1987 225 Evenrude won't go wide open in forward

[crowebar]

Last weekend we used the boat and it ran perfectly until halfway through our last day. I had just got done with a ski run and we had decided to drive up river. When I opened it up it would only run at about 1/2 throttle and wouldn't plane out. I stopped it and put it in reverse and opened it up and it felt like 100%. When I went back to forward, same trouble. I popped it back in reverse and it was as strong as ever. I tilted the motor up and the prop looked great. I tried it again still no change but on the 4th try the motor took off and ran ran perfect like nothing ever happened. It was fine the rest of the day. Any ideas? I had it do something like this last year and had to replace one of the power packs. Could the other one be going out?
Thanks,
DC

 

[crowebar]

Re: 1987 225 Evenrude won't go wide open in forward

Here is a follow up in case anyone searches this post and is curious of the outcome.

I figured it out. A bolt from the crankcase head and bearing assembly plate had come out and jammed itself in the throttle linkage temporarily. Eventually it fell out of the linkage and gave me full throttle range again. The interesting thing is that on further inspection every bolt was either backed out halfway or missing completely from the crankcase head and bearing assembly plate, all 8 of them! I found most of them laying in the bottom of the engine housing and put them all back in and tightened them. I ran the boat yesterday and it was much stronger out of the hole and had better top end. It felt like a new motor! I?ll bet I was loosing crankcase pressure from the loose plate, I could see oil leaking between the plate and the case all the way around the plate. Guess I'm pretty lucky I didn't destroy the motor before it was too late.