Motor stuck in high RPM.

[iggyw1]

Hi guys, I am having an issue with my control box or the throttle cable. I have a 70 H.P Johnson outboard, 1982 model year. Runs fantastic. Has a cold start lever on the control box and one lever for gas and hears (F, N, R) Lately, the cold start lever is coming up when I throttle back off the gas to put it in neutral. I have to push that lever back down before I put her in neutral or it will be too many RPM's in neutral. Control box is an OMC model

Now, the situation got worse today. I took the box apart and greased everything up and tightened the loose screws and such. Everything went back together as it was, no problem. But now, I can give it gas with no problems at all. The throttle on the motor is moving giving the motor more gas, however, when I pull back on the throttle lever now, the throttle on the motor will not go back. It will move ok if I move the throttle linkage with my hand at the motor, but not with the cable from the throttle handle. It happens every time now when I give it the gas, and that cold start lever is still popping up. I can push it back down before I put her in neutral, yet the throttle is stuck at the motor pretty high RPM's until I again close the throttle with my hand at the motor. The cables are only two years old. What can the problem be? Thanks!

 

[alldodge]

Sounds like something isn't installed correctly, or is so worn that it needs replaced. They do wear out but recheck the installation

 

[iggyw1]

Sounds like something isn't installed correctly, or is so worn that it needs replaced. They do wear out but recheck the installation

I went over everything again today. Disconnected the cable from motor end and the control end. Cable moves freely both ends. The throttle on the motor moved freely by hand without the cable attached. I inspected all parts inside of the box and everything looks great. Put it all back together, and I can give it gas with no problem, but when I back off on the throttle, the throttle on the motor only closed about 1/2 way while the throttle handle close 100% at the control. I then have to push back on the throttle at the motor end that the cable is suppose to be moving. When I back off on the gas at the control box with the handle, I was watching the bends on the cable to see if cable was moving on the outside somewhere and it is not moving except just the insides of the cable.\

One more fact that may help someone to help me: When I hooked up the cable at the motor end, and left the cable disconnected at the control box, I could work the cable by hand and it is closing the throttle on the motor with no problem, but that stops when I attach the cable inside the control box. I do not see any adjustment at the control box end for the cable, but I do see one at the motor end, and I made the adjustment the right way and turned to the end of the threads, again, in the correct direction. This has me baffled??? If I was sure a new control box would fix it, I would not hesitate to install one, but I do not want to spend a lot of money on one if it will not help me out!
Thanks!

 

[alldodge]

The control box is a simple item, one cable moves enough to shift, the other moves more to control throttle. You wouldn't happen to have swapped the cables?

 

[iggyw1]

The control box is a simple item, one cable moves enough to shift, the other moves more to control throttle. You wouldn't happen to have swapped the cables?

No, I did not swap the cables. But more info that will maybe help out here. I took the box apart yet another time today. Again, disconnected the cable from the arm inside the box (fuel cable). It moves quite freely by hand, and I saw how far it must move inside the box for the throttle on the motor to be closed all the way to idle. I put the box together, opened the throttle 100% (without engine running) and pulled back all the way into neutral. Took the box apart before I touched anything else, and saw that the cable is not pulled all the way out by the handle. There is no adjustment that I can see for this inside of the control box. Am I missing something here? When I took it apart and saw this, I again pulled the cable out all the way by hand while it was still attached to the arm with no problem. Seems the problem is in the box for sure, and has something to do with the control arm inside not pulling the cable back all the way.

The plastic wheel adjuster at the motor end has no more threads left for any further adjustment at that end. If I turn the wheel (adjuster) the other way, the throttle starts to move into the "opening" position, and I know I do not want that. I cannot get it to my boat mechanic until June 22, and I need the boat for fishing a few times before then. My buddy can be stationed at the rear of the boat with the cover off of the motor to work that throttle by hand if need be, but its too dangerous to me to operate any boat under those conditions.

 

[iggyw1]

All Dodge, Thanks for your input on my problem, but I have it fixed. The original problem (reason I took it off in the first place) was the screws were loose on the inside, especially the one on the fast speed idle. I finally discovered after some really thorough investigating when I had the box off and apart, the cable was not allowing the throttle control handle to move all the was back because of the angle I had the box on when I re-mounted it. There are so many holes in the side wall behind the control box that there is no way to know which two to use. I had the box level on the wall, and the back end of it actually needs to be tilted up for the cable to be moved 100% towards the front of the box when you pull the handle back. I only had to raise the rear of the control box about 3/8" higher than the front of it, and it is fine now, and it did not effect the cable for the gears.

I don't know if it was designed to be mounted on this little angle or not, but it works. The motor and controls are from 1982, so it could be that is was made that way. LOL As long as it is working!!!
Thanks again for all of your help ! Iggy

edit: I hope you can understand what I mean here AllDodge. When I mounted the box level, the rear end of the cable would hit the bottom of the box and that would stop the cable from any further travel. When I tilted the rear end up, it changed the angle on the cable so it would not hit the bottom of the control box at the rear end, and this freed up the movement of the cable.

 

[alldodge]

Thanks for updating, and I understand what your saying and glad to hear its working correctly. My only concern is it took a small change in angle to get it working correctly, I hope it won't stop some time in the future. Since the cable would contact the bottom of the box at one angle and not another gives me cause to think the bushing which holds the control levers is worn. So it has some slop so to speak.

Either way hope it continues to work for many years to come.

 

[iggyw1]

Thanks for updating, and I understand what your saying and glad to hear its working correctly. My only concern is it took a small change in angle to get it working correctly, I hope it won't stop some time in the future. Since the cable would contact the bottom of the box at one angle and not another gives me cause to think the bushing which holds the control levers is worn. So it has some slop so to speak.

Either way hope it continues to work for many years to come.

Thanks again. I do not see anything that is worn out. It was just the cable that had just enough bend to it (kinked) when it pushed against the bottom of the control box inside. I am going to keep my towing insurance while on Lake St Clair here in Michigan just in case! LOL Have a great summer!

 

[iggyw1]

UPDATE: 6-11-16 I tried it out on our lake and things were perfect! I actually had to take the cover off of the motor and adjust the plastic wheel on the throttle cable to idle a bit faster. I had the adjustment all the way to the end of the threads on the cable and the idle was too slow, so I adjusted the idle to normal and all is well now.

 

[alldodge]

You should use the throttle cable to adjust the idle, should use the idle screw

Readjusting the cable after the adjustment screw should be used to match