2001 Merc. 40hp - fast idle

jclark

Cadet
Joined
May 15, 2007
Messages
7
well, I'm not sure what I need to adjust. I opened up the motor with the intent of adjusting the idle screw. But I noticed a few things that made me question if this was the right approach.

idler-arm.jpg


With the throttle in the idle position, the rubber stop (blue arrow) is about 3/16" from contacting the stop pad (red arrow). When I rotate the screw (green arrow) up, the rubber stop moves back and makes contact with the stop pad and the idle goes down to around 900rpm. (current idle is 1500rpm)

Then I moved the throttle forward and brought it back to idle. Same thing, the rubber stop is 3/16" away from the stop pad.

I checked the cable lines and everything is free to move with no tight turns or kinks.

At first I thought I could adjust the throttle cable, but after doing some searching around here on iBoats I don't this is the right thing.

thanks for any help,
-john
 

WillyBWright

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Dec 29, 2003
Messages
8,200
Re: 2001 Merc. 40hp - fast idle

Adjust the cable so that the rubber stop bottoms out. I believe the screw is a full throttle stop to prevent strain on the mechanism. That would be adjusted so that the throttle butterfly opens just shy of locking to prevent it from sticking wide open.
 

jclark

Cadet
Joined
May 15, 2007
Messages
7
Re: 2001 Merc. 40hp - fast idle

How do you adjust this type of cable? The strange thing is that it is a push/pull cable. The cable comes into the motor and hooks up to the lever. But the cable is not fastened or held in any other place. :confused:

thanks,
-john
 

jclark

Cadet
Joined
May 15, 2007
Messages
7
Re: 2001 Merc. 40hp - fast idle

Thank you WillyBWright.

I found the stationary point of the cable and made the adjustment. It took me 2 trys (I didn't want to go to much, to soon) and now my idle is 900rpm.

This site rocks. :cool: Thank you.
 
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