ESA kicking in by itself

[F14CRAZY]

'85 Series 400, 3.0L in my Capri.

Randomly while cruising the engine will drop RPM and stumble like when the electric shift assist is making the ignition miss while shifting (switches were properly adjusted and not pressed when shifted in gear). I disconnected the 4 pin connector and its run fine since but shifting is a little difficult and I'm sure its hard on the cable.

Do I need to replace the electrical module:

OMC Cobra Stringer 120 140 2 5 3 0 Litre Shift Assist Module | eBay

or do I need to replace the switches on the shift converter?

 

[F14CRAZY]

Re: ESA kicking in by itself

bump, anyone?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: ESA kicking in by itself

For $20 I would grab it and try it. Sounds like, after having disconnected it, it is the likely culprit.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: ESA kicking in by itself

Any and all of the components in the system can cause that symptom. From the cables, to the lower unit, to the switches, to the module, to the wiring.
The thing to do is watch the system while someone else drives and try to determine first if the issue is mechanical or electrical.
i.e. is something physically moving to close the switch while underway, or is nothing moving, but the system is reacting to an electrical fault.
If the latter, then a multimeter watching voltage at the switch would be the place to start watching (again while someone else drives)
It could be a wire grounding out.

All you know so far is that the system is kicking in when it shouldn't so that says it is capable of stumbling the ignition and that's it's job so I would suspect the module is healthy but it is the last component you work your way to.