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Difficulty shifting on 1987 Bayliner Capri w 50 L OMC Cobra

rob52

New member
"We have replaced the shifter

"We have replaced the shifter cables (2 years in a row), the actual shifter and the shift interrupter modules and it is still hard to shift. We had the boat back in the water for a couple of days and lost reverse but it was only due to a broken cotter pin---easiest thing to correct - and CHEAPEST! Any suggestions on why the shifting is still very stiff? Finding OMC parts is so hard to do and I am beginning to wonder if we should just cut our losses and forget about this boat. Still has great speed and runs great...just shifting is a pain. Thanks for any input."
 
"Normally changing the cable o

"Normally changing the cable once should do it and those ESA modules don't go very often? Make sure your idle is as low as you can get it. Somewhere down around 600 in gear. Is it hard to come out of gear into neutral? Have a read through this link, it's Stuart Hasting's website on Cobra's, specifically hard shifting.

http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/"
 
"Is it hard overall (throt

"Is it hard overall (throttle, and shift), or just hard coming out of gear? It could be the cables from front to back, or it could be the control box. If you're replacing the control cables from front to back, Id recommend using Volvo Penta SAE cables, and getting the OMC ends for them. They are outstanding cables. The only other comparable cable that I've found is a Yamaha cable. Also make sure you have the correct ESA module, there were several different ones, as well as several updates to them. One of the easy ways to tell if you have the latest one is to check and see if there are spacers between the ESA, and its bracket. Another way to tell is with the boat idling, activate the interrupt switch by pushing on it, and hold it. The should stop interrupting the engine after about 5 sec.

OMC Parts really shouldn't be that hard to find. Most Johnson/Evinrude dealers have access to Stern drive parts since BRP bought OMC."
 
"The difficulty is in coming o

"The difficulty is in coming out of gear. There doesn't seem to be any problem with the throttle. In the last two years, we have spent almost $3000 trying to get this problem fixed. Our Bennington pontoon shifts with barely a finger...the Bayliner almost requires two hands. Granted, the pontoon is only 2 years old and the bayliner is 20 years old...just seems like when so much has been replaced, you should just about have a "new" boat."
 
"As Boatwrench says...do the s

"As Boatwrench says...do the static ESA test, start with the easy stuff. Carefully while running in neutral, just reach down and lift up on the actuator for the interupt switch, this should activate the ESA and make the engine stumble, run rough and drop in RPM's, if that works you know that the ESA module is good and the switch adn wiring are good."
 
I certainly will try that. The

I certainly will try that. The shifter cables were replaced both years because they were stretched. Something just has to be out of adjustment to cause this to happen. Obviously I am not a mechanic but the cables just wouldn't stretch on their own if they were installed correctly. Your input has been very valuable to me. Thanks. Any more ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
"I've come accross several

"I've come accross several cobras that had the shift shaft so bound up by the shift shaft seal or o-ring that they darn near wouldn't shift at all. Then found that the ESA had been disabled because of "rough running" when shifting. The shift shaft should move very, very easy when the drive is off the boat when turning the propshaft by hand."
 
"I just went through a similar

"I just went through a similar situation. I'll start by saying I am by no means a master mechanic...just a regular Joe. My 1988 OMC shifted hard and would not go into neutral unless I shut off the engine. Made for some interesting docking and I got tired of looking like a numb-nut every time I fueled. I knew about Stuart Hastings web site and printed off all his stuff, but I always got by. Finally the shifter got bad enough that I had to address the situation.

The first stage is to Check the ESA like everyone says. Easiest step.

Then try to isolate the hard shifting. I took the shifter cable (the one that goes through the transom to the outdrive) off the pin on the shifter lever on the engine and try to see how difficult it is to shift the outdrive by hand. Someone needs to turn the prop a little so it drops into gear. I dropped the outdrive (shifter in neutral) after it was apparent how tough it was to get into and out of gear. I checked and adjusted the cable according to Hastings and the cable was not the problem. Tried to shift the outdrive using the shift lever (rod with the bird beak on it..in the outdrive). Again turning the prop a little for it to drop into gear. It shifted hard, but not that bad. I put everything back together again and it still shifted hard (pushing and pulling on the transom cable). Bottom line, it doesn't take much resistence, combined with a little cable resistance to cause a problem. I took the outdrive off again and checked the cable again. Very little resistance. I then greased the shaft on the outdrive shifter shaft with it in foreward. I then cycled it into and out of reverse and forward to get grease into the shaft seal. This has seemed to fix the hard shifting problem. I also ran some new outdrive grease through the lower drive gear case, discarded it and put in fresh to further clean up the gears on the advice of a mechanic. The next step is to replace the shifter shaft seal.

This is all about getting your transom cable to be able to shift easily by hand. Mostly a process of elimination.

The next step is to adjust the cables according to Stuart Hastings 5 step method.

Excuse my long winded story."
 
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