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engine wierd noise going 40-45mph


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I bought a 23 LSV wakesetter 2007 with only 50 hours and Malibu dealer did full $400 checkup and everything was in mint condition, they also did transmission flush and oil flush. He mentioned there was a very slight slight discoloration of transmission fluid which may have been a little water so that's why we did the transmission chance.

I have used it for around 20 hours and have always used premium fuel. I noticed if I gun it that when it goes from 40-45 mph the engine seems to whine twice /lose little power two times over a few seconds. Always does it two times and sounds like the engine is reving more during the two times. Its hard to explain the noise, but over the phone a mechanic said it could have been the year old fuel causing something like knocking and the computer is fixing it somehow my changing something real time. I obviously forget what he actually said and have no idea what old fuel does to an engine. Anyways he said once I use up all the fuel it should go away.

So 20 hours later and many re-fills of gas the issue still happens, so I suspect its always going to happen. If I gun it and then pull back the throttle half way when I hit 40 then the issue does not happen. So, not too much of a big deal but concerning since its a pricy boat. Also, a concern if I gun it by mistake and a potential to cause expensive damage.

Any ideas?

Edited by JoeMama
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It's great that you are running premium but is it high grade or corn gas? Also, you do have a fuel filter in the fuel tank. Wouldn't think that it would be clogging after 50 hours, but you never know. One bad tank of gas can clog a fuel filter.

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martinarcher

Almost sounds like the fuel pump is not keeping up and the motor leans out a bit. It kind of sounds like the ECM might be correcting for the lean condition with the two blips you are sensing. Hard to say without riding in the boat and hearing it, but that is my guess. Do you have access to a fuel pressure gauge like this one.

If so screw it onto the fuel rail (there is a schrader valve on the end of the rail) and watch the fuel pressure when the issue occurs. If it dips when the issue occurs then you know the fuel pressure is dipping causing a lean condition. If that's the case I would potentially replace the fuel pump.

Edited by martinarcher
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Rev limiter?

my guess too

OP, what engine do you have? are you really going from 40 to 45? If you're going 45 in a 23 footer, especially with monsoon, that's truning some rpms, it sounds to me like you're hitting the limiter which is a safety mechanism. Your boat is not designed to be run wide open. I'd suggest evaluating your needs. If you want a boat to go 40-45, you picked the wrong one, it's not designed for that.

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my guess too

OP, what engine do you have? are you really going from 40 to 45? If you're going 45 in a 23 footer, especially with monsoon, that's truning some rpms, it sounds to me like you're hitting the limiter which is a safety mechanism. Your boat is not designed to be run wide open. I'd suggest evaluating your needs. If you want a boat to go 40-45, you picked the wrong one, it's not designed for that.

I have experienced something that sounds like what you are describing. I have the Hammerhead in my 2002 23 XTI. I really don't run the boat very hard, as 85Foot says above, it's not really meant to haul arse 45 MPH up the lake. But this summer at Cumberland, I was running up the lake next to my neighbor on some beautiful glass water at sunset - he has a Sea Ray deck boat with some monster engine and BIII outdrive that will pull low 50s all day long. Anyway, I'd hit WOT and run up into the low 40s to keep pace with his boat, and every once in awhile I would feel the boat sort of hesitate or miss slightly and it did make some sort of a noise that is hard to describe when that happened. I was within 100 RPM of redline per the owners manual, and as displayed on my PerfectPass digital RPM readout, and so I just assumed I was perfectly propped and loaded and was creeping into a soft rev limit. The boat runs perfect all other times and oil pressure and water temps were perfect too. If I backed off to 99% of WOT, it never skipped a beat.

Hope this helps.

-- Mike

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martinarcher

My Skier used to do what Mike is describing (and possibly that's what the OP is having). I think I may have mis-interpreted the symptoms. When the Skier would so it it was simply water in the fuel/water separator. I think after a while the separator would reach the end of it's useful life and would capture enough water that at WOT some of the water would make it's way to the engine and cause it to fall on it's face for a split second. I would come right back and go back to running like a top, but would hesitate ever so slightly. Changing the fuel/water separator would take care of it. If I was on the lake throwing a bottle of isopropyl dry gas in it would totally eliminate the issue.

To the OP - try throwing a bottle of this stuff in your tank and see if it solved the issue. Use the red bottle (Iso Heet) and not the yellow one. I buy them in four packs at our local hardware store. They are available at wal-mart and the local gas stations. With the Ethanol fuels, I always have at least two bottles on the boat for a weekend on the water. It's saved the day more than once. If a bottle of Iso-Heet fixed your problem you are having moisture reach the engine at or near WOT (wide open throttle). No big deal, just be sure to keep some on board.

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Thanks for the replies. I have the Indmar Hammerhead 383 400 HP. This engine does not have a water/fuel separator. It only happens at WOT and from 40-45mph. Top speed for the boat is around 45-47. If I had at half throttle then does not happen from 40-45. This happens even though there's only one person in the boat at minimum load. I dont think its normal.

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My Skier used to do what Mike is describing (and possibly that's what the OP is having). I think I may have mis-interpreted the symptoms. When the Skier would so it it was simply water in the fuel/water separator. I think after a while the separator would reach the end of it's useful life and would capture enough water that at WOT some of the water would make it's way to the engine and cause it to fall on it's face for a split second. I would come right back and go back to running like a top, but would hesitate ever so slightly. Changing the fuel/water separator would take care of it. If I was on the lake throwing a bottle of isopropyl dry gas in it would totally eliminate the issue.

To the OP - try throwing a bottle of this stuff in your tank and see if it solved the issue. Use the red bottle (Iso Heet) and not the yellow one. I buy them in four packs at our local hardware store. They are available at wal-mart and the local gas stations. With the Ethanol fuels, I always have at least two bottles on the boat for a weekend on the water. It's saved the day more than once. If a bottle of Iso-Heet fixed your problem you are having moisture reach the engine at or near WOT (wide open throttle). No big deal, just be sure to keep some on board.

Interesting. I will try this.

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martinarcher

Interesting. I will try this.

Yeah give it a go. It's certainly a cheap thing to try and can't hurt a thing. With ethanol fuels I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's the issue.

Report back and let us know if it sorts it out. Thumbup.gif

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Thanks for the replies. I have the Indmar Hammerhead 383 400 HP. This engine does not have a water/fuel separator. It only happens at WOT and from 40-45mph. Top speed for the boat is around 45-47. If I had at half throttle then does not happen from 40-45. This happens even though there's only one person in the boat at minimum load. I dont think its normal.

I don't know what the first highlighted portion means.

As to one person, that makes it MORE likely to hit limiter.

Are you saying this occurs just when accelerating from 40-45? Or when holding speed? Either way, not real sure why you're going 45 in a 23 footer but to each his own.

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I don't know what the first highlighted portion means.

As to one person, that makes it MORE likely to hit limiter.

Are you saying this occurs just when accelerating from 40-45? Or when holding speed? Either way, not real sure why you're going 45 in a 23 footer but to each his own.

We're not sure if this is GPS verified speed anyway, to the OP what is TACH doing when this happens?

Edited by 99response
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I think the prop is fine since it was checked out by Malibu dealer.

To clarify, the issue happens during fast acceleration when accelerating from 40 to 45mph. If I accelerate less (from 40-45) then it does not happen. For example if I put throttle all the way forward from 0 to 45 MPH then I hear the 2 strange noises right after I pass 40 MPH. However if I halve the throttle maybe at 75 percent position and go from 0 to 45 mpg then I never hear the issue. Its not like I do this every day, I just noticed this when I did it once and then tried it again to see what was going on.

Seems there's a lot of people that dont think its OK to go 40 or 45 in this boat once in a while. If the boat is running less than max RPMs I dont see why this is a concern. Unless its written in the User Manual or Engine manual somewhere. If you look at any boat review test they always test under max conditions, and the engine should perform under the specs that's written in the manuals. I understand if I am always driving at a fast speed then there's probably more wear and tear over the long term however this boat only has 70 hours on it.

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I think the prop is fine since it was checked out by Malibu dealer.

To clarify, the issue happens during fast acceleration when accelerating from 40 to 45mph. If I accelerate less (from 40-45) then it does not happen. For example if I put throttle all the way forward from 0 to 45 MPH then I hear the 2 strange noises right after I pass 40 MPH. However if I halve the throttle maybe at 75 percent position and go from 0 to 45 mpg then I never hear the issue. Its not like I do this every day, I just noticed this when I did it once and then tried it again to see what was going on.

Seems there's a lot of people that dont think its OK to go 40 or 45 in this boat once in a while. If the boat is running less than max RPMs I dont see why this is a concern. Unless its written in the User Manual or Engine manual somewhere. If you look at any boat review test they always test under max conditions, and the engine should perform under the specs that's written in the manuals. I understand if I am always driving at a fast speed then there's probably more wear and tear over the long term however this boat only has 70 hours on it.

Have you checked the tension on your belts? maybe one of your pulleys is singing

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When it loses power does the engine speed drop or go up? If up, and listening to your description I am wondering if you are getting some transmission slip that would allow engine rpm to climb (maybe to the rev limiter, or a good chance of it) and the boat to slow down or feel like it is stalling. The whine from the engine compartment is the clue I am using. You might try to hold the engine cover slightly open, try the experiment again with someone carefully listening to hear exactly where the noise is coming from. I would think if it is belt slip, a good thought, it is enough to somehow stall the alternator and cause the ignition to not deliver enough juice to keep a good spark or the injectors are not properly firing in this case. Your boat should be able to run WOT under the rev limiter for an extended time as long as it is getting a good supply of cooling water, good fuel and correct spark timing.

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I think the prop is fine since it was checked out by Malibu dealer.

To clarify, the issue happens during fast acceleration when accelerating from 40 to 45mph. If I accelerate less (from 40-45) then it does not happen. For example if I put throttle all the way forward from 0 to 45 MPH then I hear the 2 strange noises right after I pass 40 MPH. However if I halve the throttle maybe at 75 percent position and go from 0 to 45 mpg then I never hear the issue. Its not like I do this every day, I just noticed this when I did it once and then tried it again to see what was going on.

Seems there's a lot of people that dont think its OK to go 40 or 45 in this boat once in a while. If the boat is running less than max RPMs I dont see why this is a concern. Unless its written in the User Manual or Engine manual somewhere. If you look at any boat review test they always test under max conditions, and the engine should perform under the specs that's written in the manuals. I understand if I am always driving at a fast speed then there's probably more wear and tear over the long term however this boat only has 70 hours on it.

I'd suggest just looking at the prop yourself.

I'm really not following you now as to when it's happening (only under acceleration from 0?) but one other idea is that your strut bushing is "bad". Grab the prop and shake it, how much "play" is there side to side? I had a boat that under high speed, high power situations would cavitate for lack of a better word and exhibited an audible vibration, just very quickly and only under those circumstances. Was a worn bushing.

I think it's OK once in a while. My first post about speed was just asking whether you had the right boat if that's what you were looking to do. Can't say that going 45 is anything I've ever heard anyone want to do in a 23 foot wakeboard boat, not to say you can't.

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  • 1 year later...

Well I called Paradise Watersports and Service Manager also said was probably rev limiter and told me that it starts at 5200 RPM. So I went out on my boat and hit the throttle and that was it !!! Right after 40 mph it hits 5200 RPM and I hear the noise. And if I gun it and make sure its always less than 5200 the noise does not happen and I can still get to 45 max speed.

Nice to know engine has no issues.

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my guess too

OP, what engine do you have? are you really going from 40 to 45? If you're going 45 in a 23 footer, especially with monsoon, that's truning some rpms, it sounds to me like you're hitting the limiter which is a safety mechanism. Your boat is not designed to be run wide open. I'd suggest evaluating your needs. If you want a boat to go 40-45, you picked the wrong one, it's not designed for that.

This was my first thought, these boats aren't meant for high speed cruising. Even cruising at 42mph and 5100 Rpm's frequently you'll prob have some issues before too long. Yes it's a high quality boat but they are "tow"boats, not speed boats.

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Yeah, I am used to a Seadoo 18 ft 240HP Jet which did close to 60 MPH. I use my Malibu mainly for wakeboarding but every now and then like to cruise at top speed.

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