1994 Mercury 200 issues

[garbubba]

It's a 2.5 litre and has had the oil pump removed long ago. I've had issues but almost all electrical. This one has me stumped.

Starts fine, off we go, I hit the throttle & it takes off, everything seems normal. We ride along on plane for a while (from 2 to 10 minutes) then without me touching a thing, the boat takes off, increases speed and rpms.

This has been happening for a few trips now, I keep thinking I figured out something, but.. it still does it.

- does not seem to be a power pack, I've had that happen & it runs rough & slow.

- Thought maybe fuel wasn't getting to all the carbs, but I checked plugs, linkage & lines, all appear good. Besides it's running smooth, not like it's missing.

- Anytime I've been able to give it full throttle it's all there, pulls hard right up to about 5400 RPM's just like always.

- The remote seems OK, the throttle isn't moving unless I move it.

I'm starting to think it might be sticking linkage, shaking loose after some riding, could that happen?

It explains most of it but seems unlikely, I'm about to go dig into it again, hoping somebody here has some insight.