Engine Failed to Start Mid-day

[TOAST 0]

Last week I spent a FANTASTIC week of boating/boarding/skating/surfing/skiing with friends. (Annual outing of 6-8 families that happened to conflict with the NW WOW this year)

On the last day, we spent the morning boarding. I was taking the last run as we headed toward the dock to pull out. We stopped to switch to skating. My daughter shut off the engine while we changed equipment and then the boat would not start again. The engine would turn over, but not start. I tried running blower and opening the engine compartment for a few minutes.

Another Malibu owner/crew member came over to help. They thought it may have been related to the Perfect Pass cable not engaging properly. (they had that problem last year) We tried tightening that up with an allen wrench and with the nut, but still wouldn't start so they towed us in. (thanks again for the help!!)

I had an appt with the dealer for today to cover a couple of minor items, so I'll have them look into it.

Air Temp= ~90

Altitude = 3250 feet

Engine = Monsoon

Hours = ~120hrs

Boat = 05 WSVLX

Fuel = 1/8 full (running down to trailer back home)

Perfect Pass = engaged at time, wouldn't start on or off

Display message = displayed ECU and then 0.0 hours

Had been boarding for about 4 hours w/o ballast prior to the problem

Driver didn't seem to do anything unusual. Went to neautral, some normal reverse, then turned of the key.

Any ideas? I checked the indmar manual, search here on Vapor Lock just to see if it may be aplicable, but didn't seem to help me.

Let me know what you think, or if I need to provide any more info.

Thanks,

[Pistol Pete 1,301]

It could be a few things but, I could guess at vapor lock. But, if the boat still won't start when it arrives at the dealer, (this would indicate not vapor lock once the boat has cooled down) they should be able to nail it pretty easily.

[SmoothWaterMan 503]

Sorry Pete, it's not Vapor Lock, but a good chance of an electrical issue.

One of the things I would do is check fuel pressure.

1/8 tank - ? Out of fuel?

A bad oil pressure switch would not turn on the fuel pump -

A bad connection would cause the ECU display and perhaps again no power to the fuel pump. Broken data line or bad connection at engine plug?

From here there is a host of things to check, but it largely depends on what you find in the first round of diagnostics.

Peter

[Pistol Pete 1,301]

Peter,

what do the boats have in place to prevent V-lock? Just so I know.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Pistol Pete

[IceMelted 0]

I had a similar problem with our 97 RLX, it had the Fuel Injected Monsoon, and twice, for some reason when you turned the key, the fuel pump would not light up (buzzing sound). The first time it happened, I was towed in, after putting boat on lift, tried to start and it fired right up. Second time, I spent a few more minutes looking things over, and noticed again that the fuel pump didn't light up, so I tapped it a few times, I heard the buzz, like it just came to life, and sure enough it started right up.

Dealer thought it might have just had some dirt blocking the fuel pump?

[YZThump 0]

Check the kill switch before you do anything.

[db252 0]

Check the kill switch before you do anything.

[SmoothWaterMan 503]

Peter,

what do the boats have in place to prevent V-lock? Just so I know.

I don't know what plan Indmar/Malibu uses to prevent vapor lock, or even if they feel it needs to be prevented.

What I do know is that vapor lock is not an issue for any dealers in the northeast, due to temps remaining under 100, and according to Indmar, vapor lock is really a thing of the past. With fuel pressures so dramatically high now and the systems in place, to get the fuel to boil and lock is almost impossible.

Vapor lock was an issue for different engines and boats throughout the early 90's, one I can think of it the President's Edition Echelon which ran a 454 stuffed into an engine box designed for a 351. You could have fried eggs on it. Open the box and let it cool down on a hot Texas afternoon and it'd fire back up. There just wasn't enough air flow through that box to keep the engine cool.

Hope that helps.

Peter

[SmoothWaterMan 503]

As far as I am aware if the kill switch is off the dash will not light up. (work/energize) (Engine should crank, but will not fire and dash will not work)

Peter.

[Malibudude 1,070]

As far as I am aware if the kill switch is off the dash will not light up. (work/energize) (Engine should crank, but will not fire and dash will not work)

Peter.

Exactly what happened when mine was off.

[andyb 2]

As far as I am aware if the kill switch is off the dash will not light up. (work/energize) (Engine should crank, but will not fire and dash will not work)

Peter.

Yup. Over-ride this pesky little switch.

[Pistol Pete 1,301]

It's a piece of cake to re-wire that switch so that the engine will start and run normally without the lanyard being in place. I did it years ago and couldn't be happier. Sorry this sounds like I don't believe in the safety of the lanyard for when an operator is thrown from a boat but, if I'm thrown from my boat, there's gonna be bigger problems.

[WakeAndSno 0]

My suggestions:

1) Lanyard/Kill switch

2) Neutral lock-out

3) Vapor lock

JZ

[jshap 0]

Same exact thing happened to us last weekend. We were surfing in heavish chop and and switched off in between riders. Went to restart and it ended up taking about 5 minutes to get it going again. We cycled the starter every 20 or 30 seconds for 10 seconds or so. I could hear it trying to fire, but just couldn't get going. After it did get going again, we did not shut down again until we were in our hoist. Never had the problem again.

The kill switch was in place. I was thinking it was either water in the engine compartment from surfing or the oil pressure dropped. Now that I think about it, my gas tank may have been on the low side, so maybe that was a factor. Either way, luckily we got it started again and off the lake, but it was annoying.

[SmoothWaterMan 503]

My suggestions:

1) Lanyard/Kill switch

2) Neutral lock-out

3) Vapor lock

Okay, let's clarify.

The dash worked. This eliminates the Lanyard kill switch as a variable. If you want to post a suggestion, please read the prior posts to not confuse folks.

Neutral lock-out switch will not allow the boat to crank.

Vapor lock was discussed already.

Peter.

[TOAST 0]

Got is all worked out at the dealer. (under warranty )

And the answer is. . . . .

It was some wires that had frayed and were causing a short. Took them a while to run it down. I pick up the boat tomorrow and I'll be able to see exactly which wires were involved.

Thanks for all the help/suggestions. (btw, we did check the kill switch first thing)