OMC cobra problems again.

Ok, this is my second time on here. First time my shifter cable needed adjustment, got that fixed about 3 months ago and now I have a new problem. Here it is the family and I were at the lake and I was at (wot) then backed it off when all the sudden it was like it came out of gear and just reved up. I noticed one of the shift cables had come loose from the braket on the motor. My ? is did my outdrive mess up or is it the shift cable again. My boat is an 89 strato xls 2000 with a 460 and cobra outdrive any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

Bolt it back-up and see what happens. When the cable came loose it probably just went to N. Not sure if it would jump-out under load, but with a snake, nothing suprises me.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

I tried that while at the lake the motor just reved up. the shifter had no resistance at all, when we got back on land and turn the prop you can hear the gears, turning but it seems to be a little louder than normal. Im really not wanting to replace the outdrive so I hope thats not the problem. Thanks

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

If you have the 460, that means you have a king cobra, which is a bad thing.....

Have a shop check and adjust the cables the proper way. See if that helps. Maybe pull the drive (15-20 minutes) and try to shift manually.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

I thought the king cobra had king cobra on the outdrive. I dont no anything about this drive but I am starting to learn. If the gears are gone where can i find new ones.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

What does the spart arrester cover say? Cobra or king cobra. I would think if you have a 460 it would have to be the king.

If you have a cobra, you can still find upper & lower units, although expensive they can be found.

If you have the king, then you will pay a fortune and will have extreme difficulty finding one. YOu may get stuck buying a reman for full retail if you want to finish the boating season.

Start simple, don;t jump to worst case. Start with having the cables ajusted properly.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

The spark arrester does not have anything on it, aftermarket part on it now. the valve coves say omc cobra on them. I havent had this boat long. Its at a shop now im just trying to figure out if I need to go pick it up and do this myself,and where I could find parts at. Or does this sound like gears are gone. Sorry for so many ?'s. I'm just trying to figure this out.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

Why don't you snap a couple of pics of the drive. Maybe easier to indentify that way.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

weshalsall said:

........My boat is an 89 strato xls 2000 with a 460 and cobra outdrive any help would be appreciated. Thanks. ..........I thought the king cobra had king cobra on the outdrive. I dont no anything about this drive but I am starting to learn. If the gears are gone where can i find new ones

Click to expand...

Howdy,


You don't have to look for placards or name plates.

If you have an OMC 460 with an outdrive on the back that is also an OMC drive. YOU HAVE A King Cobra.......Specifically the Dog-clutch King Cobra that ONLY came behind a 460. It holds 108oz of oil and is completely different than any other model Cobra drive.

There are some hard parts that are simply no longer available. (I don't know about gears) Contact BRP to find parts suppliers. http://epc.brp.com/ They'll point you to Doug Russell, Crowley Marine, TC Electronics and many others.

Owning a Cobra drive means you have to be good at scrounging junk yards and other parts suppliers that might have NOS (new old-stock) parts collecting dust on back shelves.

Owning a King Cobra drive means that you need to have (in the back of your mind) switching the entire "mess" for a Volvo Penta or Mercruiser engine and drive in the future.

Owning a 460 King Cobra used to mean that you couldn't buy manifolds or couplers. That has changed as of late..............(for a while, BUT....... I wouldn't count on them being available for very long once they figure out that very few people are buying the parts......)

OMC went out of business more than 10 years ago. That's just the way it is.


Good luck.



RIck

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

From what I've described, does this sound like the gears are shot, or just the cable came loose?

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

Sounds like either the cable broke or something in the shift linkage came loose or broke.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

HT32BSX115 said:

YOU HAVE A King Cobra.......Specifically the Dog-clutch King Cobra that ONLY came behind a 460.

Click to expand...

I thought all of those were cone clutches.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

If the cable is the only thing thats great, still havent heard from the shop yet.But if there is more to it than that can i replace the whole thing (motor and drive) with something better and any ideas on what it would cost.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

bruceb58 said:

I thought all of those were cone clutches.

Click to expand...

The (big one behind the 460) Dog-Clutch Cobras were from 87-89. (Mine was an 87 model)

In 90 they discontinued the Dog-clutch model for the 460 and offered the "new' Cone-clutch model for both the 460 and 454..........but kept the smaller dog-clutch models for a while...... I also think 90 was when they started calling Other-than (BBC/BBF drives) "King" Cobra.......(like the 5.8L King Cobra.......which is a Cone)

This Cone clutch model 90 to about 95 or so, Is also the one that is NOT a Volvo SX (which makes it the "Interim" OMC drive.........BEFORE the Volvo OMC joint "thang" ) .......I think the (Cobra) SX was 96 (95 & 1/2) and later?



If he had a 90 (Big-Block) Cone Clutch Cobra he'd be even more up a creek........The raw water impellers are evidently VERY hard to find as are other parts..................

The good thing is that there's some parts out there for the "Big-Dog"........Clutch dogs and gear-sets are still around......T.C. Electronics still will rebuild them as will others.... And (for the 460) there's Couplers and manifolds available (for the time being).........

GET'EM While they're HOT!!!!


If your clutch dogs are NOT damaged, your problem is most likely a lower shift cable problem (defective, adjustment, etc) or a bent shift shaft.


Make sure your idle RPM is correct (600-650 I think) and ENSURE that your ESA works correctly or it will be VERY hard to get out of gear (FWD/REV) and you'll damage the lower shift cable quickly.

GET A SERVICE MANUAL! And if you drain and refill the drive with oil.........DO IT IAW the service manual or you will destroy the drive!
(I am beginning to think I am a broken record!!!)


Cheers,


Rick

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

bruceb58 said:

I thought all of those were cone clutches.

Click to expand...

OMC, in their infinite wisdom, named 3 completely different style of drives "King Cobra"
1. The dog clutch model
2. The cone clutch OMC drive
3. The Volvo SX when it first came out in the joint venture was called the KIng Cobra on the OMC side of the joint venture.

No wonder things get confused when someone says "I have a King Cobra"

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

Thanks for all the input. Im just ready to get it back or get a call telling me whats wrong with it. but im thinking i might go pick it up and try this myself. Talking about shifting it was very hard to go from reverse to forward, even after i had the cable adjusted. Then the day all this happened it didnt want to go into neutral.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

weshalsall said:

But if there is more to it than that can i replace the whole thing (motor and drive) with something better and any ideas on what it would cost.

Click to expand...

Well, YES.....

(I thought I indicated that in one of my previous ramblings!!)


I pulled my 87 460/KC and replaced the whole mess with a 1997 Mercruiser/Bravo that I bought from Craigslist out of a wind damaged boat (tree fell on it).........

I paid the guy $5K for the entire package (in Winter of 2006 I think)

It was a stroke of luck but since then, I still check on there from time to time and have found several 454/496 Bravo setups (depending on year model) for anywhere from $6k-$8500.

There are deals out there you just have to be persistent.

If I could have bought manifolds and a coupler, I might not have swapped it out. BACK THEN..........

But knowing what I know NOW, I am sure glad I did. Besides, over 2 or 3 years I was able to part out almost all the OMC stuff for a total of $3500 so far...... ($1450 for the drive alone!)

No wonder things get confused when someone says "I have a King Cobra"

Click to expand...

Yeah! It could mean anything!!!!

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

weshalsall said:

Thanks for all the input. Im just ready to get it back or get a call telling me whats wrong with it. but im thinking i might go pick it up and try this myself. Talking about shifting it was very hard to go from reverse to forward, even after i had the cable adjusted. Then the day all this happened it didnt want to go into neutral.

Click to expand...

It's very important for you to understand that you should not shift it directly from one gear to another (FWD-REV, vice versa)


It's very possible that your ESA or the linkage that actuates it is not working properly. The ESA causes the engine to "stumble" which reduces torque on the shift-dogs enough to allow easy shifting OUT of gear and into neutral.

(It actually causes the ignition to "pulse" which causes torque "pulses".............during a torque-"LOW" the shift dogs can be easily separated. ) The following explains pretty well.... http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/


IT ONLY WORKS IN THE WATER! I.E. when there's torque on the prop (because it's in the water!!!) It should NOT actuate on the trailer running on a flush adapter. If it does, something is binding either in the lower shift cable (corrosion etc) or in the drive/transom mount.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

HT32BSX115 said:

The (big one behind the 460) Dog-Clutch Cobras were from 87-89. (Mine was an 87 model)

Click to expand...

OK...I knew there were dog clutch King Cobras but I thought they were during a different time. Were the King Cobras that were attached to the 7.4L(Chevy) engines all cone clutch modeles? I think that is where I was confused.

There was a time many years ago that I was thinking about buying one of these. This was just after OMC went out of business.

Re: OMC cobra problems again.

Im pretty sure the ESA was working properly, it would stumble when shifting, but when going from reverse to forward it would take alot of force to put it back in forward or nuetral. So im thinking it just needs more adjusting, cable wise.if not, anybody out there want to buy a stratos.