OMC ESA trouble

Ok so i have a 1980s omc 3.0 with omc cobra outdrive..runs well..but when i got this boat i noticed that the electronic shift assist instead of boggig down the motor it shuts it off....im not sure where to start and the last time i had it out this problem was so bad that i actually just disabled it all together. Im going to be converting to petronix sometime in the near future anyways....so my question is with the petronix and esa disabled...will it actually do damage to the drive without it..or is it just for smoother shifting. Without it my boat seems to shift just fine...a little stiff but nothing i cant handle. Pros and cons? Also if anyone knows why the esa is killing the motor instead of bringing the RPM down would be helpful also. Thanks

Re: OMC ESA trouble

Check the shift cables,A sticky cable will hold the switches closed and mimmic a bad ESA.

Re: OMC ESA trouble

esa is only for shifting out of gear not to bog down when engaging what is your idle set at when just idleing and out of gear maybe too low

Re: OMC ESA trouble

turboaltk21 said:

with the petronix and esa disabled...will it actually do damage to the drive without it..

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can stretch and weaken shift cables

full stringer said:

esa is only for shifting out of gear not to bog down when engaging what is your idle set at when just idleing and out of gear maybe too low

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ESA operates going in to gear, or coming out of gear.

all depends on loading of the cable.

works both in and out, especially if making rapid directional changes (docking)

Re: OMC ESA trouble

I was wondering if the RMP was idle rpm was too low...i do know that the switch is working being that it kills the motor. About what should it be idling at...right now im at about 600 ish...i was thinking around the 800 ish or where ever the esa will not kill the motor....this whole time i thought it was supposed to kill the motor...not just kill some of the ignition to slow the motor. Also...is there any ignitin advance that i might have to check in the distributor? Somewhere i had read soemthing about the advance in another post. Thanks

Re: OMC ESA trouble

turboaltk21 said:

.i was thinking around the 800 ish or where ever the esa will not kill the motor....

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800 rpm is hard on the dogs in the lower unit, and it would be masking the real problem

tune it up, and then watch the switches as someone else operates the shifter to see if the ESA switch is "hanging" after a shift

you can read all about ESA operation here:
http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/