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Boat low battery warning (2019 Axis)


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Long story short, went out last weekend, no issues starting the boat. Tried to go out today, boat had trouble starting, finally got it started with both battery’s. Pulled about 200 yard from dock and boat cut off. Was able to get It restarted and the boat cut off again after about 10 seconds. Ended up having to swim it back. Went to buy a new starter battery, didn’t work, tried having it jumped by another boat, also didn’t work. I’m have them on trickle chargers overnight, but is this sounding more like an alternator issue? I just had the boat serviced 2 weeks ago. Any help is appreciated.

Edited by Grooobz
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51 minutes ago, Grooobz said:

Long story short, went out last weekend, no issues starting the boat. Tried to go out today, boat had trouble starting, finally got it started with both battery’s. Pulled about 200 yard from dock and boat cut off. Was able to get It restarted and the boat cut off again after about 10 seconds. Ended up having to swim it back. Went to buy a new starter battery, didn’t work, tried having it jumped by another boat, also didn’t work. I’m have them on trickle chargers overnight, but is this sounding more like an alternator issue? I just had the boat serviced 2 weeks ago. Any help is appreciated.

You may well have a battery or alternator problem, but you may also have some other issue that is killing the engine.  I'd put the batteries on a real charger rather than a trickle charger to make sure they are fully charged.  When you try again, put a volt meter on the alternator lug to see if it is charging.

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Many starting and running issues can be attributed to loose connections.  Check the battery connections, the ground cable on the engine block, the power post on the port stringer and the starter connections.

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Just a heads up, we had a 2019 a22 and had similar issues.  Had to replace engine wiring harness after trying other options. had the 409 engine. Has been an issue with 2019s.  Sold boat soon after because we got stranded 4-5 times and had to be towed and wife lost faith in boat even after it was fixed.

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Went and had my starter battery tested this morning. It was a 1 year old Optima and it’s already bad. Bought a new battery had it tested in the store and went home to install it. Tried to crank it and I am still getting low battery warnings. What would be the next thing to look at from here?

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22 minutes ago, Dsalyers said:

Just a heads up, we had a 2019 a22 and had similar issues.  Had to replace engine wiring harness after trying other options. had the 409 engine. Has been an issue with 2019s.  Sold boat soon after because we got stranded 4-5 times and had to be towed and wife lost faith in boat even after it was fixed.

Yeah I have the 409 as well. Never had any issues over the last 1.5 years. It’s just weird that it happens to start having issues after it’s annual maintenance.

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19 minutes ago, Grooobz said:

start having issues after its annual maintenance.

So what was maintained?  I would double check any work that was recently performed.

@csleaver mentioned a full check and cleaning of electrical connections.  The battery, starter, alternator, and engine grounds all have to be clean and tight.  If that doesn't do it, dive under the dash and check the power bus bars as well.

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1 hour ago, justgary said:

So what was maintained?  I would double check any work that was recently performed.

@csleaver mentioned a full check and cleaning of electrical connections.  The battery, starter, alternator, and engine grounds all have to be clean and tight.  If that doesn't do it, dive under the dash and check the power bus bars as well.

It was the standard 100 hour service, which I thought was mainly oil change, filter, transmission fluid, impellers and a look over the motor. I haven’t really messed around with this since I bought it, I am cleaning the connections now, but can you tell me where the starter is on these boats? I also had them check the auto bulge pumps to make sure they were working properly as I had been getting some water in the bilge from heavy rains. I know they stated they put a bunch of water in the boat to check and they worked fine, but is there any chance that could have possibly gotten the start or the relay wet and it finally killed it?

Edited by Grooobz
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The starter is on the starboard side just above the transmission.  You can follow the large red battery cable from the power post on the port stringer directly to it.  Also check the small wire connector on the starter solenoid.  It is the "trigger" wire from the starter relay.

FYI, loose connections on the ignition switch can also cause the problem you described and I have seen it happen often on Axis boats.

Edited by csleaver
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23 hours ago, Grooobz said:

Yeah I have the 409 as well. Never had any issues over the last 1.5 years. It’s just weird that it happens to start having issues after it’s annual maintenance.

We had no issues the first 30hrs.  Dealer did winterization and then when we went out the first time that following April the issues didn’t stop till about a month before we sold it. 

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On 8/28/2021 at 5:26 PM, Grooobz said:

Long story short, went out last weekend, no issues starting the boat. Tried to go out today, boat had trouble starting, finally got it started with both battery’s. Pulled about 200 yard from dock and boat cut off. Was able to get It restarted and the boat cut off again after about 10 seconds. Ended up having to swim it back. Went to buy a new starter battery, didn’t work, tried having it jumped by another boat, also didn’t work. I’m have them on trickle chargers overnight, but is this sounding more like an alternator issue? I just had the boat serviced 2 weeks ago. Any help is appreciated.

Had almost same thing happen to me 2 weeks ago on my 19 t23 w/ 409. Check the fuel pump and starter relays under the engine hatch. I had a bad one. My boat wound crank and crank but never fire. Then low battery alarm came on. I switch around the relays and found out the fuel pump relay was bad 

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On 8/29/2021 at 10:36 AM, Dsalyers said:

Just a heads up, we had a 2019 a22 and had similar issues.  Had to replace engine wiring harness after trying other options. had the 409 engine. Has been an issue with 2019s.  Sold boat soon after because we got stranded 4-5 times and had to be towed and wife lost faith in boat even after it was fixed.

Had to replace the wiring harness in my 2019 as well. Similar issue of starting then stalling and then not staring at all. Once the harness was replaced we have had zero issues. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

We have noticed our 2019 A22 taking a little long to start when cold.   Yesterday after being out for 4 hours we dropped anchor in a cove and floated for a few hours.  Boat would not fire when we tried to head out.  We removed and replaced the relays and it then started and stalled a few times before catching. Thinking it could be that ours were just loose but wondering if they could be going bad……

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I posted this in another thread as well, but in case it helps somebody here…..our dealer took a look at it and referenced faulty pin receptacles in our relay module.  Essentially the receiving end wasn't fitting tight to the pin, causing the electric signal to arc and damaging the relay pins.  Both my ignition and fuel relay needed to be adjusted and they installed new relays.   They had mentioned that they see this for PCM engines in 2019.   If it were to happen again they would need to install a new wiring harness.   

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5 minutes ago, scrupulous said:

I posted this in another thread as well, but in case it helps somebody here…..our dealer took a look at it and referenced faulty pin receptacles in our relay module.  Essentially the receiving end wasn't fitting tight to the pin, causing the electric signal to arc and damaging the relay pins.  Both my ignition and fuel relay needed to be adjusted and they installed new relays.   They had mentioned that they see this for PCM engines in 2019.   If it were to happen again they would need to install a new wiring harness.   

Or they could just install new receptacle plugs... Never ceases to amaze me the depths they will go to for solutions that should actually be quite simple.

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23 minutes ago, boardjnky4 said:

Or they could just install new receptacle plugs... Never ceases to amaze me the depths they will go to for solutions that should actually be quite simple.

I would have thought they could replace the relay module, however I was told that it is part of the entire wiring harness.   Not sure if this is accurate but, so far we are good......

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I wanted to circle back around on this. The other week I had replaced just the ignition relay. Went out all day, no problem starting however we went back to the house for a break went to start it and I was getting a low battery warning again but would start. I put new relays in the starter and ignition at that time to see if it would fix it. Started it with no warning. Boat sat on its charger all week, came out this morning to test it before people get here. First turn boat starts but get the low battery warning. Turn it off and back on, second start I didn’t get a warning. Both batteries are testing 100% and alternator is testing 100% too. Not sure what would cause the low battery warning 50% of the time

Edited by Grooobz
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next time you go out to the boat, take a volt meter.  Measure the battery being used (assuming you have more than one) before starting.  I would also try to monitor the battery voltage while starting the batter.  Lastly, what is the voltage once the boat is running.  Also, are you still running the Optimas?  If so, i would take them to an auto store an have them tested.  I dont trust Optima any further than i can throw one, and im not overly strong.  When they sold out to Johnson Controls in the 2000's, their quality turned to garbage.  Honestly, you couldn't pay me to put one an any vehicle i own. 

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