Intremittent Starting Troubles

[hifly78]

Hello All

My cottage neighbor has a malibu. Lately he has been having some intermittent starting troubles. On Sunday night I witnessed it first hand.

The boat had been used numerous times through the day with no troubles. When going to head out for a dinner time ski he couldn't start the boat. It would crank, fire, then within about 3 seconds die with the rpm never getting above 500 rpm. It didn't seem to matter where he set the idle speed lever. He said it has happened before a few times. Every time if he comes back 10-20 min later and tries it, it starts normally. Getting frustrating. Good news was 15 min later we were in business and I got my ski in.

I have tried to search the forum for an answer. Closest I can see is it might be a problem with the IAC being dirty. I plan on having him use throttle body cleaner to clean it and the throttle plates as well as the throttle position sensor.

Any suggestions or dockside checks we could do. Also the air filter is clean new this year. It's not bugging him enough to pull it out and take it to the shop. Prime cottage season and he knows it will be 2 weeks before he gets it back.

I have a laptop and the hardware and software to read OBD II engine data. Do these boats have a connector for this and where might I find it. I think the boat had the writing on the side Response along with the monsoon 335

Thanks for any help

Mark

[Umatilla Matt]

Could it be vapor lock?

[bdjohnson3]

Is it a straight inboard (i.e. NOT a V-drive?). Had a similar problem (see this post: here with my 2006 Iride.

If this is the same problem, I just found out that Malibu/Indmar knows this is an issue and actually make a "kit" to fix the problem. It's bascially a wiring harness and an additional fuel pump (a primer pump) that forces fuel to the primary pump when the vaport lock problem occurs. Actually haven't gotten the boat back yet, so i don't know if this will completely fix the problem, but it might be worth checking out if his problem sounds like a similar situation.

[scfdfireman]

Check out some of the posts in this topic:

It's about starting issues... I have had similar issues that ended up being a bad ECU, and others on the site found the solution to be an undersized battery cable back to the motor. Anyway, the ECU's used in the computer controlled boats differ from year to year and I believe that the data port and software is also different. The way that they determine what you have is to read the model number from the underside of the ECU. That will tell you what type you have what what will read it.

Check out these sites:

http://www.mefi4.com/

http://mefituning.com/mefi-ecu-table

http://mefituning.com/mefi-tuning-tools

http://www.rinda.com/marine/marine.htm

Edited July 14, 2010 by scfdfireman

[TalleyHo]

I have a similar problem in my 07 VLX, except it doesn't sound quite as bad. It takes 3-5 seconds worth of cranking. If it doesn't start then, a second attempt a few seconds later will rough start, and then run as expected. Is your fuel pump in the tank like in the 07? Or is it external? My gauges (ballast, fuel, and digital dash) also can take a while to power up. Fuel/ballast are very random, so a poor ground would sort of jive w/ the solution that has worked for you.

[TheHardWay]

You might also check the plug that connects to the ECM. I was having starting issuses with my 335 Monsoon (although a little different than yours) The plug was not tight. I put some electrical grease on the plug prongs, made sure it was tight, and haven't had problems since. The plug is on the starboard side of the engine, about 10-11 o'clock from the starter. It is secured with a hose clamp.