Calling Bob Hill

"Bob,on 8-21 i had a post on a

"Bob,on 8-21 i had a post on a shifting problem that happens to be the same as Jeff's on 8-25. You ask me for the model # to see if it is a cone or clutch setup, here is what i got. TO766795--987797 5.7/8L. On my linkage i have just one switch which i am assuming is a interrupt switch, so does that mean there is a ESA.If i press this switch while in neutral and there is no interrupt then is it a bad ESA or bad switch. Just hard getting back into neutral while engine is running, easy when not running"

"Hi Harry....unfortunately I c

"Hi Harry....unfortunately I can't match up that model # 987797, I'm assuming it's either a 92 or 93. Not sure though if it's a true King Cobra or regular drive? OMC decided to make a 5.8 regular engine (carb) and regular drive, then they made a 5.8 KC drive and then they through in an engine with EFI. A fairly easy way to tell which drive is by looking at the very top of the drive, a King Cobra has a hump on top where as a regular Cobra is flat. Let's assume you have the KC with the cone clutch then you most likely have the EEM (computer) and the ESA circuitry is built in and you will have an interrupt switch. If the problem is intermittent then the easiest part to check/change would be the switch.

Tried to show the differences below, drive on the left is a King and the right is a regular

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"Hey Bob, Mine is the carbed c

"Hey Bob, Mine is the carbed cobra, not the king. and there is another boat just like mine on the lake same year,same motor that like you said has the EFI setup I did put the boat in the lake earlier today on the trailer and was watching interrupter roller to see if it was falling into the v notch on the load lever and it was. What i did notice is that when i shifted into forward the interrupter roller did not go on the high side of the v notch and interrupt,it only went high and interrupted going back to neutral and then fell back into the v notch, is that the correct operation. I can push the switch by hand and every time it has interrupted,but then those other times it just will not go into neut.Are the switches easy to get. I have some micro switches but the roller arms are not as long. Thanks for all the help Bob."

"When in the water and shiftin

"When in the water and shifting out of gear, you should hear/feel the engine stumble when the interrupt switch makes. Sounds like mechanically your system is working properly but you may have an intermitant problem on the electrical side. This happen to mine and I finally found a broken wire between the ESA and coil. Sometimes it would work, sometimes not. The wire looked fine but was broken inside the insulation near the connector. Ran a new wire and haven't had a problem since. Another thing to check is idle speed. If it's too fast it will be tough to pull out of gear."

"Like Chuck says it sounds lik

"Like Chuck says it sounds like it's mechanically it's working fine ( as long as your watching ) although the manual test with the switch sounds good as well. A couple of things to check first are, pull the connector apart from the ESA to make sure there is no corrosion in there, make sure the ground from the ESA is making a good connection and firmly attached and have a close look at the switch, some guys have tightened the switch down too much with the 2 mounting screws so that even though the roller arm moves the internal workings of the switch bind up inside and the switch points don't transfer. I you have a soft touch and a good ear you can feel and hear the points xfer inside as you move the arm."