I have a 1986 3.0 OMC in my 22' foot sylvan offshore. It ran great one day and then the next day I went to use it and I put the boat in the lake and it would barely idle and would fill the cylinders with gas because I kept trying to push the throttle down more to clear it out. A few hours later I figured out by chance that it was ESA by shifting to forward or reverse while not running the boat would start and run perfect after the non running shifting.
Today I watched the ESA while my dad shifted the boat in and out of gear and the small arm that sits in the shift actuator would not fall all the way back right away. I put a small drop of oil on the actuator and a drop on the end of the arm/lever the sits in the groove and my problem is basically gone. Once in a while from forward to neutral it will idle rough for half a second now, but when it does the vibration from the rough idle drops the arm the rest of the way and fixes the problem.
My question is do I have a lower cable problem or is actuator and lever just a little dirty and dry since the drop of oil basically cured the problem?
Today I watched the ESA while my dad shifted the boat in and out of gear and the small arm that sits in the shift actuator would not fall all the way back right away. I put a small drop of oil on the actuator and a drop on the end of the arm/lever the sits in the groove and my problem is basically gone. Once in a while from forward to neutral it will idle rough for half a second now, but when it does the vibration from the rough idle drops the arm the rest of the way and fixes the problem.
My question is do I have a lower cable problem or is actuator and lever just a little dirty and dry since the drop of oil basically cured the problem?