1989 Force 125 won't start unless manually holding throttle

MinnesotaLakes

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Jun 24, 2014
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I have a force 1989 Force 125 Inboard/Ouboard.

It will only start or idle if I manually move the throttle by a very small amount.

Such a small amount in fact, that if I shove a playing card in the space between the Cam Throttle and the screw at the end of the linkage, it will start and stay running.

Sorry for the poor description. I hope I'm using the correct terms :) I have attached a picture with the area circled in yellow.

When I have the throttle open a little, it starts immediately, without any issues and sounds great.

I can actually manually rev the throttle and it still sounds good, I just cannot get it to start as is.

It is worth metioning that it has sat in storage for 4-5 years without starting, and ran fine when it was put away.

All the old gas evaporated, so I'm wondering if a good place to start is cleaning the carbs?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Thanks,
 

Jiggz

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Oct 23, 2009
Messages
3,817
You might need to adjust the idle screw which is located on the bottom of the timing tower. You will need to loosen the locknut using a 7/16" open wrench and a flat tip screwdriver. Turn the screw clockwise to increase rpm and vice versa. Note, idle rpm in neutral on muffs should be around 800~1000 while idle in gear should be around 700~900 rpm. In addition, you need to make sure your idle mixture screw is set at 1~1 1/8 turn out from slightly seated. Of course, make sure the plugs are not fouled.
 

BlueFishCrisis

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Sep 7, 2010
Messages
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Clarify whether it will turn over or not without advancing the throttle. If it will not even turn over, the neutral safety switch will come into play. If it turns over but will not start, Jiggz procedure is in order.....
 

MinnesotaLakes

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Clarify whether it will turn over or not without advancing the throttle. If it will not even turn over, the neutral safety switch will come into play.
If it turns over but will not start, Jiggz procedure is in order.....
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It turns over very well, even without the throttle, it just does not start. While a friend is turning it over, if I just nudge the throttle a 1/16th of an inch it starts immediately.
 

foodfisher

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Feb 18, 2009
Messages
3,756
Is your friend turning it over by bypassing the neutral safety switch/jumping the solenoid. Edit: while I'm shooting my mouth off, does the neutral safety switch kill the spark?
 
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MinnesotaLakes

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Can I throw one more variable in there?

I have been playing around with it today, and I realized that the tower shaft does not move at all when working the shift lever, which is probably part of the issue. Even though I was giving it a little throttle at startup, it was not transferring that through to the linkage.

I disconnected the throttle cable, and the cable is definitely moving freely when shifting, so the cable is not the issue. However, I cannot move the tower shaft at all by hand when the boat is not running. Is this normal?

It looks like the top of the tower shaft is connected to something under the flywheel. Looking at the diagrams, it looks like it is connected to a trigger??? I'm not sure what that does, so I apologize if I don't sound very educated here :)

Anyway, should the tower shaft rotate by hand if the boat is not running? Should the trigger rotate somehow? Again, sorry to ask a dumb question. Thanks for your patience.
 

Jiggz

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Oct 23, 2009
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3,817
So have you tried adjusting the idle speed with the idle screw adjustment?
 

BlueFishCrisis

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Sep 7, 2010
Messages
96
Can I throw one more variable in there?

I have been playing around with it today, and I realized that the tower shaft does not move at all when working the shift lever, which is probably part of the issue. Even though I was giving it a little throttle at startup, it was not transferring that through to the linkage.

I disconnected the throttle cable, and the cable is definitely moving freely when shifting, so the cable is not the issue. However, I cannot move the tower shaft at all by hand when the boat is not running. Is this normal?

It looks like the top of the tower shaft is connected to something under the flywheel. Looking at the diagrams, it looks like it is connected to a trigger??? I'm not sure what that does, so I apologize if I don't sound very educated here :)

Anyway, should the tower shaft rotate by hand if the boat is not running? Should the trigger rotate somehow? Again, sorry to ask a dumb question. Thanks for your patience.
Are you saying the tower shaft NEVER moves throughout the entire travel of the throttle? The tower shaft should rotate when operating the shift lever (assuming combined shift and throttle controls). If it isn,t you need to look into the shift control itself. Moving the trigger advances the timing on the ignition. This in addition to opening the butterflies on the carbs is normal operation.
 
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