Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Throttle/shift cable issues – sorry so long
tswanson.
Well yesterday if something could have gone wrong it did! Put a hook through my foot…Was not happy about that! A mouse or chipmonk decided to get in my cat and help itself to the BassCat hand towels, and hind corn all over the deck…Got the Cat on the water and ran it to the other side of the lake for the tourny (here is where I need help) I approached the No Wake zone started bringing the boat down off plane, I was completely OFF the thottle (hotfoot) and the boat would NOT come off plane I ended up going through the no wake zone and had to make a circle and get out of there. Once I got the boat off plane it was idling about 3-4k So I was still making good wake. Than the throttle arm would NOT go into Neutral….The only way to STOP the Cat was to pull kill switch or turn off key with boat still in gear…than I would have to work/pull/loose my temper and the throttle arm would finally go into the Neutral positition….Than when I would start the engine it would run the RPMs to 4k as if you were standing on the throttle! I pulled the hotfoot back to make sure it was not sticking. Heres whats happening: I dont know if I just need to make a few adjustments or if it needs to go in the shop. Im hoping adjustments, my shop is 5 hours away….I was hopeing some of you merc guys could help out. Engine – 200 Mariner EFI 1.- When engine starts RPMs run up to 4000 and stay there! Is there a way to agjust the throttle cable?? 2. – As soon as engine starts, I can put engine in gear fast idle (3-4k) and pull back on throttle arm to put in Neutrel and it feels like someone else is pulling againest it, and will not come out of gear!?!?!? Any ideas?? Didnt get to fish my tourny due to this engine issue I just didnt trust the engine. I limped the cat back to “my side” of the lake (where I put in) and fish till 11 or so just moving with t.m. Only caught a few small ones..Spinners…Maybe in another week or two fishing will pick up! Thanks in advance for any help! Steve
Sounds like your hotfoot is stuck. Or else the cable came loose completely. If the cable is not pulled all the way back out, you wont get to idle and you will see this problem. Start at the hot foot. See if it is binding. It does need lubrication from time to time. If that is ok, take the cowl off the motor, unhook the throttle cable, and see if it moves freely with the hotfoot. If not, you may end up replacing the cable. Water intrusion can cause rust, which causes binding. Id be hard-pressed to think of a time where I saw the motor throttle linkage binding under the cowl, so my money is on the cable or hotfoot itself. You can unhook the cable from the hot foot and see if the hot foot moves freely. If it is binding, you have to fix that first. There is a spring on the hotfoot that returns the pedal to the idle position. If that spring is too loose, or if it is missing completely, or it is not hooked up, that will do the trick. I use a Bobs hot foot, which has a large “clip” over the toe position where you can use the toe of your shoe to pull the thing back to idle should that spring ever break or get too loose. Does yours have that? Family member had a similar problem a couple of years ago. He managed to sit a group-31 battery on top of the cable and put a nice kink in the thing that caused a bad bind. He straighted it by hand to fish in a tournament, but I helped him pull a new cable in to make it work right. You really dont want a throttle issue. Normal reflex for most of us is to lift the foot when trouble strikes. If it sticks, you waste precious seconds trying to find the toe clip to pull the throttle up, leading to disaster.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
Thanks for the advice oldtimer…Ill look at the hotfoot first…The spring is on the hotfoot…I believe it is a Bobs hotfoot, either way I do have that piece you can pull back with your toe… Any thoughts or ideas with the shift link cable? Could it have a bind in it as well? I can put it in gear but I cant get it in neutral when in gear…I have to pull the kill switch and pull/jimmy the throttle arm to get it in neutral… I ended up loading the boat with the trolling Motor last night I didnt want to hit the trailer and have the boat keep pushing if I couldnt get it in neutral…I believe I would rather have the boat ON the trailer not on the truck… Thanks, Steve
It does sound like a cable issue under the cowling. Take a look and see. Also see if the hot foot cable is tight with nothing connected. The cables we suggest and use are Premium or Platinum which are wound flat steel jacket models. Lesser cables will hang easily. The ones we use can be wrapped in a knot and work. BCB
Not knowing your specific setup it is hard to diagnose, but if the motor is not at idle, you might have an interlock that prevents shifting, so that you cant damage the lower unit by ripping the ears off the clutch dog if you shift into gear at high RPM. Id go one problem at a time, and the first would be to get rid of the bind or whatever that is preventing return to idle. Once that is fixed, your other problem may well be solved automatically. If not, that is a second cable that goes from the shift/throttle to the motor. Hard to imagine both having a problem at the same time unless you recently had service or something. You can bend em by dropping a battery on one, you could bend them by installing a jack plate or removing the power head without disconnecting the cables, and letting the motor/powerhead move too far and create a kink while it is pushed aside. Etc… If none of that, you may just be due for cleaning/lubing the hotfoot. My Bobs is nice, but still, when you lift your foot, you want a quick return to idle… and not have to hunt for that clip to pull it up with your toe… Unless you have size 22s that is. 2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
Mercury had a recall on the throttle shift linkage,,not sure about yours but I had to take my 150EFI back to the dealer to get it replaced
Thanks everyone…Ill start with the throttle cable as oldtimer suggested and than well work from there…I dont have a 22 but 15 is close enough… Ill take a look at it this afternoon and Ill probably have another question or two… Thanks again for everyones help!!! Thanks, Steve
Finally got to look over the Cat this weekend. Throttle cable seems to be okay. I am able to pull/push the cable and everything moves. I pulled the cowl and watched it as I pulled/pushed the throttle cable from the hotfoot (throttle cable was taken off hotfoot moving it by hand) The throttle link or links on the engine will move forward (as if I was giving if fuel) but will not return to the “idle” position. I have to move it back by hand. the spring on the hotfoot is good, called the mech. this morning told him what was going on, said it sounds like something on the engine. So it is looking like Im going to have to run to TN this weekend, and let the guys at the shop look it over. Hopefully when the throttle cable is fixed the shift cable will fix itself but will take one problem at a time. Thanks everyone for your help! Ill keep you updated…. Thanks, Steve
Note that the throttle linkage will not return to idle by itself. If you unhook the throttle cable at the motor end, it generally will return just fine as the TB has a spring on the butterfly. But normally, you pull the hand throttle back to return the TB to idle. Thats the purpose of the spring on the hotfoot, to supply that “return-to-idle” tension when you remove your foot. If the cable moves freely by hand, I suspect you just need to add more tension to the spring. There is a good bit of drag in the best of cables, and as they age this goes up somewhat. I adjust mine as follows: have someone sit in the drivers seat and floor the hotfoot. Then have them _slowly_ remove their foot. If the hotfoot stops before reaching the travel stop, increase tension. I do this until it returns all the way, and then go a bit beyond that just to be sure it will return next month as well as today… This is quite unlike the throttle linkage for your car. The cable is _much_ longer. And originally it depended on your pulling the throttle level back to return to idle. So we are forcing a less-than-optimal design to work in a way it really wasnt intended to work.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
I use Teleflex TFXtreme cables.
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