Throttles

Jennimar

New Member
Feb 16, 2020
12
Spring Lake, MI
Boat Info
1990 Sundancer 310DA
Engines
Twin 5.7 Merc's
I am new here, and could not find a thread related to this.

We just recently purchased our 1990 Sundancer 310 with twin Merc's. Although it has been well maintained, it seems that after the previous owner had left it in storage for a few years, and the throttles are not easy to advance, at all. They shift into gear fine, but it is very difficult to advance the throttles - sticking and/or very stiff.

Is this something that can be worked on, or is this a replacement issue ? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
 
Stern drive or v-drive?

There's actually quite a lot of info on "stiff throttles" on here - try searching for that term (or similar). It doesn't really matter what boat it is on.

However, the most common issue is that the throttle cables, themselves, are simply old and stiff (inside). There are three variables... the cable and the connections at the engine and the control box. You can play around with disconnecting one or the other to narrow things down, if you want.

Short of replacing the cables (which may be the best route), you could experiment by removing the cable at one end of the other and forcing oil into the inside of the cable. It "might" work.
 
Awesome, and thank you Lazy Daze.

I will search those terms, and I appreciate the quick response.
 
First loosen the cable from the carburator lever (on foto the red part). Pull the lever on the carburator by hand. Most likely this wil goes without any friction.

Loosen the cable by the control is a bit harder. If I have to put money on the problem I bet everything on the cables instead of the control unit.

Most likely it’s the cable. Personally I wouldn’t even try to fix the cable by putting oil in to it because when it works the problem wil return. When placing new cables it’s a good investment too and you don’t have to look for them again the coming years.

And when you put all your effort on loosen the cables by the control of course you test the control.

When you buy new cables, buy them the same lenght!!! And when you are busy replacing the throttle cables do the shift cables too. And even better do the steering cable too.

I did them all at our previous 310 and every trip we made I was happy I replaced them all.

good luck....


249DDCEE-9865-466C-937E-AAF046799AD0.jpeg
 
Did you not discover this during a sea trial? Hopefully you had a survey performed before buying this boat. It should have been caught and a remedy negotiated with the seller. But if you did not have the boat surveyed and it sat long enough for this to happen I would be worried there are other items that may arise.

You may want to consider having the boat surveyed (inspected by a professional marine surveyor) now, if you didn't already, so you know if there are any other looming issues.
Shawn
 
This is great info and it is really appreciated.
We had a complete survey and sea trail conducted, which told us a lot about the boat. The throttles were sticky, but I did not think a lot about it at the time. We k we there would be some needed repairs, so this is just what is needed.

Thank You....
 
This is great info and it is really appreciated.
We had a complete survey and sea trail conducted, which told us a lot about the boat. The throttles were sticky, but I did not think a lot about it at the time. We k we there would be some needed repairs, so this is just what is needed.

Thank You....
Don’t worry about that issue to much, it’s a easy fix. You gonna do it yourself?
The 5.7 merc is a great engine.

Besides changing oil, filters and impellers I recommend two more things what I would have done:
Make sure your ignition timing is correct and buy 2 carburetor revision kits.
Make sure that you know what you’re doing with ignition timing LH and RH engine. Let me know when you wanna have advise in that mather.
E6C2FD95-19A4-4EEC-920F-EF7CF702E389.png

picture was our previous 310
9B0E87CD-99D1-45EA-8895-7CA8B23A50E9.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
112,950
Messages
1,422,891
Members
60,933
Latest member
juliediane
Back
Top