Throttle starts to open at lever halfway down, no WOT

[mn_ross]

I'm new to outboards and haven't been able to find anything online about this specific problem. The motor has had a tune up and runs fine so let's rule out dead cylinders, etc. for now. The motor shifts into gear just fine but then the throttle lever (see how new I am...don't even know what to rightly call it) doesn't "catch" until about halfway down. The RPMs increase as soon as I feel resistance in the lever (which, again, is about halfway down). When the lever is all the way to the stop, the motor only sounds like it's at about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle. I can't plane out and my little tri-hull maxes out at about maximum wake speed.

This all leads me to believe it's something in either the control box, the cable itself, or the throttle control in the outboard. I could barely even figure out which cable was which when I took off the motor cover, so I admit my ignorance up to this point. Don't want to pay someone to fix it with only a couple weeks left of good boating weather here in MN. Any ideas/advice?

 

[Cap'nHandy]

Sounds like the little roller for the throttle linkage is AWOL, or you need a link-n-sync. Pull the cowling, and take a look at where the throttle arm start to engage the little roller. If there is a big gap, then either - it came way out of adjustment, or there is frequently a small nylon roller cover, and if that came off, or broke, then you have far too much space there. When you are in neutral and idle - the little roller should be just barely touch the cam at the point marked "mark". When you put it in gear, and start to move the thottle down, the cam moves the roller, which proceeds to open the butterflies in the carb, and also advances the timing.

Search threads here or google for how to do a link and sync. Not really hard at all. Plenty of photos and instructions out there. Look at how the throttle engages, and you will likely see the problem. Added an image This is an image of an OMC triple - many others are somewhat similar.

Blaine

 

[emdsapmgr]

Would be helpful to know what engine you are working on. Pls post the model #. (4-stroke, carb motor, fuel injected?)