1974 Starcraft Holiday with an 88 Evinrude 40. Been on or near salt water for a dozen years. Family isn't big on maintenance, I brought it home to replace the windshield and get a moorage cover made. Thought I'd do the right thing and lube all the usual spots: steering pivots, tilt tube, shift/throttle cable linkages. I replaced the old spring and wire steering 6 years ago with Uflex cable, has been working fine. Decided to smear a film of grease on the cable end at the tilt tube. Worked it back and forth a few times and then moved on to other work. An hour later I wanted to move the engine to one side and found the steering was now completely seized up solid. Disconnected the linkage from the motor; the cable is frozen in the tilt tube. Had to hammer it out with a drift pin, needed to remove engine mount bolts and move it sideways to get the cable out of the tilt tube. Cable continues to operate freely, but is not a good fit into the tilt tube. There appears to be some kind of rust/grease emulsion in there that has set into a clay-like compound. Anyone seen this before? And if so, how do I remove it and return my steering setup to its former reliability? I'm baffled that lubrication had caused something to seize.
