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NO START - TROUBLESHOOTING PROCEDURE


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Gear shift lever in Neutral? Engine will not spin if not in neutral. Note that the neutral

safety switch may be faulty; don't eliminate it from the list of possible problems.

I would add to this rattle or jiggle the shifter back and forth, depress the button and jiggle, etc. depending on the type of controller. Sometimes, related to the faulty switch is just getting it "reset" so to speak in order to activate neutral switching/release.

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3. Does the engine circuit breaker need to be reset? “Engine Circuit Breaker: Your

engine is equipped with a 50 Amp Circuit Breaker to protect the engine electrical

system and components from overload, and is found on the lower right side of the

engine. If your engine should loose power and will not crank, reset the breaker by

firmly pressing the red button (an audible sound will be heard). For additional engine

electrical issues, see your Indmar Engine Owners Manual, or contact your Local

Malibu dealership.”3

S/B lose, but loose will make it through spell check.

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Ok, one more. I checked the resources section and our new boat gear list doesn't go into a specific tool set. Maybe this is the time to detail out what the on board tool set should be and include it as a checklist in order to perform all of the exercises here. I can think of a few things right off that I should probably carry but don't...

multi-tester

test leads

jumper cables (Can you believe it!, hey, I've got two batteries!)

steel wool/ enough sand paper to clean battery terminals/spark plugs

wd 40 or other water displacement of your choice

Lots more of course.

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3. Does the engine circuit breaker need to be reset? "Engine Circuit Breaker: Your

engine is equipped with a 50 Amp Circuit Breaker to protect the engine electrical

system and components from overload, and is found on the lower right side of the

engine. If your engine should loose power and will not crank, reset the breaker by

firmly pressing the red button (an audible sound will be heard). For additional engine

electrical issues, see your Indmar Engine Owners Manual, or contact your Local

Malibu dealership."3

S/B lose, but loose will make it through spell check.

now that's funny. it's a copy/paste from the owners manual!

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Maybe this is the time to detail out what the on board tool set should be and include it as a checklist in order to perform all of the exercises here.

i agree that the contents of the tool box is important but i'm thinking that it may be outside of the scope of a 'no start' procedure. the document is already much longer than i had intended. i don't really think that too many people will read this long winded treatise. ever. that concern was the reason for 'the short list' section. unless there is a popular movement (or if the democratic majority in d.c. forces their agenda on the unwilling populace) i think this topic should stick with the 'no start' topic. if the crew wants to build a 'complete guide to boating' document then we could link from it to this 'no start' section and to 'tools', 'safety', etc..

for the most part i think that most inboard boaters could benefit from a little memory tweak like 'the short list'. while on the water the crew can browse 'the short list' and make decisions based on their skill set and tool set. i would like the list to be complete and let the user take the path that fits their needs. i don't object to adding details to the pdf document.

we can add links out to other related docs. or topics, should they become available. i did take a look at the Resources/DIY "New Owner Gear List" but it only referenced "Basic tool kit". if anyone wants to start another topic that covers a suggested tool kit (i've seen a similar 'spare parts' topic that included some tools) we can provide a link to it. the 'spare parts' topic isn't well organized but would be a good start for that basic tool kit list.

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Thanks for getting a comprehensive list like this together. Your efforts have me and my family on our way this evening with little head ache. My wife does not mind having the boat around when it starts every time which was the justification for our new boat.

Thanks for letting keep my boat for another season.

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martinarcher

Well,

You're saying the plugs got carboned up due to the car only running a few seconds. So, when you started the cold engine, the engine was in "enrich" mode and sorta fouled the plugs. Cranking the crap out of it with the pedal on the floor would clear that up. Basically, what you did have was a flooded engine.

Well it might have been flooded that day, but we worked at it over a good week and a half before getting it started. I really doubt there much if any raw fuel in the cylinders after that amount of time. Trust me, root cause was some serious carbon coating in the plugs. The whole time I cleaned those plugs I was mad at myself for not noticing how bad they were when I pulled the first plug out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

On Carb'd engines: check that the choke and choke pull-off is working correctly. The small butterfly on the carb should be slightly open. If no start: do a visual of the butterflies as you're cranking the engine.

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On Carb'd engines: check that the choke and choke pull-off is working correctly. The small butterfly on the carb should be slightly open. If no start: do a visual of the butterflies as you're cranking the engine.

done.

also added link to the mefi trouble-shooting post.

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  • 2 months later...

edited document to reflect the "Vapor lock? Dead on the water for an hour today" thread. prelim diagnosis began as a vapor lock issue and ends as a low voltage (long battery cable runs) problem.

Might be useful to run through a few of the vapor lock voodoo fixes too, if it is vapor lock? First would be to key-up four or five times before trying to start to get the fuel pump to prime with cool gas and clear the vapor lock at the rail. If that doesn't work, and you want to CONFIRM vapor lock, put a wet rag over the schrader valve on the fuel rail and vent it. If you get air, you've got vapor lock, if you get raw fuel probably not vapor lock.

As with all of the other warnings, obviously venting vaporized (or liquid) gasoline over a hot engine could result in unintended consequences. Probably not a job for the smokers on the board.

Edited by shawndoggy
  • Like 1
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Might be useful to run through a few of the vapor lock voodoo fixes too, if it is vapor lock? First would be to key-up four or five times before trying to start to get the fuel pump to prime with cool gas and clear the vapor lock at the rail. If that doesn't work, and you want to CONFIRM vapor lock, put a wet rag over the schrader valve on the fuel rail and vent it. If you get air, you've got vapor lock, if you get raw fuel probably not vapor lock.

As with all of the other warnings, obviously venting vaporized (or liquid) gasoline over a hot engine could result in unintended consequences. Probably not a job for the smokers on the board.

done. thanks for the feedback.

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  • 2 months later...

i've cleaned up those items where i was hoping for more input from the crew: most concerned requests for model specific locations; not a big deal.

as far as i am concerned this edition of the document is sufficient for it's intended purpose.

that's not to say it can't (or won't) be improved but i'm going to call it complete (for now).

is there an argument for adding the document to the "TheMalibuCrew.com > Resources/DIY" section of the forum?

granted having tmc host the document would make updates more of a problem (would involve a mod).

now i'm thinking we should head in the same direction (wiki-type document) with a "Coolant Temperature - Troubleshooting Procedure".

we seem to re-hash that topic on a very regular basis.

if we continue to document a handful of the more common faults requiring "Troubleshooting Procedures" perhaps a "Troubleshooting Procedures" link might vector to the complete collection of "Troubleshooting Procedures" within the "TheMalibuCrew.com > Resources/DIY" section of the forum.

what 'cha think?

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Tvano.

I applaud you for your efforts and sincere desire to help everyone on the crew by suggesting and doing all the work on this doc.

I think it would be great if we could get stuff like this added to the tech. /diy section of the site. As long as someone is willing to sit down, write, edit, and make corrections as needed.

I, myself, am getting tired of reading the same questions on here over and over. I've decided to stop answering some of them. A lot of questions could be answered by RTFM which is linked in my signature (if anyone cared / clicked on it).

Something else that concerns me is liability. A lot of people on here, that aren't mechanically inclined, seem to have a hard time telling us what their problem actually is. I have a hard time giving out suggestions if I'm not very comfortable in knowing what the person is talking about (usually a picture is worth a 1K words). So, I don't want someone to get mad at me because I made a suggestion and was wrong. (it does / can happen)

Lastly, there are a ton of variables that can be in place with any situation. Without me being there in person and seeing what a boat is / isn't doing, it's hard to make a blind diagnosis over the internet. (Just an example, look at how many people tell us their boat won't start and our first guess is "is the lanyard in?")

Just my .02

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  • 2 years later...
  • 6 years later...
On 9/9/2010 at 2:25 PM, Pistol Pete said:

Tvano.

I applaud you for your efforts and sincere desire to help everyone on the crew by suggesting and doing all the work on this doc.

I think it would be great if we could get stuff like this added to the tech. /diy section of the site. As long as someone is willing to sit down, write, edit, and make corrections as needed.

I, myself, am getting tired of reading the same questions on here over and over. I've decided to stop answering some of them. A lot of questions could be answered by RTFM which is linked in my signature (if anyone cared / clicked on it).

Something else that concerns me is liability. A lot of people on here, that aren't mechanically inclined, seem to have a hard time telling us what their problem actually is. I have a hard time giving out suggestions if I'm not very comfortable in knowing what the person is talking about (usually a picture is worth a 1K words). So, I don't want someone to get mad at me because I made a suggestion and was wrong. (it does / can happen)

Lastly, there are a ton of variables that can be in place with any situation. Without me being there in person and seeing what a boat is / isn't doing, it's hard to make a blind diagnosis over the internet. (Just an example, look at how many people tell us their boat won't start and our first guess is "is the lanyard in?")

Just my .02

I checked my lanyard and switch is up and my boat still will not start or even when I turn key no nothing as if I have no power source but I have two new batteries .. please help 

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Does anything else work?  Are you saying you have ZERO power to anything on the boat?  If so, I'd start with your main circuit breaker(s).  Then check the battery switch: verify the cable connections are clean and tight (you'll probably have to unscrew it from it installed location), and then of course verify it is ON.  Then battery connections: remove the battery terminals, clean and reinstall, and also re-check for proper installation, yes even positive vs negative. 

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This is pinned at the top of the maintenance forum above.

follow the steps located here.  Select the “PDF” version for a better product.  Skip to the bottom of the PDF for the quick version of what to do.  Start from the top for the in-depth, step by step, procedures.  

Hope this helps,

Whitecap

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  • 10 months later...

Hi there, I am new at this ... just got an older Malibu - 1993 Echelon.  Does anyone have the digital owner's manual for this boat?

Based on all of this great help in the PDF - thank you! - I need to change the fuel filter - I am hoping the manual will have a diagram of where to locate it, and steps on how to change it... I want to ensure that I do it properly so that I don't create a fuel mess!

Thank you,

CJ

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am hoping you gents can steer me in the right direction. I have a 2005 Malibu Vride and was out on the water for about six hours the other day. I was switching riders and everyting was running fine then i put it into gear started to take off and the engine just  cut out. I had power to all my gauges and battery level was good and had lots of cranking power. While repeatedly trying to start, the engine would occasionally fire then immediately cut back out. I have had kill switch issues in the past that gave similar results but when i bypassed it, it produced the same result. Any ideas as to where to start my search and maybe  narrow my focus?  I have tried to start again days later and same result which makes me think vapour lock is out of the question. 

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@JMAC81 welcome to the cres.

the document, for which this thread is named, is our (crowd sourced) attempt to put a logical process in place for sorting out your issues.

you don't mention if you have run through the documented process.  if you have not it would be a good place to start. 

 

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  • 2 years later...

The checklist is a great idea and very helpful.  The comments are helpful too.  We are replacing the plugs now.  We have a spark but I’d kind of weaker.  At least we know we have fuel and a spark so not electrical 

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