S220 throttle cable freezes

[nirias]

The throttle cable on my bobcat appears to have water in the housing so occasionally the throttle sticks after a cold night. Is there a practical way to lube that cable and displace the water or do I just need to replace the entire cable assembly?

 

[flyerdan]

Probably the best thing to do would be to unhook the easiest side to work on, cobble a hose on with duct tape and blow the water out with an air gun. Get in as much WD-40 (that stands for water displacement) as you can.
If you can, reroute the cable so there is no low spot for water to accumulate. If you can't seal up the entrance point, water will once again find a way in, and since it's heavier than the oil it will settle and freeze again.

 

[buckwill]

this may sound counter intuitive but it works, water is a great solvent for rust, it dissolves t (with mechanical agitation) and carries it away, free a rusty nut and bolt sometime in a bucket of water and u will see what i mean,, now if u can get the cable out and it has the solid core inner wire, take it out, , pull the inner core out completely if uts not kinked on the end, if it is kinked do you have enough to trim it back some so your putting a straight wire back in??, now run water!! into the housing to flush rust out, perhaps running core wire thru also at this time ur flushing out the accumulated rust, when it works freely, now flush with wd40 hanging it vertically so water and wd40 drips from the bottom of open cable housig, when no more water comes out mebbe dry the housing over a heated air sourcem, mebbe a furnace vent or in front of shop heater, dont burn the plastic, put it under the hood of yr truck or car, restrain it in some way so it doesnt get into car parts/belts etc, put a dab of grease in cable hsg and reassemble, ive done this many times over the coarse of, oh 55/60 years or so, occasionally i have thrown cables away generally because of sheer frustration or deminishing returns for labor, have fun, let us know, buck

 

[nirias]

this may sound counter intuitive but it works, water is a great solvent for rust, it dissolves t (with mechanical agitation) and carries it away, free a rusty nut and bolt sometime in a bucket of water and u will see what i mean,, now if u can get the cable out and it has the solid core inner wire, take it out, , pull the inner core out completely if uts not kinked on the end, if it is kinked do you have enough to trim it back some so your putting a straight wire back in??, now run water!! into the housing to flush rust out, perhaps running core wire thru also at this time ur flushing out the accumulated rust, when it works freely, now flush with wd40 hanging it vertically so water and wd40 drips from the bottom of open cable housig, when no more water comes out mebbe dry the housing over a heated air sourcem, mebbe a furnace vent or in front of shop heater, dont burn the plastic, put it under the hood of yr truck or car, restrain it in some way so it doesnt get into car parts/belts etc, put a dab of grease in cable hsg and reassemble, ive done this many times over the coarse of, oh 55/60 years or so, occasionally i have thrown cables away generally because of sheer frustration or deminishing returns for labor, have fun, let us know, buck

Thanks for the feedback. Clear weather today so I got the cable and throttle lever apart. The cable moved freely but I still got wd40 into it. The hand lever was very, very sticky and there was visible corrosion. I got it lubed and everything is smooth now. Of course it is above freezing. With luck this solves the freezing problem.