Most of us have changed the throttle, shift and cutoff cables by now. Not hard. Not expensive. Reward is butter-smooth operation.
Remove the cables, measure, and order on line (West Marine often has them on the shelf).
Despite temptation, old Teleflex or Morse cables (brand names) cannot be repaired or successfully lubricated and need to be replaced.
The job requires taking the top off the pedestal and groveling around in the bilge to get at the transmission and throttle connections, which may well be rusted.
Here are a couple of threads.
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?119-Pedestal-Rebuild
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...-Specialties-Pedestal-Disassembly-with-Photos
Sometimes the cable is all right, but the jacket set screw has come out. The symptom is a mushy feel when operating the lever, as if nothing is happening. As on a bicycle brake, the jacket must be secured for the inner wire to move. Each end of the cable jacket contains a groove to be contained by a set screw or by a special external fitting (as at the engine end of the throttle shift cable). The jacket must be held firmly at either end.