!!!Question about shift assist!!!

[Andrewkomc]

Hello n thanks for reading! 1992 4.3L Cobra

Are shift assist moduals common to go bad?
What are the side effects?
Any particular reason that causes this to happend?

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

20 year old electronic module bolted to a vibrating engine it's whole life can go bad, yes....

side effects? you mean symptoms?

symptom is : tough to shift out of gear into neutral - crashing into the dock
side effect is a stretched lower shift cable from the added strain of that forced panic shift
secondary side effect is destroyed lower unit due to stretched lower shift cable

 

[Don S]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

Why don't you just tell us what your problem is instead of asking a bunch of questions that may or may not have anything to do with your problem.

 

[Andrewkomc]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

Sorry for my english yes i ment symptoms.

After riding around for couple hours, i was going full throttle and the engine died.
No spark! Disconnect the shift assist it fires up
Intorrupt switch ok
Tech guage wire is not grounded


Also what would cause the tech guage needle to get stuck at its highest point?(First signs of shift assist going bad???)

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

sounds like you are on the right track Andrew. You can't go too far wrong replacing that old module. If you buy the CDI aftermarket unit, it allows you to use any electronic ignition in the future.

 

[Andrewkomc]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

Thank you for your help Howard!
My OEM shift assis Part # is 987567
And the replacment i found is CDI Part #: 123-7567 Is this the one that would work with any ignition including?


The symptoms that i had:
Pulsing all guages (they would pulse evey second about 1/4")
RPM guage got stuck at highest point
Finaly the boat died on me at full throttle
This happened over the 3 times i had the boat in water.
Thanks.

 

[Don S]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

You can replace the module, but I bet that doesn't cure your problem. After you unplugged the ESA when it died and it started working again, did you plug it back in and see if it would still start?
Sounds more like a loose or corroded connections somewhere, than a black box being intermittent.

 

[Andrewkomc]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

Yes i tryed starting with it connected then withought, then started the engine and then connect it while it was running it died, checked the swith wire and the rpm guage wire if they where grounded they where grounded. (Also took the rpm guage completley off because i have too replace it anyway)
The pulsing of the guages stoped after the rpm guage got stock
And when the guages where pulsing it didnt seen like a short they had a constant pulse (A consistent pulse every second or so) not flikering. Im guessing it was the ESA that was sending som type of pulse trough the rpm guage wire which effected the other guages.
I could see the ESA board in the back of it and it has a pretty complax circuit (alot could go wrong) also near where the wires go in the ESA by the board i could see som dark spot like som overheated or burned out.
Again thank you for your intrest!
Like they say one head is good but iboats forums is the best!

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: !!!Question about shift assist!!!

Your 4.3 came from OMC with the Prestolite BID system, which has a bit of a goofy reputation.... so where I was going with the CDI replacement, .......if you end up diagnosing the issue to the distributor, that new ESA will free you up to use a Delco marine ignition or any other marine distributor for a 4.3, whereas the original ESA won't work with other distributors and BID won't work with a Merc style interrupt conversion which is popular.