom A: throttle was not returning to idle (distributor not resting on Idle Stop at idle and if side throttle engaged, RPM went up but then not down when returned flat.
Symptom B: the unthreaded brass section of the throttle cable is more than that of the shift cable.
Symptom C: when disconnected, the engine side of the cable moves in and out of the black sleeve a tiny bit, and there are lines in the grease potentially indicating past movement.

See pics

Am I right and is there anything to do other than to replace?

There is no repair for cable issues. Just replace. and if 1 cable has issues, I replace both at same time.

Thanks. So, I’m assuming that my observations are indeed meaning that the cable is stretched (and not just a different cable that looked slightly different together with some other cause?