Throttle cables - clean and oil or replace?

[PossiblyPaul]

This subject may have been dealt with previously, but my 'searching' skills are poor, so forgive me if it's a repeat. I posted it in the wrong forum so apologies again.
My throttle cables are very difficult, and one is not responding well at all; advice from the sages at my marina is to replace them, but I tend to think that they have not been maintained during the past few years, and a search on t'Internet popped these devices up:

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

Thefirst one is labelled a 'Hydraulic Cable Oiler', and appears to be a more heavy-duty item than the others.

Are these of any use on a boat such as a Carver 2827, for the various control cables? They seem to be made more for the motorcycle user, whose cables are very much shorter than those from my bridge down to the engines. I don't want to remove the cables either, other than to release from the control points - is that feasible? Grateful for any advice.

[Viper]

Do yourself a favour and replace the 30+ year old cables. You'll be glad you did. If you can get them across the pond, the Sierra Extreme cables are a good brand.

[PossiblyPaul]

You may be wholly right in that, but... cash. Always explore the cheaper solutions first, they might just work - it could be that the cables are just mucky, and a squirt through of WD40 then oil is a credible solution.
Of course, when they don't you've spent more cash unnecessarily. But you've learned, which is Important.

[bud37]

Have you considered a piece of clear hose over the end clamped to the disconnected cable then fill with the lube of your choice, clamp schrader ( tire ) valve in open end then pump some pressure in with bike pump etc and leave alone to let the fluid work thru the cable to the other end ?

You can google that , there are many versions of how, but basically simple.

[PossiblyPaul]

Thanks, bud. That'll be my first attempt at righting the situation. Simple, probably quick and easy.

[tomschauer]

If they are difficult to operate, odds are you have worn through the inner sleeve somewhere or at mulitple places.
Some lubricant will provide very short term relief at best.

[PossiblyPaul]

Yes; coming out into the boatyard in about four weeks, so I'll have plenty of time over the winter to investigate. Meanwhile, I'm going to squirt some of 'A9 Racing Oils' PTFE cable lube down the lines and see what difference it makes (I've got that thing at Photo 2 above now, and might ruin the carpets, but hey).

[Superg]

Hello PossiblyPaul,

I'm curious to hear if you were able to successfully restore the shifter cables to normal function. I have the same issue on my 1985. I'm also a fan of repair/restore before replace. Doesn't hurt anything as worse case scenario is you replace them anyway.

[PossiblyPaul]

Locked down for most of the time which should have been spent sorting out cables (and of course, all the other issues).
So, no. However, Son has the kit for doing a forced injection into the cables, and will hopefully be exercising his skills on that in the next week. All that lost time is really annoying, but I suppose it's a minor irritant in view of the Big Issues.
I'll post when we've done the business.