Drive cable question ? Am I paranoid?

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pbarx

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Hi guys I have a mercruiser 5.7 and I had problems with it stalling and struggling into gear. I have therefore had the drive cable renewed . This solved the stalling problem but when selecting forward gear it took about 10 seconds of slipping before it found the gear, reverse was fine. I took it back to the engineer who told me it just needed adjusting. After this adjustment I took the boat out and it no longer slipped trying to find the gear, however when I push the throttle forward out of neutral it is very very stiff. Is this because it is a new cable? Neutral is more difficult to locate. Should it be stiff? It feels like the cable is very tight, to will this soon slacken off?

Thanks in advance pbarx
 
Being a new cable, it should not be tight. It sounds like there is a problem with the cable run. Can you follow the cable from the throttle to the drive and see if there are any tight bends?
 
Hi rafiki
Thanks for the reply. I can see where it is on top of the engine block and where it exits to the leg but not much after that. So it shouldn't be stiff then? I didn't think this was right. He has put a new carb and top block on as the ehaust manifold went but this shouldn't cause this problem should it? It wasn't stiff just after he had done it but then it was slipping before going into gear.
 
pbarx said:
Hi guys I have a mercruiser 5.7 and I had problems with it stalling and struggling into gear. I have therefore had the drive cable renewed . This solved the stalling problem but when selecting forward gear it took about 10 seconds of slipping before it found the gear, reverse was fine. I took it back to the engineer who told me it just needed adjusting. After this adjustment I took the boat out and it no longer slipped trying to find the gear, however when I push the throttle forward out of neutral it is very very stiff. Is this because it is a new cable? Neutral is more difficult to locate. Should it be stiff? It feels like the cable is very tight, to will this soon slacken off?

Thanks in advance pbarx
Click to expand...

no it shouldn't be stiff. You've paid an engineer - get him back!
I presume the stiffness is new?
What do you mean by struggling into gear?
Did it stall as you put it into gear?
 
Hi thanks for the reply, no it goes into gear and doesn't stall it's just incredibly stiff moving the throttle lever forward. Also the 'middle' neutral position used to feel more generous now it's either in neutral and 5mm later either way and its its in gear. After it was replaced the problem was it was spinning for about 4 seconds before it would locate the gear, but the throttle at least moved more freely then. I have had an after market carb fitted,could this be the issue?
 
pbarx said:
Hi thanks for the reply, no it goes into gear and doesn't stall it's just incredibly stiff moving the throttle lever forward. Also the 'middle' neutral position used to feel more generous now it's either in neutral and 5mm later either way and its its in gear. After it was replaced the problem was it was spinning for about 4 seconds before it would locate the gear, but the throttle at least moved more freely then. I have had an after market carb fitted,could this be the issue?
Click to expand...

I would be really surprised if it were the carb. As posted above, get the Techie back and tell him what you expect.
 
pbarx said:
Hi thanks for the reply, no it goes into gear and doesn't stall it's just incredibly stiff moving the throttle lever forward. Also the 'middle' neutral position used to feel more generous now it's either in neutral and 5mm later either way and its its in gear. After it was replaced the problem was it was spinning for about 4 seconds before it would locate the gear, but the throttle at least moved more freely then. I have had an after market carb fitted,could this be the issue?
Click to expand...

ok - you have a cable from the throttle lever to the engine, and a lever on the engine links it to another cable that goes down to the leg.

either can get stiff, and either will give you a stiff throttle lever, because it engages the gear. Stiffness in the cables add.

you have just had the leg cable replaced, so it should have got easier. if not totally fixed you need to change the other cable too. But it got worse.

Therefore the spanner monkey has kinked the cable. It has to have a double bend in it and thats fine if you route it right, but he's got the bend wrong. He needs to fix it, including maybe yet another drive cable.

It is nothing to do with the carb, it's a gear selection issue. If the berk you've hired can't fix it, give him a chance to do so but if he can't, call Tom (murcuryman of this forum) and get the berk to pay.
 
The cable after it comes through the transom should go OVER the exhaust downpipe then in a 180 deg bend back towards the transom going around the downpipe, and then swing upwards 'between' the transom and the steering servo cylinder, then bend forwards straight into the shift quadrant, so it goes a spiral. This is as shown in the manual and can I confirm its the only way having changed dozens of shift cables.
To verify where the problem is disconnect the new cable at the quadrant and if it feels like it did before then you know its the new cable incorrectly routed or damaged.
 
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