1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

We just purchased an 89 Bayliner Ciera 2755 with an OMC Cobra 5.8. Our first voyage with said boat resulted in some questions about shifting, some I have answered by searching. One I cannot find the answer to. On the shift bracket on the motor. There are 2 cables. A red ended one on top (forward) and a black ended on the bottom (reverse) My question is this... Is the black casing supposed to slide over the sliver part of the cable or is the black casing supposed to stay in one place? We are having issues with rough shifting into reverse and not shifting into neutral from reverse. It looks as if there is a set screw on the black casing, but I can not be sure. Any help would be appreciated. The PO is a friend and took meticulous care of his stuff, the rest of the boat is in perfect condition.

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

Usually the cable on top is the cable that connects to the leg to change gear (the gearbox is in the leg). The bottom cable is the cable that comes from the shift lever.

With rough shifting in/out of gear, this is usually caused by the Electronic Shift Assist module actuated by a microswitch on the shift mechanism not working properly or adjustment of the shift cable being required to depress the relevant microswitches during shift in/out of gear.

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

Best to give this a thorough read. Along with a possible ESA problem your shift cables may need adjusted.

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

javajesus said:

We just purchased an 89 Bayliner Ciera 2755 with an OMC Cobra 5.8. Our first voyage with said boat resulted in some questions about shifting, some I have answered by searching. One I cannot find the answer to. On the shift bracket on the motor. There are 2 cables. A red ended one on top (forward) and a black ended on the bottom (reverse) My question is this... Is the black casing supposed to slide over the sliver part of the cable or is the black casing supposed to stay in one place? We are having issues with rough shifting into reverse and not shifting into neutral from reverse. It looks as if there is a set screw on the black casing, but I can not be sure. Any help would be appreciated. The PO is a friend and took meticulous care of his stuff, the rest of the boat is in perfect condition.

Click to expand...

Howdy,


Your problem can be caused by a number of things.

USUALLY, shifting problems are caused by a lower shift cable NOT moving easily. (corroded, damaged cable etc)

This will frequently cause an ESA activation when going INTO gear. The system should NOT activate going into either FWD or REV. It should only activate when coming OUT of gear.

If you'd like to know more about it read the following http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/

If you want to be able to work on it yourself get a copy of the correct year OEM OMC service manual (NOT Seloc or Clymer)

Regards,


Rick

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

Oh crap.... I have the same setup, 1992 OMC on a ChrisCraft 223.

Just had it serviced, where the lower shift cable was replaced along with the nuetral switch and some other wear items like the gimble bearing, $900 later the botton the shifter/throttle was sticking. The tech, a mobile repair guy is being a jerk and not returning my call so I had to see if I could fix it myself. I'll handle him with consumer affiars in my local county. Such a dirtbag... anyway...

I took my shifter off the other day as I felt the nuetral button was sticking, didn't want to start. So I bypassed the button and it started right up.

I wanted to see if I could lube it. It's a few years old and thought it may need some grease.

I now can't get the cables to work properly as one will work but the other can't mount to the gear on the back without casuing a problem. What the heck? Did I do something wrong by removing the cables from the shifter, it was a simple pin holding them in place, figured I could lube it and then just put the pins back in, not the case???

Can anyone show me a link to a diagram of the shifter and how the cables go back on???

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

Anyone??? I fixed the nuetral switch contact inside the throttle assembly can not figure out how to re-install the cables... can anyone provide a diagram of how to route the cables and installation instructions on how to re-install them????

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

If you want more folks to see (and potentially answer) your questions, you should probably start a new thread describing your issue in detail rather than tacking your post to the bottom of an existing thread that has been dormant for almost two months.

Good luck.

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

i am replacing my lower shift cable in the morning. i have an 89 5.8 omc it was doing the same thing, real rough shifting and hard to find neutral. after removing out drive and removing the shift cable i found that it had actually begun to rust so hopefully the new cabel fixes the problem. with the cable removed the shifter moves so easy. it should move much better once i replace the cable. take a pic of what you have taken apart and i will send a pic of how its supposed to go.

Re: 1989 Cobra 5.8 shifter question

I have the two cables off the back of the controls/throttle/shifter, one is for the carb and the other is for the shift/nuetral switch and that goes to the lower shift cable. I didn't touch anything other than the throttle end on the back oof the control. Inserting the pins back in and throttle works on the upper pin but the shift cable does not want to slide back and forth, what do I need to do to get the shift cable back on and working properly...?