Engine cutoff cable

[mervdog]

I have a problem with my engine shut of cable. It continually sticks to the point of not working. I have to go down below and move it at the engine each time before it  will work from the cockpit. I think  I will need to replace it. Does anyone know where to get a new one or the length of the one that is used.

[Ron Bukowski]

Before you buy a new one, lubricate the old one. To lubricate the cable it must be removed, but caution. Do not remove it from the outer shield completly. At the engine where it is connected to the throttle link, mark the inner cable with whiteout where it comes out of the outer shield. Then disconnect the end of the cable from the link. From up in the cockpit, pull the cable out slowly until the dab of whiteout is visable. If you pull the cable completly out, you will never get it back into the shield. Coat the exposed part of the cable with a waterproof grease (lithium is best) then push the cable back into the shield and go below to reconnect the cable end to the link. The cable should be lubricated on a yearly basis.

[Howard Armstrong]

if yours is like mine, you can pull the handle in the cockpit up a little and drop a few drops of thin oil on the plunger and it will soak down the cable. this is now part of my maintenance every time I am on the boat.

[Ron Hill]

M Dog : As Howard mentioned you might try some "penetrating oil" (Liquid Wrench).  It should go down that wire and break the cable loose.  

[Tom Soko]

Ron B,
Why do you say you can't pull the cable out completely?  I think I remember doing that with mine and not having any problem putting it back into the sheath.  I'm sure there are different makes/models on stop cables out there, but aren't they all a solid wire inside a plastic or metal sheath?  I'm a little confused.

[Ron Bukowski]

Tom, The tech at Mack Boring (Yanmar's East Coast dist.) warned against removing the cable completely. He said that it would unravel and one won't be able to get it back in. I don't remember what the construction was actually like but the moveable (inner core) part of my cable was not a single wire strand. I seem to recall a twisted wire rope type of construction around the single wire center strand. I haven't lubed it yet this year, but I'll take a look at it the next time I'm on the boat.

[Ron Hill]

I believe that the inner portion of my 1988 throttle and cutoff cables are a solid single 12 awg wire.  

[Ron Bukowski]

I checked my fuel shutoff cable today to see how it is made. There is no single center wire. The inner core (the movable part that is attached to the fuel shutoff lever) is a twisted wire rope similar to the construction of lifeline cable. I can see that it possibly could unravel and be impossible to re-insert into the sheath. Perhaps there are other kinds of coaxial cables used on boats. I know the throttle cable on my lawnmower is a single strand as Ron Hill described.

[mreid11]

On Pacifico we replaced the cable recently because it had frozen completely. We ordered a standard utility control cable with T handle from West Marine. It was 13' which was a bit long, so I just pulled the control handle in out about 6 inches, cut the cable to desired length with a hack saw pushed the control handle back in and installed it. Pretty simple really.

[Philip Imhof]

The outside of the shutoff cable on mine was not solid, but instead twisted. We lubricated the outside with rag soaked in lubricant while flexing the cable, and it migraded to the inside. I doubt if you could ever get enough lubricant down the calble by adding it at the control panel, but you could try both ways.