omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

[wheeler87]

I have a 1987 omc cobra 2.3 L manual shift on a 17' open sunbird.
The problem i am having is that it will not come out of forward when the engine is running goes in and out of reverse fine but once in forward it sticks there (will not come out ) when the engine is off it works fine forward reverse and nutral also when out of the water and hooked to the hose it works fine when running all gears . as soon as i put it in the water i have this problem . here is what i have done, both shift cables new , had entire lower unit apart , checked all adjustments and fluids , clutch dog is perfect along with everything in outdrive fluid has no water , also tore apart shifter controle and greased everything inside . and as i said everything works perfect out of the water but when i put it in the water it is like flipping a switch. PLEASE HELP I am at my wits end with this thing

 

[xtraham]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

is it grinding or the control just wont move?

 

[wheeler87]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

is it grinding or the control just wont move?

no grinding or funny noises just will not come out of gear

 

[pra100]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

First I would check your shift asst and see if it is working.
On top of engine next carb. there is a bracket,the bracket your shift cables are connectedto, with 2 micro switches on it.One has a little spring arm on it that when you shift it moves that arm in a slot.With engine running in netural flip the little spring and see if it stumbles the engine,it should drop the rpms of engine,this allows the gears to disengage,if not you found what could be your problem.Also your rpms need to be down at 600 or so at idle.Mine is at about 550.Check that then you can go on to check your shift cable and adjustment,which is the cable that goes thru transom down to drive.I have explained this as simple as I can.Stewart Hastings has a website with alot of info on cobra drives and the shifting cable and adjustment.I am not at home where I can give you the link to it but I am sure someone else will before I can get home and post it.

 

[lakelivin]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

Link to Stuart's site. Copy the entire address & paste it into your browsers address bar instead of trying to click on the underlined part.

For some reason when I try to create a link it cuts off the last half of the address. When I just type in the address, it creates a link (even though I didn't try to) and still cuts off the last half of the address. Wonder if it's an iboats forum system thing or perhaps because I use Firefox instead of IE as my browser???

http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/index.html

 

[wheeler87]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

Thank you for this very useful info . I have asked local boat shops where the idle should be and also asked about the little micro switch and no one has been of any help . One shop told me th idle should be about 800. Will try what you said tomorrow . and thanks for the link to hastings

 

[bruceb58]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

More than likely, your shift cable is failing.

edit:

I rechecked your original post and see you replaced the cables. Make sure your controller doesn't have excess slop in it and that you support your shift cable along it's entire length by strapping it to the side of the boat an/or the sterring cable. Cobra's are very sensitive to "lost moton". It make adjusting these even trickier than they already are.

When you replaced your lower shift cable did you use the OMC jig to set the bellcrank at 90 degrees?

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

You're on the right track with the Hastings link.Once you get that idle below 650 you will be golden.

DHP

 

[wheeler87]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

ok the little micro switch does nothing. also my idle was at 850 , now I have it between 500 and 550 (it sounds like its barley running but it idles fine there) I am trying to locate the new micro switch before I try it but im going out this weekend . hopefully just lowering the idle helps since it was so far off . everyone here has been a great help thank you . ill let you know if it is any better after this weekend ( since I can only tell if its better when it is in the water.

 

[wheeler87]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

no I do not have an omc jig for the bellcrank is there another way to do it I have the shop manual for the outdrive and it says nothing for adjusting the shift cable. ( that was the only reason I baught the book ) I know from other people that these things are very sensetive to adjustment.

 

[pra100]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

I would try it in the water at that lower idle and see if shifts any better before I proceeded with anything else.
As DHP says that should do it.
If not some things to think about:
I use a square to adjust my bellcrank,it explains how on the Hastings website.Now this process can be very nerving racking as some people have spent alot of time trying to do.Myself it worked perfect as far as adjusting the lower shift cable.If you where to take it to a shop I would make sure that they new what they were doing with a cobra or you could end up with some damaged gears.
When you say the mocroswitch did nothing when you fliped it that could be your esa [electronic shift assist]
module.The micro switch activates the module which in turn pulses the coil to make the engine stumble so it will come out of gear.Now you will find this module by tracing the wires from switches to 2 plugs which in turn plugs into a small black module.
Now all that said,you could have corroided contacts in the plugs from switch,bad switch bad ground or a number of reasons why it isn't working.
Now on my omc cobra I did away with the esa and made my own shift asst.

 

[olbuddyjack]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

When you say the mocroswitch did nothing when you fliped it that could be your esa [electronic shift assist]
module.The micro switch activates the module which in turn pulses the coil to make the engine stumble so it will come out of gear.Now you will find this module by tracing the wires from switches to 2 plugs which in turn plugs into a small black module.
.

Heres a pic complements Doug Russel.

Its part no. 71

 

[bruceb58]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

Try this before you go out:

Shift into forward gear and note at what angle your control is when the drive first enters gear. Do the same for reverse. They should be very close to equal. That is sort of a "seat of the pants" guage of how close it is to being adjusted correctly.

As i said in my previous post, the Cobra is very sensitive to lost motion. Any lost motion in addition to an ESA not working correctly can be causing your problem too. Have someone hold the shift cable(without the engine running) from moving at the engine and gently operate your control front to back. You should not be able to move the control much at all. If you do get some motion at the control, verify that the connection of the cable at the control is not loose or the control itself is not worn. I greatly improved the shifting of my Cobra by replacing my control with a new high quality unit and tie wrapiing the shift cable to the steering cable.

Hastings is an excellent source of info on the Cobra. The person that I learned the most from is a guy by the name of Dave Brown that runs a shop up in Canada. He used to post all the time in the newsgroups.

 

[wheeler87]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

thanks again for this info . as I said before I am taking her out this weekend to see if there is any improvement . I have lowered the idle close to 500 and have zip tied the cables to the steering cable . There is little to no "lost motion" I will let you know how she acts

 

[Don S]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

Lowering the rpm to 500 will not cure the problem. It might mask it a little, but it won't cure it. Running it that way will help round over the shift dogs and probably do damage to the shift cable, but no problem, you MUST get out this weekend, no matter what the cost.
Either the ESA is bad, the Shift interrupt switch isn't working, or the wiring is bad. The longer you run it the more expensive the fix.

 

[wheeler87]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

I have checked the shift interupt switch with an ohm meter and it is fine . not sure how to check the esa and I plan on investigating the wiring today . as far as having to go out this weekend I DONT HAVE TO It is just that the only way to see if it is working properly is to have it in the water (which is very frustrating ) as I said before it works perfectly fine out of the water. How else can I be sure it is fixed without dragging it to the water and trying it.

 

[Don S]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

You don't have to shift it to see if the shift system work.
Run it in the driveway (On Muffs) and with your hand, move the Y shaped bracket on the shift plate and see if the engine misfires. If it doesn't then something is still wrong. Check the wiring and connections, if all is good, then the ESA module is bad. But you DO NOT have to have it in the water to test it.

 

[Darkhorse1201]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

Pra100 - I for one would like to know how you " did away with the ESA and made your own shift assist". Anyone else curios to this? How could that be? Maybe that could help wheeler87 as those ESA can cost a few bucks.

 

[Mystic Dragon]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

Ironically, I have a Bayliner Cierra 2150 with the OMC 3.0L and have always had a hard time getting it out of forward. I knew that it had to do with the assist but I wasn't sure where my problem lay.

I am currently changing out the motor to a Merc 2.5L and lo and behold noticed that the old OMC is missing the interrupter switch. No wonder i was having trouble! LOL :/

So hopefully I will get it fixed on the new Merc (although Merc uses a switch to the coil or some other system) I will be retrofitting the Merc with the ESA module. It should be interesting.

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: omc cobra will not come out of forward gear please help

Mystic Dragon...can't imagine why on earth you want to put the OMC ESA on your Mercruiser (can hardly wait for Don's reply) but why not stick with just the shift assist switch to keep it simple?