2004 Indmar Engine Hesitation Issue - Indmar Service as given up

[Arick]

16 hours ago, oldjeep said:

Looking at your thread you mean Coil, not capacitor

Good call, not sure where I got capacitor from....  My Bad!

[oldjeep]

5 minutes ago, Arick said:

Good call, not sure where I got capacitor from....  My Bad!

That boat is never going to hit 88 mph

[Arick]

I stop at Rich's board sports regularly.  I see the boat made the trip down.  Sounds like he's got a few idea's to fix the boat?

[ALZ]

Well, I took it in to a highly recommended shop for a second opinion.   In about 30 min they ran a few checks right in front of me, showed me the results, and believe they have zeroed in on the problem.  I am going to keep you in suspense for another day or two for them to make the fix and confirm that the problem has been resolved.

After 10 months with no end in sight - approx. 2 months of trouble shooting between late last summer and this spring plus 8 months of the boat being in winter storage (long winters and off-season in Wisconsin - that is why we love our Summers) - another shop looks at it and in 30 min they find the problem and I might be back out on the water for the 4th!  Keep your fingers crossed for me that I found the right set of eyes to figure this out.

I will post an update in a few days

[Rednucleus]

The suspense is KILLING ME lol!!  If things work out make sure you give a big shout out to the shop. Then send the repair bill to shop #1

[Arick]

29 minutes ago, Rednucleus said:

The suspense is KILLING ME lol!!  If things work out make sure you give a big shout out to the shop. Then send the repair bill to shop #1

I know whats going to be fixed, but not spilling the beans!

[JasonK]

Killin us!

[Arick]

[Andrew63]

On the fuel side, this post is a good read

 

[malibu2004]

?

[Arick]

Last I heard, the shop was waiting on a part that didn't show up before the holiday weekend.

[footndale]

This is the place, http://www.richsboardsports.com/

@ALZ Needs to tell what was fixed. Hopefully he is enjoying a fixed boat and doesn't have time to check in here.

 

 

 

[iliketoski]

The suspense is killing me!  Arick, it's time to spill the beans!

[Rednucleus]

10 minutes ago, iliketoski said:

The suspense is killing me!  Arick, it's time to spill the beans!

Beginning to think he made it all up! I was just thinking about this one this morning - still killing me with the suspense. 

[Arick]

Well I haven't been back to hear if the fixed worked... I'm head over there tomorrow night.  What I will say is I heard is they hooked up a fuel pressure tester and it wasn't reading the right pressure... 

[ALZ]

ok, sorry to keep you in suspense.

The guy working on my boat took some time off over the 4th.  then ran into some personal issues to attend to.  He'll be back on it in the next day or so. Hang in there please, I will update you as soon as I have something to share.

[Arick]

The fuel pressure was reading high, I think he said 65 psi.  Tried replacing a fuel pressure regulator but that didn't fix the issue, now its on to some other things.  I don't want to say too much as I don't want to step on @ALZ toe's

[oldjeep]

2004 should be 58-62psi on key up, guess it depends how much he trusts the reading on his pressure gauge.

 

[ALZ]

An update for those of you who have been monitoring this one and/or providing feedback.

Step 1. The fuel pressure was not the problem.

Step 2. They reloaded the ECM program and the engine ran perfect for about 20 minutes and then the problem resurfaced.  It appears that when the engine hesitates, the control and power completely cut out, including power to the fuel pump. The interruption is so short that the power/engine recovers and continues running smooth between the interruptions.   This is exactly the original problem I experienced and what I experienced a few times after the first Indmar service center I had working on it thought they fixed it a couple of times (see my original message in this string).  My first couple of experiences also led to:  if it is allowed to run long enough after the interruptions start, the engine will transition to running really rough with heavy exhaust as if it is running really rich.  However the guys working on it now did not experience that part - not sure why - maybe they shut it down before it got to that point.

It appears that if the engine is allowed to run long enough and it goes into the rough running mode mentioned above then the ECM gets wacked out in some way.  The first Service team I had working on it replaced the ECM twice and was afraid to work on it any longer at risk of what they though would require a third ECM.  The guy working on it now was able to get out of the ECM issue by reloading the program (thank God) and then ran into the stuff described in the above paragraph.

On the positive side, I like the attitude and confidence of the guy working on it.  He is driven to figure this out.  His approach helps me maintain my patience and sanity.

More to come...

 

[footndale]

Glad you like Craig working on it. Not so glad the gremlin can't be found.

Has any of the electronics been saturated with water?  Almost sounds like some wiring is bad and the heat makes it worse.

Good luck

[ALZ]

I am not aware of the electronics ever getting saturated with water - it has always been cleaned and under cover when not in use and always ran great for me in the first three and a half years that I have owned it - the last year now has been a different story - amazing that it has been year now with this mystery problem.  Always winterized and stored indoors in the offseason. The person who owned it before me was very meticulous with it and the boat is in excellent condition for it's age (2004 model)  I will pass on your comment about possibly bad wiring impacted by heat after warming up.  Thank You

[ALZ]

for all of you who had earlier recommended the distributor as the potential problem (gear wear, electronics issues, slop due to shaft wear and/or bearing issues), that is next on the troubleshooting list after they were able to get the ECM recalibrated.

Any other thoughts from my previous update are greatly appreciated.

[skurfer]

Swap distributors and see if the problem re-surfaces. Let us know. After that maybe replace the engine wiring harness...

[jbower]

Long shot but has the kill switch been replaced or at least bypassed during diag?

[Arick]

Any update?