question on mercontrol mercury 50 controls

I have a 1972 glastron with a Mercury 50 outboard. I'm having problems getting full throttle out of the motor. If I take the throttle cable out the control box I can push/pull the throttle cable to get full motion of the distributor and thus fully opening and closing the carb/butterflies.<br /><br />With the throttle cable in the control box I can only get about 60% of the travel. I can adjust the throttle cable such that I get WOT, but the motor then idles way to high and won't even shift into gear.<br /><br />If I adjust the cable so that the engine idles where it should then I get no where near WOT, and the secondary pickup barely moves the pickup arm at all.<br /><br />I am at a total loss as to what the problem is and have spent more hours than I care to think about working on this.<br /><br />Is the shift linkage supposed to open the butterflies on the carb or something like that, or is it just the throttle cable that advances the timing and opens the butterflies?<br /><br />Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.<br /><br />thanks.<br /><br />If it helps here is a picture of what the control box looks like<br /> http://cwshosting.net/doug/mercontrol_control_box.jpg

Re: question on mercontrol mercury 50 controls

Quote "Is the shift linkage supposed to open the butterflies on the carb or something like that, or is it just the throttle cable that advances the timing and opens the butterflies?"<br />Its just the throttle cable that opens the butterflies and advances the timing.<br />Is this a new control? did this problem just happen or was it after servicing the motor? mabie you have the shift and throttle cables reversed?<br />Jon

Re: question on mercontrol mercury 50 controls

Hi jheron,<br /><br />thanks for the reply. The boat is new to me, since last year, and I've always had the problem.<br /><br />I have a manual for the motor so I'm pretty sure the cables are connected properly.

Re: question on mercontrol mercury 50 controls

Harry are you just useing the cold start lever for throttle if so put it in the idle position and shift the engine in gear and advance the throttle with the shift lever it also is for throttle--Bob

Re: question on mercontrol mercury 50 controls

Bob,<br /><br />You're my hero! I can't believe I've just been using the darn controls wrong the whole time and that's been the whole problem. <br /><br />Thank you very-very much for your feedback.