Idling too fast

[bobbymalone]

so my boat started idling too fast and I'm trying to figure it out. It's just a little bit too fast, but enough to not want to put it in gear. unfortunately, I can't for the life of me find my shop manual. I think I might have figured out the problem but want to get some opinions.

Bear with me since I don't know the technical names for the parts. It seems that the plate that moves along this roller and controls the throttle is out of place. I'm talking about the yellow arrow in the picture. I seem to remember that the plate should contact the roller exactly where the short marker is, if the boat is in neutral. If i pull up the start lever it should shift it to the longer line marked with START. It's in neutral right now and it looks like it's in between those spots, making it idle too fast. If you click on the pic you'll see a blown up version that might be easier to see.

Any thoughts? if it is what I suspect it to be can I just adjust the white plastic thing (red arrow) to push or pull that plate into the right position? could it be that easy? Also, if it that is the problem, how could it get out of whack? Lot's of questions, sorry.

it's an 82 evinrude, 75hp, 3cyl. New control box and throttle cables installed about a year ago.

thanks for any help you can provide.

[Ufatz]

It might be something as simple as a shot of WD-40. And another simple thing to examine is all the cables: sometimes a control cable can get just a tiny bit hung up and that would do same thing....not allow controls on engine to return to "low idle" setting.

Take a look at either or both of these before anything drastic.

[SkunkedAgain]

What about adjusting the idle screw on the carb?

[bobbymalone]

i thought about adjusting the idle screw, but thought it to be a better idea to adjust the throttle position, as I think that is the underlying problem.

any suggestions on where to check for proper lube and shoot a bit of WD?

[bobbymalone]

it was sticking... a little grease here and there and she pops back into place after putting it neutral.

thanks for the help.

[Ufatz]

Your welcome. Sometimes old dudes know it's the SIMPLE things. Ha Ha. Have fun out there.

[boatfixer]

Good you got it to work. Something else you should do is to adjust the trunion on the throttle cable (located near the bottom carburator) so it put a slight amount of "pre-load" on the throttle stop. In other words, adjust it so it lengthens the cable just a bit. Doing this will overcome any sticking the cable may do, as in your situation.