Stiff Throttle Control

C

carver 2557

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Shifter=Single lever Quicksilver..

There is a neutral button that does not allow the boat to go into gear. When throttle only the lever is normal. When in gear the lever is very stiff.

Any thoughts or ideas?...
 
Then the shift cable or cableS is/are sticky. There are two push/pull cables. One is Throttle and
the other is Shift.

What is this Control controlling? A MerCruiser stern drive? If so, Alpha or Bravo? Which year?

Or an Inboard? If so, what gearbox?

When you overcome the stiffness, does it shift well?

What happens coming OUT of gear?

Same action and results into and out of Forward, into and out of Reverse?

These questions are based on a problem with the shift CABLE. The single lever control head cleverly figures out how to engage shift then allow throttle only in the gear selected. I suppose it's possible for the select part to get bound up. It was very common in OMC single lever controls for a little nylon plastic camlike gear sector to round a tooth off. At that point the boat simply would not go into gear. I even carried a spare cam and the couple Allen wrenched it took to change it.

So another question would be - How does it act as throttle once it's in gear?
 
I think on your boat it has a momentary ignition stall as in microseconds that interupts the engines power enough to go into gear. Check that circuit it is electronic. That is if you have a 25 Sunray like my old original boat with a single V8 and outdrive.
Bill
 
Actually OUT of gear if it's a MerC Alpha I/O...
If it's any MerC I/O then:
Two cables out of the helm control as noted above. One throttle to the carb or throttle body. Other to a Shift Plate where that Interrupt Switch would be. In MerC terms, it's the Upper Shift Cable.
Then a third cable from the Shift Plate down to the outdrive itself.
Troubleshooting stiffness would be to disconnect Upper from Shift Plate. Throttle should do all funtions effortlessly, Throttle Only button pressed or not. If that test fails, and it was OK with the button pressed, then Upper Shift Cable sticky --OR-- problem in Helm Control. If effortless either way, disconnect Lower Shift Cable from Shift Plate and try to shift by push/pulling on the Lower Shift Cable. Should have assistant rotating the prop so it'll fall into gear when it needs to.
Problem I see here is if it's as stiff as stated, I think the Interrupt Switch would kill the engine going into or out of gear. As I said, should only operate coming OUT of gear. And only with a prop installed and in the water. All it does is see if the force needed to shift gears exceeds the tension of a Forward and a Reverse spring on the Shift Plate. That should only happen coming OUT of gear IN water. That's when torque against the gear engagement is so great that the operator couldn't pull it out of gear. The Interrupt Switch causes a miss at that point to lower the torque. If the shift mechanism is sticky from Shift Plate on down, 95% of the time Lower Shift Cable, then the Interrupt will work when it doesn't need to and the engine will quit or not start.
 
I started doing the above testing..I looked at all the mechanisms, what I call (push rods). and put a bit of oil on all of them and the throttle got a whole lot easier..Cheap fix this time...
 
The next time you have the drive off check the shift shaft in the bell housing. Mine was shifting hard 2 years after I installed a new lower shift cable. My shaft was dirty above the shaft seal because the seal leaked. I replaced the seal, cleaned and greased the shaft and now it shifts like butter.
 
Ours had to have that shift shaft re-work a couple years ago too. This shaft is the one that the shift rod end on the lower unit engages with. The one that lines up correctly for reassembly when you take the lower unit off and put it back with both shifter and gearcase in Forward Gear.
 
just had the same problem today. throttle was stiff and would'nt go in foward. hope i didn't do any damage. i was getting a knocking sound out of the outdrive when i tryed to engage.i had reverse so i had to go back to the dock that way.i took the boat to my mechanic. see what he finds.
 
quote:
Originally posted by j-d

Ours had to have that shift shaft re-work a couple years ago too. This shaft is the one that the shift rod end on the lower unit engages with. The one that lines up correctly for reassembly when you take the lower unit off and put it back with both shifter and gearcase in Forward Gear.

Click to expand...

That's the one.
 
Oh Wayne, you are leaving yourself open to an inappropriate comment! I won't say it; I won't say it; I won't say it; I won't say it; I won't say it; I won't say it.
 
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