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Warranty Disaster- Wiring Harness


TC_2006_VLX

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To preface this story/question I am not dealer bashing as my dealer has been nothing short of fantastic on communication/working with.

So we have a 2014 Malibu MXZ that was having electronic issues last year which they initially started attempting to fix in July. This was all fine as it was covered under warranty. They tried replacing the computer units which were on back order and took forever to get. Boat has been at the dealership all winter and they have continued to work with Malibu corporate on what the issues are and how to fix them. Long story short one of the seals on the surf gate failed resulting in the hydraulic ram forcing water through a great deal of the cables/connectors in the boat. Again, they have been working with Malibu to get a solution/resolution to fix this under warranty. So I found out 2 weeks ago that the boat is going to need an entire new wiring harness; however, Malibu had discontinued the relationship with the company that makes them and had none in stock. My dealer called yesterday to give me an update that Malibu was able to agree get the company to make another wiring harness, but it would be 8-10 weeks best case. That would get me out until mid June and we don’t even know if this wiring harness will fix all of the issues. To further the frustration being the boat is torn apart for the work it can be used at all in the time period. Here in the upper Midwest waiting until Mid June eats up a good chunk of my season. Malibu has no agreement/plans on doing a loaner while I am stranded due to a warranty repair on their end. Is it normal for the boat companys to stick it to their clients like this? Blows my mind that I can buy an F150 and if it has a warranty issue I get a loaner vehicle for as long as its being worked on, but you buy some that is 3x as much and you are left out in the cold.

Again, my dealer has been very understanding and great to work with. They are stuck in a bad spot on this deal too and are equally frustrated.

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That's odd. In my experience if the actuators hydraulic water through the actuator harness it only goes to the medallion control module.

 

Is your dealer sure that isn't the issue? An entire wiring harness getting ruined from that is very unlikely.

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2 hours ago, TC_2006_VLX said:

To preface this story/question I am not dealer bashing as my dealer has been nothing short of fantastic on communication/working with.

So we have a 2014 Malibu MXZ that was having electronic issues last year which they initially started attempting to fix in July. This was all fine as it was covered under warranty. They tried replacing the computer units which were on back order and took forever to get. Boat has been at the dealership all winter and they have continued to work with Malibu corporate on what the issues are and how to fix them. Long story short one of the seals on the surf gate failed resulting in the hydraulic ram forcing water through a great deal of the cables/connectors in the boat. Again, they have been working with Malibu to get a solution/resolution to fix this under warranty. So I found out 2 weeks ago that the boat is going to need an entire new wiring harness; however, Malibu had discontinued the relationship with the company that makes them and had none in stock. My dealer called yesterday to give me an update that Malibu was able to agree get the company to make another wiring harness, but it would be 8-10 weeks best case. That would get me out until mid June and we don’t even know if this wiring harness will fix all of the issues. To further the frustration being the boat is torn apart for the work it can be used at all in the time period. Here in the upper Midwest waiting until Mid June eats up a good chunk of my season. Malibu has no agreement/plans on doing a loaner while I am stranded due to a warranty repair on their end. Is it normal for the boat companys to stick it to their clients like this? Blows my mind that I can buy an F150 and if it has a warranty issue I get a loaner vehicle for as long as its being worked on, but you buy some that is 3x as much and you are left out in the cold.

Again, my dealer has been very understanding and great to work with. They are stuck in a bad spot on this deal too and are equally frustrated.

Are they telling you that the gate actuators are Hydraulic? They changed to Hydraulic acuators in 2016.

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3 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Loaners are provided by the dealer. Ford and others don’t loan out vehicles, the dealer does. Same with boats. I’d talk straight with your dealer for a loaner. 

Yeah, I'd see if you can make them some sort of deal that you could grab one of the boats on days you want to use one.  Issue of course is that most of the used boats are out in the boonies at the service center.

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5 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I've seen a few wiring harnesses floating around GreatLakesSkipper.com or MalibuMarine.com (NOS)

Here's one, it's for a '15 but I don't think there were any changes between '14 and '15 (I haven't double checked that statement):
https://www.greatlakesskipper.com/malibu-boat-viper-1-wiring-harness-3737066-2015-w-buzzer-diode

Get the part number from your dealer and/or Malibu to see if that's the correct one. If it is, have Malibu and your dealer work out someone buying it and getting it to your boat. As others have said, water getting in the wiring harness sounds suspicious but it is possible.

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6 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Loaners are provided by the dealer. Ford and others don’t loan out vehicles, the dealer does. Same with boats. I’d talk straight with your dealer for a loaner. 

 

This is correct, although Ford and others offer big kickbacks and incentives on the vehicles that the dealer uses for loaners. As well as delaying warranty start dates on those vehicles, until they are pulled from the loaner fleet and sold to a customer.

basically, it is covered by both the dealer and Ford/GM/etc..

 

This type of situation is no fun. IMO, boat companies should step up at the point in which a warranty issue renders the boat useless for longer than a week or two.

That said, this isn’t the first case of a boat with this issue, and I know of plenty of instances that they-

1- replaced the actuators.

2- remove seals on the connectors where the actuators plug in, inside, at the back of the boat.

3- replace the effected viper box/screen.

4- run the boat until the harness can be replaced.

If the seals are removed from the plugs at the back of the boat, and an actuator pushes water again, it will run out the connectors at the back of the boat, rather than forcing it up the harness again.

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16 hours ago, TenTwentyOne said:

 

This is correct, although Ford and others offer big kickbacks and incentives on the vehicles that the dealer uses for loaners. As well as delaying warranty start dates on those vehicles, until they are pulled from the loaner fleet and sold to a customer.

basically, it is covered by both the dealer and Ford/GM/etc..

 

This type of situation is no fun. IMO, boat companies should step up at the point in which a warranty issue renders the boat useless for longer than a week or two.

That said, this isn’t the first case of a boat with this issue, and I know of plenty of instances that they-

1- replaced the actuators.

2- remove seals on the connectors where the actuators plug in, inside, at the back of the boat.

3- replace the effected viper box/screen.

4- run the boat until the harness can be replaced.

If the seals are removed from the plugs at the back of the boat, and an actuator pushes water again, it will run out the connectors at the back of the boat, rather than forcing it up the harness again.

 

Dealer should be able to address this fairly easily.

Edited by 23LSVOwner
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1 hour ago, 23LSVOwner said:

 

Dealer should be able to address this fairly easily.

I agree that at this point I would prefer to just run it with glitches rather than it be yard ornament at the dealership. That said the dealer is exactly stoked and/or willing to put it all back together and then in 2 months tear it down again. 

 

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