In case anyone's interested; while I'm waiting for parts and troubleshooting the ESA, I bypassed it with the "Mercruiser re-wire" by disconnecting the interrupter switch and splicing its wires so that the wire that used to be power goes to the negative side of the ignition coil, and the ground wire is spliced back into the original ground wire. This turns the "interrupter switch" into a "kill switch", like a Mercruiser. And by disconnecting the switch and splicing the wires (no cutting), its completely reversible.
I wanted to spell this process out and make a thread because it took me quite a bit of searching to figure out exactly how to do it; maybe people searching will find this post and it will help them
I was surprised that there wasn't more info on the web about it, what with so many people having ESA issues and it being so easy.
You have to shift with a little fervor, so you'll need well-functioning shift cables, but it works great. Neutral comes easy now.
I'm sure it doesn't work as well as a properly working ESA system, and I do still plan on getting that working, but it will make your boat functional and your gears will thank you.
I wanted to spell this process out and make a thread because it took me quite a bit of searching to figure out exactly how to do it; maybe people searching will find this post and it will help them
I was surprised that there wasn't more info on the web about it, what with so many people having ESA issues and it being so easy.You have to shift with a little fervor, so you'll need well-functioning shift cables, but it works great. Neutral comes easy now.
I'm sure it doesn't work as well as a properly working ESA system, and I do still plan on getting that working, but it will make your boat functional and your gears will thank you.