2016 WakeSetter 23 LSV Fuel Gauge Not Working Properly

[TexasTexas95]

Hey all, I got me some questions. I have a 16' 23LSV and after the 20 hour service, my fuel gauge has never worked correctly. Malibu did the software update and since then it's been nothing but issues....(EVERYTHING WORKED FLAWLESSLY) before the 20 hour service with Malibu software updates. When I got it back, things began to go wrong. Surf gates had to be recalibrated (easy fix that I was able to do) the wedge was showing in lift mode when it was actually stowed. The wedge alarm constantly going off and it was not even functional (dealer fixed that issue the second time I brought it in) they replaced a recalled screen and also put in a new fuel float/sender type thing thinking the original may have been stuck for the fuel gauge issue. This fixed the wedge but still left me going nuts about the fuel gauge. The dealer claimed it was fixed but after 5 minutes the gauge was messed up again. It shows 90% then 10% then 30% and every % between 100 and  an exclamation point with a Low Fuel Warning that I am constantly clearing. WTF!?!? I'm going crazy. I'm tired of everyone asking if we're about to run out of gas and I honestly would like to know how much fuel is in the tank. Anyone have suggestions???? Also, just for my own peace of mind, is there a way to look in the tank and visibly see if it has Fuel?? When I took a quick look, it was too dark to tell how much was in the tank. I always fill up the boat so I know it's good to go for 8 hours of riding and surfing but I used it yesterday and he forgot to fill it up this morning when he took it out on the lake. He claims that he can't tell how much fuel is in it by looking at it. Is there another simple way to tell (is he being lazy and the fuel line should be visible)? He's colorblind so that may not help....

[TexasTexas95]

I'd also like to add that the boat frequently has a hard start when I push the start button. It will go through a complete start cycle at times before cranking up. It cranks, then stops after four or five seconds of trying to start, then when I press the start button again, it reluctantly fires up. It could also be a possible safety issue if I need to turn the boat on and move out of the way of something kinda quick. Also, kind of embarrassing to have a 100K boat that doesn't start when I tell it to. 

[mikeo]

The fuel gauge works on a float with ~8 sensors (reed switches) mounted to a vertical column with a magnetic float; the computer "averages" the position of the sensor to show the tank level in 1/8 increments by percentage on the dash. Mine has never really been correct, but generally accurate when the boat is floating without ballast on calm water. Since that's not the condition when you really need to know how much fuel is in the tank I did some research and came up with a solution: I've got an OBD style gauge that can "read" the engine computer data to show the fuel flow that goes through the engine injectors. My calculating the fuel flow through the injectors and knowing the size of the tank it's possible to get extremely accurate fuel data on a small additional screen on the dash. I'm running this type of setup in my '15 23 LSV and in a family member's '13 VLX for "beta testing".

I want to get a few more people to try this on their own and report back how it works before I claim here on TMC that I've "fixed" the ongoing marine fuel gauge problems we've all seen for years. Technically this should work for any '09 and later MEFI6 (J1939) protocol boat. I first noticed the OBD-M connector in the '13 boats, but it might be in earlier boats too. I've also tested this in a *gasp* Mastercraft boat and it worked well there too.

If you're interested PM me your email address and I can send you the instructions. It's about $150 in parts and takes about 20-30 minutes to hook up.

This is how my dash looks now:

I have:
TFR: total/tank fuel remaining
TFU: total/tank fuel used
GPH: gallons per hour (instant; scary to watch)
HPR: horsepower (calculated)
There are more digital gauges I can display, but these are my defaults. 

I know someone is going to point out that 26.2 US Gal is not 87% of my 67 US Gal tank, but this picture was taken before I had all the correct parameters to create the digital gauges.

[hunter77ah]

8 minutes ago, mikeo said:

GPH: gallons per hour (instant; scary to watch)

How scary?

[bbattiste247]

52 minutes ago, TexasTexas95 said:

I'd also like to add that the boat frequently has a hard start when I push the start button. It will go through a complete start cycle at times before cranking up. It cranks, then stops after four or five seconds of trying to start, then when I press the start button again, it reluctantly fires up. It could also be a possible safety issue if I need to turn the boat on and move out of the way of something kinda quick. Also, kind of embarrassing to have a 100K boat that doesn't start when I tell it to. 

My 2016 did the exact same thing; I took it in and they claimed they fixed it, but it kept doing it.

[bbattiste247]

1 hour ago, TexasTexas95 said:

Hey all, I got me some questions. I have a 16' 23LSV and after the 20 hour service, my fuel gauge has never worked correctly. Malibu did the software update and since then it's been nothing but issues....(EVERYTHING WORKED FLAWLESSLY) before the 20 hour service with Malibu software updates. When I got it back, things began to go wrong. Surf gates had to be recalibrated (easy fix that I was able to do) the wedge was showing in lift mode when it was actually stowed. The wedge alarm constantly going off and it was not even functional (dealer fixed that issue the second time I brought it in) they replaced a recalled screen and also put in a new fuel float/sender type thing thinking the original may have been stuck for the fuel gauge issue. This fixed the wedge but still left me going nuts about the fuel gauge. The dealer claimed it was fixed but after 5 minutes the gauge was messed up again. It shows 90% then 10% then 30% and every % between 100 and  an exclamation point with a Low Fuel Warning that I am constantly clearing. WTF!?!? I'm going crazy. I'm tired of everyone asking if we're about to run out of gas and I honestly would like to know how much fuel is in the tank. Anyone have suggestions???? Also, just for my own peace of mind, is there a way to look in the tank and visibly see if it has Fuel?? When I took a quick look, it was too dark to tell how much was in the tank. I always fill up the boat so I know it's good to go for 8 hours of riding and surfing but I used it yesterday and he forgot to fill it up this morning when he took it out on the lake. He claims that he can't tell how much fuel is in it by looking at it. Is there another simple way to tell (is he being lazy and the fuel line should be visible)? He's colorblind so that may not help....

Look in the pull tab on the floor near the drivers seat where you remove the drain plug. The big plastic tank as you look towards the rear of the boat is the gas tank. On a level surface you should be able to see how much gas you have. I traded my 16 for a 17 and the 17 has a lot fewer issues. My 16 never started either.

[mikeo]

1 hour ago, hunter77ah said:

How scary?

15+ GPH with a stock + PnP + extra 23 LSV w/350. Next time I'm going up at least 1, if not 2, engine options. (depends on what's available at the time)

[Fman]

Have you tried to complete fill up the fuel tank and see if it reads 100%?  If you get 100% see if it slowly starts to come down on the % as you burn fuel.  I know when you get below 1/4 tank it will fluctuate between different readings depending on the angle of the boat and also because the fuel is sloshing around.

Also when you get to empty or 0% you typically will have a substantial reserve (approx 8-12 gallons).  I am sure Malibu did this so people won't run out of fuel.

[store934]

50 minutes ago, bbattiste247 said:

My 2016 did the exact same thing; I took it in and they claimed they fixed it, but it kept doing it.

I have the same issue that just surfaced on my 2016 about 20 hours ago.   I have not had it looked at yet since there are no associated error codes.  I will hold out until the end of the season.   I bet it might be a ghost issue to chase down since it can't be easily reproduced on my boat.   Maybe 1 in 20 times it will not start on the first try but always on the second.   In testing different Perko setups it does seem more frequent on one battery rather with two.

My fuel gauge works fine but it was always mystery on what it was really telling me.   I have had to fill my boat a few times with 5 gallon cans.  Gave me an opportunity see how 5 gallons move the gauge.   Less than perfect but I found my gauge pretty consistently moves 8% on 5 gallons.   So I figure about 6-7 gallons for every 10% move on the gauge from 100%.   So at 0% I should have 10-20 gallons left.   To test that I ran to 0% and filled it and it took about 15 gallons which must be the reserve.

[TexasTexas95]

My tank is generally full when going out on the lake. The fluctuation happens within minutes from full to "warning low fuel" to 26% and 50% and any number in between. It's all over the place and completely random.

[mikeo]

On 8/18/2017 at 0:32 PM, store934 said:

I have the same issue that just surfaced on my 2016 about 20 hours ago.   I have not had it looked at yet since there are no associated error codes.  I will hold out until the end of the season.   I bet it might be a ghost issue to chase down since it can't be easily reproduced on my boat.   Maybe 1 in 20 times it will not start on the first try but always on the second.   In testing different Perko setups it does seem more frequent on one battery rather with two.

My fuel gauge works fine but it was always mystery on what it was really telling me.   I have had to fill my boat a few times with 5 gallon cans.  Gave me an opportunity see how 5 gallons move the gauge.   Less than perfect but I found my gauge pretty consistently moves 8% on 5 gallons.   So I figure about 6-7 gallons for every 10% move on the gauge from 100%.   So at 0% I should have 10-20 gallons left.   To test that I ran to 0% and filled it and it took about 15 gallons which must be the reserve.

The fuel gauge is a set of 8 reed sensors on a post with a magnet on a float, as the magnet floats up and down it causes the reed sensor to close. The computer takes the input from the reed sensors and "averages" it to try to remove any fuel movement. Since it's a float based system it's never going to be very accurate as long as the boat is moving. Your 5 gallon cans _may_ move the sensor 8% but I doubt it. The sensor only moves in 12.5% increments (100% / 8 = 12.5%); that's why you the first reading below 100% at 87% (100% - 12.5% = 87.5%) and the system only displays integers.

The data is available to the 7" computer, so if Malibu really wanted to press Medallion to have an accurate fuel gauge they could have the system programmed to display the fuel consumption via injectors number that I've managed to do via a ScanGauge OBD tool. The big issue is how the fuel quantity is reset. I don't know how it's done in cars, but I assume that there is some float sensor similar to what Malibu has in the tank but modern automotive fuel tanks typically have baffles to minimize sloshing and I'll bet that the fuel capacity (and range) calculations are triggered from an instant read when the engine starts. With a boat this isn't practical since the boat could be rocking, and therefore fuel sloshing in the tank, when the engine is started so it could give a false 100% full reading to the computer.

I reset my ScanGauge every time I fill up and (almost) never do a partial fillup, so I know I always start with 67 gallons.

I can't comment on the engine not starting, I haven't run in to that issue.