New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

[snlgraham]

Well I bit the bullet and got help from a pro(I think). Took my boat in and they got me back up and running. One of the things that I screwed up in my tinkering was the throttle cable. Between my messing with it and poor instalation by someone before me, it needed to be replaced. The lake finaly opened today and I took it for a spin. It ran great! But when I was idling into the dock I had a hard time getting nuetral. It went straight into reverse. I tried going back to neutral and it went into forward. Nearly ran the thing on top of the dock!
Is it normal for a cable to need adjustment after it has just been installed? Is this an easy job that the shop should have got right the first time? I am planing on taking it back to this shop to have them look at it, but am a bit uneasy. Not sure if I can trust them. Any pros out there that can offer some unbiased advise? This is an old boat that was of average build quality in the first place and I know things can go wrong with it. Am I being to quick to judge?
My boat is a 1980 Baretta 16ft with a 140 mercruiser.

 

[Bondo]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

While it May be related to your earlier Issues,......

It Sounds like the Shift-Interupt Switch isn't working........
It's the little Do-Dad where the 2 Shift Cables come together on the side/top of the engine.......
Check to see if the wires are hooked up on it,.....
1 comes from the Coil,+ the Other goes to Ground......

 

[snlgraham]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

Thanks Bondo, I will check it out when I get off work today. That cut off switch has caused me problems before. Before it was cutting out all the time. I had a heck of a time trying to figure out why I had only little spark.
Should my tech have been able to fix this when he installed the throttle cable at his shop? Or should I just expect this sort of thing with an old boat?

 

[Bondo]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

Should my tech have been able to fix this when he installed the throttle cable at his shop?

The Actual Issue you describe is Usually caused by the Lower Shift Cable being Bad,.........
Whether your Tech stumbled onto it or Not,.... really has little or nothing to do with the Throttle Cable........

And,..... No,...... Even Old boats are Repairable...........

 

[firstcoastmarineservices]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

The Actual Issue you describe is Usually caused by the Lower Shift Cable being Bad,.........
Whether your Tech stumbled onto it or Not,.... really has little or nothing to do with the Throttle Cable........

And,..... No,...... Even Old boats are Repairable...........

i totally agree with Bond-o,
also if the tech only ran the engine on a flusher sometimes shift problems will not show up like that.i would take it back in and describe what happened and they should be able to correct that problem.

I had a hard time getting neutral. It went straight into reverse. I tried going back to neutral and it went into forward

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

Just remember that on a hose there is no torque on the prop and the interupter may not be operating, can be checked for operation on land by tripping the switch and having the motor stumble or die.a bad lower shift cable can cause very hard shifing and trouble getting into "N" easily.

 

[snlgraham]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

Thanks guys for the sage advise. This is the reason I come here.
Next week I will be fitting my boat with the new cover I made and will have to pull it out of the water. I will take it down to the boat shop then. I'm sure my tech will be able to fix it.
Thanks again

 

[bruceb58]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

Let's see a picture of your cover. I know you were talking about making it last summer.

 

[snlgraham]

Re: New throttle cable....should it need adjustment?

Wow Bruce, that is quite a memory.
When I finish fitting the cover I will start a new thread and share some of the stuff I learned. Thanks for remembering