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2021 Malibu M220 Engine Won't Start


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This past weekend, while performing the standard 10 hour break-in period for our new boat, the engine Malibu Monsoon M6DI just sputtered out and the engine cut in the middle of the lake. We were around ~8 engine hours and everything was working totally fine until the engine shut-off. We weren't pushing the engine hard, besides 15 minutes to make sure the wedge, surf gates, and PnP ballasts worked the day before. When we took it out the following day, it started up just fine on the lift, and we were casually cruising around the lake when it stopped. Currently the boat battery will turn on like normal, automatically run the blower for 3 minutes, and start up process like usual. There are NO engine codes or alarms on the HMI which is where I'm stuck. 

When I click the start/stop button, you can hear the engine crank and attempt to start but it wont actually start the engine (the belt just keeps spinning without turning on the engine). Even after releasing the start/stop button after a second it will continue to try to start the engine to no avail and keep revving. The only way I can get it to stop cranking is to manually turn the battery off, otherwise it would just keep trying to start the engine. From my limited engine/electronics knowledge, I'm having a hard time pin-pointing what could go wrong because it's clearly getting power from the battery to turn the crank, but something between clicking the start button to actually getting the pistons to rev isn't working.

I'm struggling to diagnose and will take it to the dealership to fix this week, but was hoping for any quick advice here. I'm most confused because everything seems to working normally from a battery, fuel, oil perspective. The ignition/The engine will spin, but just not fully turn over. If anything I thought I would've seen problems when we checked to confirm the wedge, surf gates, etc. were working at slightly higher RPM, but that worked perfectly. 

Things I've Checked:

It still has plenty of oil

Batteries ~14.5V

Engine is getting fuel

Boat is in Neutral

 

Hoping someone on here has witnessed the same and can help!

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Check you safety kill switch lanyard.  It is the covered toggle switch near the shift throttle lever panel with a red lanyard cord attached to it.  Push the switch up to allow the engine to run.

Make sure your fuel level is accurate and above 25 percent.  Also check your fuel condition.  Very low fuel levels or water in the fuel will make the engine very hard to start.

Loose cable connections can lead to circuit voltage drop and causes many different running and operational issues.  Check the battery cables, the battery switch connections, the main power post on the port stringer in the engine compartment, the main battery ground cable where it attaches to the engine bell housing, and the cable connection at the starter.

When you push the start button or turn the key switch to start the engine it will crank for 11 seconds or until the engine begins running, whichever happens first.  This is called the smart start or auto crank feature and is perfectly normal.  Many vehicles today have this feature.

Edited by csleaver
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If you select Engine Alarms on the left screen settings Diagnostics menu, you can toggle the Show Inactive option at the top right hand side of the screen to see if there are active trouble codes or previously active trouble codes.

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24 minutes ago, wfin said:

This past weekend, while performing the standard 10 hour break-in period for our new boat, the engine Malibu Monsoon M6DI just sputtered out and the engine cut in the middle of the lake. We were around ~8 engine hours and everything was working totally fine until the engine shut-off. We weren't pushing the engine hard, besides 15 minutes to make sure the wedge, surf gates, and PnP ballasts worked the day before. When we took it out the following day, it started up just fine on the lift, and we were casually cruising around the lake when it stopped. Currently the boat battery will turn on like normal, automatically run the blower for 3 minutes, and start up process like usual. There are NO engine codes or alarms on the HMI which is where I'm stuck. 

When I click the start/stop button, you can hear the engine crank and attempt to start but it wont actually start the engine (the belt just keeps spinning without turning on the engine). Even after releasing the start/stop button after a second it will continue to try to start the engine to no avail and keep revving. The only way I can get it to stop cranking is to manually turn the battery off, otherwise it would just keep trying to start the engine. From my limited engine/electronics knowledge, I'm having a hard time pin-pointing what could go wrong because it's clearly getting power from the battery to turn the crank, but something between clicking the start button to actually getting the pistons to rev isn't working.

I'm struggling to diagnose and will take it to the dealership to fix this week, but was hoping for any quick advice here. I'm most confused because everything seems to working normally from a battery, fuel, oil perspective. The ignition/The engine will spin, but just not fully turn over. If anything I thought I would've seen problems when we checked to confirm the wedge, surf gates, etc. were working at slightly higher RPM, but that worked perfectly. 

Things I've Checked:

It still has plenty of oil

Batteries ~14.5V

Engine is getting fuel

Boat is in Neutral

 

Hoping someone on here has witnessed the same and can help!

Did you try starting with the key instead of the push button?

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1 hour ago, csleaver said:

Check you safety kill switch lanyard.  It is the covered toggle switch near the shift throttle lever panel with a red lanyard cord attached to it.  Push the switch up to allow the engine to run.

Make sure your fuel level is accurate and above 25 percent.  Also check your fuel condition.  Very low fuel levels or water in the fuel will make the engine very hard to start.

Loose cable connections can lead to circuit voltage drop and causes many different running and operational issues.  Check the battery cables, the battery switch connections, the main power post on the port stringer in the engine compartment, the main battery ground cable where it attaches to the engine bell housing, and the cable connection at the starter.

When you push the start button or turn the key switch to start the engine it will crank for 11 seconds or until the engine begins running, whichever happens first.  This is called the smart start or auto crank feature and is perfectly normal.  Many vehicles today have this feature.

I will check this! And checking the diagnostic menu, there were no current or past codes.

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1 hour ago, Hemmy said:

Did you try starting with the key instead of the push button?

Yes, both push-button and key resulted in same situation.

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Have you tried a full power down using the battery switch? My brother's bu, when new, had some unexplainable things happen that were cured by powering down for a couple minutes and back up again. Trying to think of free things to do before you have to take it in.

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1 minute ago, BlindSquirrel said:

Have you tried a full power down using the battery switch? My brother's bu, when new, had some unexplainable things happen that were cured by powering down for a couple minutes and back up again. Trying to think of free things to do before you have to take it in.

Yes. While out on the water, I fully powered down for ~15 minutes and did a full "restart" to see if the issue persisted which it did.

  • Sad 1
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Just heard back from the dealership. They explained that there was no compression on Cylinder #6 because according to Malibu, General Motor's was on strike in 2020 leading to a material issue with valve springs. We're getting an entirely new engine shipped to us now :Doh:

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55 minutes ago, wfin said:

Just heard back from the dealership. They explained that there was no compression on Cylinder #6 because according to Malibu, General Motor's was on strike in 2020 leading to a material issue with valve springs. We're getting an entirely new engine shipped to us now :Doh:

Good grief!?  Sorry to hear about that.  

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Yikes, very surprised they would elaborate that much. Instead of just saying engine failure. Guess unfortunately that means this might not be an isolated incident. Hope they get you back up and running soon. 

Edited by BlindSquirrel
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5 hours ago, wfin said:

Just heard back from the dealership. They explained that there was no compression on Cylinder #6 because according to Malibu, General Motor's was on strike in 2020 leading to a material issue with valve springs. We're getting an entirely new engine shipped to us now :Doh:

Yup. I didnt want to alarm anyone. When you said the starter was turning the  belt but not the motor is when I got concerned. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
So, we took delivery of our new 220 and had about 5 hours on it when I shut it off in the middle of the lake to visit with some friends.  When I went to re-fire the boat, we had the same issue you describe with the starter trying to crank the engine but it wouldn't run.  Dealership came and towed us out and said that it was some sort of ignition relay that went bad (odd at 5 hours), but said the boat fired right back up when they got the new relay in.  Sure hope that we don't have the same issue that you are describing in your post.  They are lake testing it again this week so we will see if the issue persists.

We have had other issues with the new boat as well...dealership had to fix fiberglass damage from the factory that looks like someone tried to cover up from the factory..In fact, it looks like a child fixed it with spray paint and puddy.  Bummer when you spend that kind of money for a boat and someone at the factory tries to spray paint over puddy and gets it all over the floor and windshield as well.    

 

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On 6/21/2021 at 5:24 PM, BeaverLake220 said:

So, we took delivery of our new 220 and had about 5 hours on it when I shut it off in the middle of the lake to visit with some friends.  When I went to re-fire the boat, we had the same issue you describe with the starter trying to crank the engine but it wouldn't run.  Dealership came and towed us out and said that it was some sort of ignition relay that went bad (odd at 5 hours), but said the boat fired right back up when they got the new relay in.  Sure hope that we don't have the same issue that you are describing in your post.  They are lake testing it again this week so we will see if the issue persists.

We have had other issues with the new boat as well...dealership had to fix fiberglass damage from the factory that looks like someone tried to cover up from the factory..In fact, it looks like a child fixed it with spray paint and puddy.  Bummer when you spend that kind of money for a boat and someone at the factory tries to spray paint over puddy and gets it all over the floor and windshield as well.    

 

I dont know why or how this got posted like that, but dont do that. :lol:

  • Like 2
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Sure doesn't make any sense. Wonder how the dealer knew cylinder 6 had an issue. And even if the cylinder had an issue that wouldn't keep it from trying to start or even running unless it was complete catastrophic failure. Hm.

Steve B.

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/23/2021 at 6:48 PM, Steve B. said:

Sure doesn't make any sense. Wonder how the dealer knew cylinder 6 had an issue. And even if the cylinder had an issue that wouldn't keep it from trying to start or even running unless it was complete catastrophic failure. Hm.

Steve B.

I'm right there with you. I found it very hard to believe it was isolated to one single cylinder, yet the entire boat was running fine up to that point. I was under the impression it was an ignition issue, but thankfully the new engine runs great.

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On 6/21/2021 at 5:24 PM, BeaverLake220 said:

So, we took delivery of our new 220 and had about 5 hours on it when I shut it off in the middle of the lake to visit with some friends.  When I went to re-fire the boat, we had the same issue you describe with the starter trying to crank the engine but it wouldn't run.  Dealership came and towed us out and said that it was some sort of ignition relay that went bad (odd at 5 hours), but said the boat fired right back up when they got the new relay in.  Sure hope that we don't have the same issue that you are describing in your post.  They are lake testing it again this week so we will see if the issue persists.

We have had other issues with the new boat as well...dealership had to fix fiberglass damage from the factory that looks like someone tried to cover up from the factory..In fact, it looks like a child fixed it with spray paint and puddy.  Bummer when you spend that kind of money for a boat and someone at the factory tries to spray paint over puddy and gets it all over the floor and windshield as well.    

 

I was under the impression it was something to do with our ignition relay as well. It didn't sound like a single cylinder wasn't working like they explained about ours once they opened it up. I was surprised they went straight to replacing our M6 and didn't try anything like an ignition relay, but I'm glad it's back and running.

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On 6/23/2021 at 7:48 PM, Steve B. said:

Sure doesn't make any sense. Wonder how the dealer knew cylinder 6 had an issue. And even if the cylinder had an issue that wouldn't keep it from trying to start or even running unless it was complete catastrophic failure. Hm.

Steve B.

Valve spring failure. Prpbably broke a valve and lost compression in that cyl. There was a handful of GM engines that had the problem across several manufacturers.

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