Transmission “slip” 2013 VTX

[rakr]

This past week it seemed that the transmission “slipped” a couple of times. Once in forward while moving from idle to “idle+” while picking up a skier, and in pretty quick succession it did the same thing in reverse. Both times it “slipped” and kind of slammed into gear before I had a chance to bring it to neutral. I brushed it off as going to quickly from neutral to a bit past idle. Skied for another 2-3 hours without any issues. Also, FWIIW, I’m pretty gentle on the throttle. 

The following day, I was pulling up a skier (after running just fine for 2+ hours) and it did it again. I was on the throttle quite a bit and it got out of the hole fine, slipped at 15 mph or so, and I pulled it back to neutral before it slammed into gear. 

Drove at varying speeds and in and out of gear on the way back to the house and it didn’t repeat. My wife drove to the ramp 10-15 mph for 1.5 miles) without issue too. 

Dealership did a quick check of trans fluid, it’s at a good level and clean. They are going to do a water test next week (which is pretty awesome that I have the rest of the week off and it’s going to be 80s...) 

I asked them to check the prop key to see if that could be a possibility too. 

Also, I’ll define a “slip” as going from in gear and having power to high rev and no power. I couldn’t tell if it was a no power or low power situation as it happened so quickly. 

Any thoughts would be awesome, and I’ll update once the dealership gets back to me. Needless to say they are pretty busy.  

Thanks crew! 

[truckjunky87]

Interested in hearing what they report.

 

[rakr]

Dealer reported back and the tech was very certain it is a bad throttle. They are getting a quote for me tomorrow morning. @truckjunky87, it sounds like you are having a similar issue. Have you gotten a solid direction on your end? Ill update once I get her back.

Hopefully I will be back on the water soon!!!

[truckjunky87]

Nothing more on my end yet.  Boat is new to me and it's my first V-drive so I'm still trying to feel out the boat as to whats normal.  Mine hasn't jumped out of gear while driving but it will sometimes not shift into gear when I put into forward or reverse - only get the engine revving.  It has on occasional not shifted initially only to bang into gear - this I don't like.  Right now I'm trying to monitor it by just shifting into gear and waiting briefly to confirm the shift before applying more throttle.  I suspect the throttle though as well.  

[rakr]

@truckjunky87$1250 for a new throttle assembly installed... should be on the water early next week. Less than 300 Hours, awesome... My wife was super happy.

[truckjunky87]

@rakr if you get a chance to pot pictures of your throttle assembly I'm interested.  Not sure I can do anything with it but it would be good to get a preview of what it all looks like.
 

[rakr]

Here is what I have. It is pretty easy to take apart. Had I not been so quick to get back on the water I might have researched a bit more. Dealership said that there weren’t any field replaceable parts.
 

The 3 switches that are depressed by the white collar seem to detect F/N/R. This is fed by the gray harness. 
 

The small black piece that fits in the brass part that ultimately is connected to the throttle handle is magnetic. And it seems there is a magnetic pickup on the back of the housing. I am guessing this measures the magnitude of the throttle. This pickup is fed by the black harness. 
 

If I had to guess it would be the switch at 3 o’clock on the green board is the one that is bad. The one that is depressed while the throttle is in N. 
 

first three show the “stages of apart”. There is set screw on the bottom plate to get off and two at the top that I didn’t touch. 
 

pics are in a random order.  

 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by rakr
Bad pics.

[rakr]

In these two you can see the black piece that provides the input for the throttle and the board off. 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by rakr

[rakr]

And here is the back of the board. 
 

@truckjunky87 not sure if any of these parts would help or if you want to “borrow” some parts to see if there is something else broken vs mine, I’d be more than happy to work something out. 
 

if you want to keep anything we can work out something thing that is fair. I totally realize what I have could be junk, but it would be nice to offset some of the $1200. 
 

You might be able to cal Livorsi to see if they sell the board or magnetic pickup. 
 

let me know if I can help out. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by rakr

[truckjunky87]

Thanks for the pictures.  That helped tons.  We'll kind of watch it this summer and if we have any instance of it jumping out of gear we'll get serious on it.  Otherwise I'll start planning for a winter project on this.

 

[truckjunky87]

Well I guess I'm going to have to address it now.  Slipped out of gear multiple times today.  When we were getting ready to put it on the trailer it wouldn't shift into forward, only reverse, which is pretty useles when trying to get a boat on a trailer.  After maybe 25 tries of shifting in and out it finally took and I was able to get it on the trailer.  I'll check the connectors and then move to pulling the throttle assy off. 

 

My screen better not fail me this year. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by truckjunky87

[truckjunky87]

Just following up.  Contacted Livorsi Tech Help (head nod to @rakr) and sent my throttle assembly back to them for repair.  A little over two weeks and $150 plus shipping and I'm back in business. No issues on the water yesterday so it is looking good.

[rakr]

@truckjunky87 awesome news! I was just thinking about that this morning as I think I have my rooster tail issue identified.