ESA failed by heat?

[Hene]

3.0L with Cobra outdrive '89

Our first trip on this season. Last season works perfectly.
On startup, everything working perfectly. Shifting to neutral was smooth and engine drops rpm correctly.
After 30 min trip, when tried to switch neutral it was very hard. Had to shut off engine and then switch to neutral. After engine startup engine runs very rought about 5-10 seconds, after that runs good but shifting to neutral was impossible because RPM drop does not work. After starting again, engine runs rought again for a while and doesn't respond throttle.

I checked function of interrupt microswitch and that works fine (engine running). But when i stopped the engine and started again, running rought a while again! Rought run is same when microswitch is pressed, so ESA box is messed up for some reason.

On the next day i removed switches and checked connections and wiring, put them back and start engine. Everything works like a new!

Could engine heat damage or mess functionality of ESA unit? Unit is 987567 V6 chev. Age is unknown.

 

[Lou C]

Yes I believe it can. I had a bad overheat in 2013 and a year or 2 later the original ESA failed, not sure if it was due to the heat of the overheat, or just age. But I was not getting the rpm drop, replaced the switches even tho I didn't feel that was the problem, then replaced the ESA with a new one from CDI electronics that worked perfect. Make sure you test the switches first, and do not over tighten the screws that hold them to the shift bracket because that can cause them to stick on.