mercontrol has me puzzled as well

[jwilkey84]

I have a 1958 merc 58A 45hp engine but the Johnson controls that were with it had one of the control knobs/levers broken off. Since then I have got mercontrol box and hooked it up to the engine, but I cant seem to get it fine tuned. I understand that the flat lever on the side is for cold starts, but we have been using the big lever to shift with and then using the cold start lever as the throttle. I know this is not correct, but I don't know how to hook up the cables so that they work together to both shift and run the throttle at the same time. It is almost like the cable won't physically move far enough to open my throttle wide open. The cable only moves about 3/4" but I need it to move about 2 3/4" so my throttle moves from idle to wide open. We have been on the lake once using the shift lever to shift and then using a hammer to operate the throttle at the engine. It really is redneck, but we just want this boat to work. Any help would be nice, maybe this control box won't work with this engine, is that a possibility?

 

[Texasmark]

Re: mercontrol has me puzzled as well

Let's start at the engine. Remove the cables from it and move the levers (throttle and shifter) thru their positions being careful when going to R to rotate the prop (by hand) so that the cogs will line up.....don't force it into R. Run the throttle lever from idle thru WOT positions. Remember , or mark their movement and positions.

Now you know what the remotes are supposed to do. So I'd correct them before re-attaching to the engine.

The fast idle lever is just that. It moves your throttle cable without affecting your shifting cable. So, with the shifter in N, raise and lower your fast idle and note the throttle cable (end) movement at the engine.

I'm assuming you have a single lever remote as the dual levers didn't have fast idle.

When you put the single lever in F or R, (without adavancing, just shifting) you should see the end of the shifter cable move as far as the shift lever on the engine moved when you did it by hand.

The shift-throttle lever is connected to both cables. As soon as the shifter cable end stops moving, the throttle cable end should start moving and extend the same distance that the throttle lever (on the engine) moved when you moved it by hand.

If what I said isn't happening, I'd dismantle the controller and see why....and be sure and get the correct cable on the corresponding lever.

Need more, ask.

Mark

 

[Texasmark]

Re: mercontrol has me puzzled as well

Didn't mention it, but it goes without saying, after you have shifted into gear, to get the throttle cable end to move you have to advance the shift/throttle lever (not the fast idle). WOT should place the end of that lever at about the 8 o'clock position in F and 4 o'clock position in R when viewed facing the side of the control box.

Mark

 

[diaric]

Re: mercontrol has me puzzled as well

when you shift the throttle lever forward, does the fast idle lever try to move up a bit with it? if this is happening, the throttle lever will jam up on you after it engauges gear and you won't get any throttle except the way your decribing. there is a post somewhere on this site for fixing that occurance.