Outboard Problems Help

[Bferguson]

Hello, I have a 2005 bass tracker pro team 175 with a 50hp mercury. Everything was running fine last fall and I winterized the boat for winter. Last week I took the boat out for the first time and the motor started up just fine. I went for a 2-3 minute run and when I came to my spot to fish I pulled back the throttle but the outboard kept running at full rpm's. I ended up having to turn off the ignition and upon restarting the motor it went straight to max rpm's with the throttle being in the neutral position. I tried restarting a few times but with each try, the same thing happened. I then with the motor off, push the throttle back and forth several times and then restarted the motor. This time it ran at normal idle rpm's but with a rough idle. For the rest of evening, I never had the over revving problem but another issue occurred. After making a run, I would back down the throttle but the motor wouldn't go below 2500 rpm's. I was then forced to shut off the engine to come to a stop. The throttle would get very hard to move back to give the outboard less throttle, resulting in the outboard not being able to go below 2500 rpm's. After shutting down the motor, it would then allow me to move the throttle lever as you normally would be able too. 

 

Sorry for the long post and I hope this all makes sense (as I'm not much of a mechanic.) I hope you all can help me out. Thanks!

[rboat]

I am not a mechanic, but I'm sure one will be along here shortly. I would first inspect the entire length of your throttle cable. Over the winter, small furry rodents love to chew on cables. Second check that the cable is properly connected to the throttle arm on the engine and that area is lubed and not binding. I would also spray some light oil on the ends of the throttle cable where it enters and exits the covering or sleeve. Sorry that's all I got. Good luck with correcting this problem.

[Bferguson]

11 hours ago, rboat said:

I am not a mechanic, but I'm sure one will be along here shortly. I would first inspect the entire length of your throttle cable. Over the winter, small furry rodents love to chew on cables. Second check that the cable is properly connected to the throttle arm on the engine and that area is lubed and not binding. I would also spray some light oil on the ends of the throttle cable where it enters and exits the covering or sleeve. Sorry that's all I got. Good luck with correcting this problem.

 

Thanks for the reply. I will pull the covers back and check the line.

[sully420]

I am also thinking it has something to do with your throttling cables/linkages 

[thomas15]

I assume you have the 2005 ELPTO 2-cycle 3 carb outboard. Make sure that the throttle butterflies are opening and closing properly and that there isn't anything in the carb throats that don't belong there.  All three carbs should be in sync and the linkages smooth operating. The little plastic connectors that hold the linkages into the bushings do wear out.