www.iFourWinns.com

Took my 2000 FW Horizon 230 out to the lake and as soon as I started the boat it jumped forward, in neutral! Tried to reverse off the trailer and the boat went forward???
I took the boat to Tommys in Golden, CO (where I bought it) and after about a day and a half they told me they were not Four Winns experts but that they believe it to be the throttle linkage. They said they cannot find the actual linkage and black plastic piece that holds the linkage in place. Has anyone ever had to deal with this problem before? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

We had a similar situation on our 268. After cruising for several miles we stopped, tried to shift to reverse, and the boat moved forward. The shift cable housing had come loose from the gear shift quadrant. In our case the nut came off the screw that holds the plastic bracket and cable housing to the quadrant. We were able to reconnect it with available hardware on the boat.

You don't say whether its Merc or Volvo. This may or may not be an issue depending on which end of the cable the plastic piece you mentioned is attached to. I am goingout on a limb and guessing it is at the throttle quadrant end. This would mean that the plastic piece is supplied by the throttle quadrant manufacturer. The plastic piece is most likely a Teleflex part that is part of the throttle quadrant assembly. On mine there were 3 pieces, the U shaped channel about 3 inches long that the cable housing fits in, a plastic plate about a half inch square that fit in a slot in the plastic channel and had a U shaped slot in it to fin in a groove in the cable housing, and a sheet metal U shaped cover that snapped in place on the 3 inch long plastic channel. Hope this helps.

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Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

Thank you! It is a Volvo. I wish I was more mechanically inclined. I will pass along this info, thanks again!

I looked at these parts in the Teleflex unit I will install in tbe future thinking that lock tite on the small screws that hold the cable nest (what they call it) might be a good idea!

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Thank you! It is a Volvo. I wish I was more mechanically inclined. I will pass along this info, thanks again! Does anyone have any idea where I can purchase just throttle linkage?
The engine serial number for my Volvo Engine 401200B515 and 3869060 are both stamped on the engine

http://www.volvopentastore.com

You can put your model and serial # in there to look for parts. Once you have the part numbers you can search around and probably find them cheaper. I've also taken the numbers to my FW dealer and they've given me discounts off of the list price.