Well it was nearly a perfect day today, sunshine, 60's, enough wind to learn to sail by, but the end of my day saw the loss ot my throttle control.
After motoring back to the marina I putted around for a few minutes to fill the ballast. When I went to throttle up to head into the marina I discovered my throttle would not work. Fortunately there was no wind and I was able to putt in at idle speed.
Has anyone had a similar problem? Could it be a broken cable or a simple disconnect?
It was getting too dark to do any real examination, so I thought I would post this hoping for some advice. I am leary about going in for repairs when I don't know crap and getting taken for an expensive repair when all that was require was something simple.
Honda 50 Throttle Control
Interesting, no responses to my plight 
Well I figured it out for myself and should anyone in the future run into this problem here is what I learned.
There is no backing nut to wobble free so there was no quick fix.
First I removed the shift control assembly from the steering mount and opened up the lower panel exposing the shift control and throttle control cables. By disconnecting the throttle cable and pulling on the end I discovered that the stainless steel wire pulled out freely thereby deducing that the wire had snapped I then proceeded to detach the cable from the engine.
In order to do same I had to crawl under the cockpit and cut all of the zap straps (cable ties) on the cable/wiring bundle and then disasemble the cable cover leading into the engine. By removing four bolts (12mm) top & bottom the top of the engine cable cover (my termonolgy) lifts off and after pulling out the cotter pin at the end of the throtle cable I was able to pull the entire cable through.
Off to the Honda dealer and purchased a replacement (Volvo) cable, they stopped using the brand of cable I had becasue it had a habit of breaking (go figure!) and back to the boat to repeat the process.
Installed the new cable and ta da it actually worked (brain surgery is easy if you know what your doing and have the right tools). My wife was so pleased.
What I learned:
The 14' cable that was in the boat was probably too long (don't know if it was stock or replacement), unfortunately I didn't realize that until I installed the new cable and discovered that I had about 4' of excess cable. As well I didn't feel like travelling back to the dealer nearly 2 hrs round trip (hey I live in paradise "Sunshine Coast" which is removed from heavily populated Vancouver by a 40 min ferry ride but doesn't have a lot of shopping) to exchange it for a 10' cable.
I learned that if a 16 year old kid working at a marina would have got the job to repair my problem (with me paying alot more than the $60 Canadian for the cable, thats about $5.00 US), therefore I should be able to fix the problem myself. It took me most of the day but I now know how to do a new task. Hopefully my new found skill will be used to help somebody else because I will likely need the extra time to learn another new skill when something else breaks
Larry
Well I figured it out for myself and should anyone in the future run into this problem here is what I learned.
There is no backing nut to wobble free so there was no quick fix.
First I removed the shift control assembly from the steering mount and opened up the lower panel exposing the shift control and throttle control cables. By disconnecting the throttle cable and pulling on the end I discovered that the stainless steel wire pulled out freely thereby deducing that the wire had snapped I then proceeded to detach the cable from the engine.
In order to do same I had to crawl under the cockpit and cut all of the zap straps (cable ties) on the cable/wiring bundle and then disasemble the cable cover leading into the engine. By removing four bolts (12mm) top & bottom the top of the engine cable cover (my termonolgy) lifts off and after pulling out the cotter pin at the end of the throtle cable I was able to pull the entire cable through.
Off to the Honda dealer and purchased a replacement (Volvo) cable, they stopped using the brand of cable I had becasue it had a habit of breaking (go figure!) and back to the boat to repeat the process.
Installed the new cable and ta da it actually worked (brain surgery is easy if you know what your doing and have the right tools). My wife was so pleased.
What I learned:
The 14' cable that was in the boat was probably too long (don't know if it was stock or replacement), unfortunately I didn't realize that until I installed the new cable and discovered that I had about 4' of excess cable. As well I didn't feel like travelling back to the dealer nearly 2 hrs round trip (hey I live in paradise "Sunshine Coast" which is removed from heavily populated Vancouver by a 40 min ferry ride but doesn't have a lot of shopping) to exchange it for a 10' cable.
I learned that if a 16 year old kid working at a marina would have got the job to repair my problem (with me paying alot more than the $60 Canadian for the cable, thats about $5.00 US), therefore I should be able to fix the problem myself. It took me most of the day but I now know how to do a new task. Hopefully my new found skill will be used to help somebody else because I will likely need the extra time to learn another new skill when something else breaks
Larry
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waternwaves
- Admiral
- Posts: 1499
- Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 8:18 pm
- Location: X less in North Puget Sound -have to sail other boats for a while
LArry, congrats on the cable swap,
you surmised that the cable was SS, and I am guessing that this is a single cable system...with the honda..... (I am more familiar with the nissan, eveinrude and suzi engines...)
but was there any tightness in shifting prior to this break....??
I havenot heard of many hondas with faulty cables..... were there any prior indications......,sounds like it snapped on the shift into gear...... if it is still rough shifting......the problem is not the cable..nor likely the linkage....
I have heard of hondas being tough to shift into gear because of linkage adjustments,.....just not cable breakage..
Good job... now you are ready for the steering breakage the rest of us have endured........lol
Darren
you surmised that the cable was SS, and I am guessing that this is a single cable system...with the honda..... (I am more familiar with the nissan, eveinrude and suzi engines...)
but was there any tightness in shifting prior to this break....??
I havenot heard of many hondas with faulty cables..... were there any prior indications......,sounds like it snapped on the shift into gear...... if it is still rough shifting......the problem is not the cable..nor likely the linkage....
I have heard of hondas being tough to shift into gear because of linkage adjustments,.....just not cable breakage..
Good job... now you are ready for the steering breakage the rest of us have endured........lol
Darren
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Ken Smith
not final solution
red coat your cable most likely broke because of a bending problem in the cables. does the throttle work smoother than prior to the brake? look back at the motor when you tilt it up, turn the wheel whike doing this , is the cable having sharp turns or bending? I have a honda and the problem is in the well, it catches the cable and bends it while tilting the motor.
solution, I lashed the cable to the motor arm that turns the motor with a prebend to fit the well in any direction or degree of tilt and have had no problems since. 4 years now.
ken
solution, I lashed the cable to the motor arm that turns the motor with a prebend to fit the well in any direction or degree of tilt and have had no problems since. 4 years now.
ken
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Frank C
It should work great. My original throttle cable was truly awful. Notchy movement, non-linear results - really made it impossible to use fine throttle control around the docks. Complained to the dealer and he installed Volvo cable ... five years later, nary a snag. Their advertising claims that Volvo marine cables are the smoothest and most flexible - but I think they're hard to find.
We go out again today and I will be able to give a better report. I only bought the boat last week and the cable broke the thrid time I used the boat. It was pretty hard to shift and throttle before the break. Sitting at the dock it now works smoothly the real test will be later today.
As for the cable snagging, it was zap strapped to the steering arm which I have done as well. My biggest concern is the fact that the cable appears to be 2-4' longer than is necessary.
Larry
As for the cable snagging, it was zap strapped to the steering arm which I have done as well. My biggest concern is the fact that the cable appears to be 2-4' longer than is necessary.
Larry
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Richard O'Brien
- Captain
- Posts: 653
- Joined: Fri May 14, 2004 8:20 am
- Location: Lakewood, CO. Mercury 60hp bigfoot M0427B404
cable length?
Red Coat, Nearly all dealers recommend 14' cables ? I have 12' cables, and still have a foot or more to spare. I think the recommendation is based on doing one full loop if necc. I wonder what everyone else has? In any case, there is no satisfaction like solving the problem yourself. I'd like to hear more discussion about cable positioning and binding?
Lesson learned.
Two days after replacing the throttle cable, the shift lever cable broke.
My advice is if they are original equipment which I am assuming mine were (bought a used 1998X) than replace them both. It will save time and you will have the comfort of knowing they are both new and better if you put in "Volvo" cables compared to the stock ones.
Larry
Two days after replacing the throttle cable, the shift lever cable broke.
My advice is if they are original equipment which I am assuming mine were (bought a used 1998X) than replace them both. It will save time and you will have the comfort of knowing they are both new and better if you put in "Volvo" cables compared to the stock ones.
Larry