Throttle Question

[Brandon]

Now that it is about to be cold here in North Carolina, I am going to close her down for the winter here pretty soon, so now is time to fix something that I didnt want to fix in the summer, my throttle is incredibly hard to push up, I have to sit down in order to push it and my wife is unable to drive it because it is so tight and difficult to move. could anyone shed some light on this for me, Ive tried to adjust it I just dont have the knowledge of this particular part of the boat to go messing around with it.
Is this the way it is designed to be? Surely to God its not. I can adjust the throttle sensitivty but it pretty much does nothing.

[Bamby]

Remove both the throttle and shift cable from the engine and then move the control forward and backward to see how it feels...it should be smooth and easy. If it is not, look behind the dash and see if the cables have at least two feet of free space to exit straight out the back of the control. Make sure the cables HAVE NOT been tied wrapped to anything that is restricting their movement. If all the above seem OK the Friction adjustment screw is under the control plastic cover...make your adjustments a quarter turn at a time.

If the control seems OK, then try shifting the engine (with it running and at idle) by hand to see how much effort it takes. Work the throttle as well, but never exceed 2,000-RPM on a hose with no load on the engine. If you feel things are too tight back at the motor you may want to take it back to the dealer. Something is not right. Make sure the engine is idling no faster than 800-RPM in neutral.

[GregF]

You can disconnect the cable at the helm to see if it is the cable or the controller but usually you can tell because there will be a little wink of lost motion in the controller before you start moving the cable. If it is just tight, it might be the friction adjustment or the controller bound up.

[Brandon]

Thank you for your input, The Friction adjuster I have adjusted several times throughout the summer, it made no difference at all.

[GregF]

Is this the shift part or the throttle? (is the fast idle hard to move too?)

Does the throttle ease up once you are in gear?

If so and it is a shift problem, there is a known problem with "classic" mercs. The bushing on the shift shaft going down to the foot binds up.
You will know when you take the cables off on the engine end and test it.
There are a few fixes but the best one seems to be to carefully heat the shaft and move it until it frees up. The bushing is plastic and you are just wallowing out the hole a little bigger. (a dealer trick)
A little dab will do you. Don't go nuts with the torch. Splash it with the hose when it frees up.

If it is really a cable problem be sure there are no sharp bends. Pull it out straight and see if it still binds not connected to the motor.

You can take the bottom plate off the helm end to detach the cable there. These should move easily when they are free.

BEFORE you remove the cable from the engine end, mark both sides of the threaded lug with a Sharpie pen so you can get it back where it was,

[walter]

Not to change the subject but, I don't have a problem moving the throttle it actually will not stay if I take my hand off the throttle once I get at cruising speed. If I take my hand off the throttle will back off. Several mentioned a Friction screw, I have looked under the throttle cover and I did not see any screw, can someone tell me where or how to find it, this drives me nuts every time. Do I need to take something else off besides the cover? I have the Mercury throttle.

[GregF]

Several mentioned a Friction screw

If you have the commander 2000 it is the thumb screw right in front

[ROLAND]

Not to change the subject but, I don't have a problem moving the throttle it actually will not stay if I take my hand off the throttle once I get at cruising speed. If I take my hand off the throttle will back off. Several mentioned a Friction screw, I have looked under the throttle cover and I did not see any screw, can someone tell me where or how to find it, this drives me nuts every time. Do I need to take something else off besides the cover? I have the Mercury throttle.

Hi Walter, it's your old transplanted granite city buddy... I had the same problem with my throttle when I first got my boat... push the throttle forward, let it go and it would back way off. I took the boat in for the 10 hour service and mentioned this problem to them and was told some b.s. that it was a safety thing, and it was supposed to do that. Well my son has the same brand boat and motor that I have and his didn't do that, so I told the service dept. guy that he was feeding me a load of crap. He told me it could be adjusted with the friction screw and when I got the boat back, they had tightened it so it's fine now. On my yamaha I believe the friction screw is on the front side of the throttle lever assembly. Not sure where it is on a merc...

[walter]

Greg, thanks but mine doesn't look like that style at all, took another look today and under the cover there's nothing, no screws at all. Look from within the console where the cables and wires come in, again nothing, no screws. I'll either try to take a picture or find out what style it is.

[GregF]

If you have the 4000, Mercury says the friction is factory set. I suppose that means you can't change it.

[Brandon]

Greg thank you for your response and sorry it took me so long to get back to you, have not been on the computer in a few days, I work for an elected Official and ive been busy trying to make sure no Democraps win.

Anyways back to your question to me, no the idle adjuster is not hard to move up at all, and the throttle moves easily all the way up until you get the handle almost directly above the throttle body. However, you can move the throttle arm from nuetral to almost is " top speed" before the prop even spins.

For the sake of not being able to show you lets say Nuetral is 0% and Top Speed position is 100%

0-75% Throttle arms moves easily and freely, however propeller does not spin
75-100% Throttle is extremely hard to move, my wife does not have enough strength to do so.
75%-100% Is all the throttle I get in order to put the boat in motion, but does not effect overall top speed.

**Sidenote** It is not the same in Reverse, I mean I still get nothing between 0-75% but it not hard to move in Reverse what so ever. I hope all of that makes sense, I will try a different approach if not.


Also I dont know what is normal but the Throttle Friction adjuster does absolutely nothing, as if its not even connected to anything, when I turn it, it is very easily moved like it is just freely hanging there.

[GregF]

When do you hear it shift into gear in that 0-100% range? That should be the first thing that happens, then you start advancing the throttle. It might be 50-70% of the total motion before you start moving the throttle, depending on which controller you have. It still sounds like a bound up cable. You can disconnect it at the motor and the controller to isolate the problem. With it disconnected at both ends you should be able to move the cable easily by hand.

[Brandon]

The engine shifts into gear right after I take it out of nuetral, but doesnt nothing until 75-100 range.

Say the cable it bound up, and I disconnect it from the engine, from this point on how do I know where the problem is, what exactly am I looking for, You will have to tell me like im 6 because I really have no idea what you are talking about, Ive never looked for the cable so Im flying blind on this one, but im sure once I see it, what you are telling me will make sense.

[GregF]

If you disconnect at the engine and it is still stiff the engine is OK and you start looking back toward the controller. Then you disconnect at the controller to break that tie. My guess is it is the cable. You might be able to reroute it and make it better but sometimes it is just rust in the jacket itself that binds up the cable.Pontoons are tough since the cables run under the boat where they get wet all the time.
I sleeved my steering cable with Smurf tube (blue electrical conduit) to make it last longer. That seems to work.