2022 Boat Quality Issues

[hethj7]

I changed oil this morning and played around with things a bit.  I was now showing 13.8 volts at idle at above 2,000 RPM while neutral revving.  

Yesterday it was all over the map.  I am not sure what to think but certainly believe voltage is part of the issue.   This morning the boat would not start again, even with the backup key though. And the blower didn’t kick on although the icon was lit, auto bilge showed on via the dash bit it wasn’t running and the bilge was dry.  
 

I took various videos I will get to my dealer to send to Malibu   

 

[Five Cent Worth]

On 7/1/2022 at 1:19 PM, Slayer said:

Anecdotally, I recently demoed a Mastercraft XT24.  Great boat, great wave.  But it had 1 hour on it and the center tab wouldn't calibrate.  Go figure.  We in the Malibu community are not alone with boat issues.  

How did the XT24 compare to your 25 LSV?

[ahopkins22LSV]

Like @IXFE said voltage is critical in these boats. For all of those who have been having random gremlins I’d check every ground you can find starting with the main engine ground on the starboard side of the engine, the battery switch connections and the connectors/connections at the battery. 
 

I used to just charge my batteries every so often and I’d have random feelings so their face every so often too. This year I put a NOCO dual bank charger in the boat and since then I’ve had nothing and everything seems to run more “crisp”. If that makes sense. 

[roonedoggie]

13 hours ago, hethj7 said:

What volts are you all seeing on the dash?  I was out tonight and never used thrusters and my volts were normally low 12s while underway but would dip into the 11s at times with seemingly no load change to the system.

My boat again was consistently turning itself off when bumping thrusters today, so I quit using them.  And it usually takes multiple start attempts for the dash switch to start the boat. 
 

I also got my first surfgate errors tonight with gates stuck out, etc.  They ended up correcting themselves but something is going on.   
 
Mine was flawless the first 5 or so but issues seem to be getting worse as hours click by.   

Same here, when I hit 7 hours all the problems started.

[DDuke]

Boat wouldn’t start again this am, eventually got It going after several battery recycles — did the two-battery startup per earlier suggestion. Check engine light came on again while surfing, Error code 4237: adaptive learn high bank 1. 

Cruise control not holding speed at 11.5 mph wedge at 5, 13.7 volts.

What a mess. Adversely affection our holiday. 
 

 

[Cole2001]

What is your voltage on both batteries with the engine off? Seeing 13.7 volts is just directly off the alternator. I've had batteries down to 10v and the second the engine fires up will of course say 12-13v. 

[DDuke]

11.9

[CaptainMorgan]

2 hours ago, DDuke said:

11.9

that's pretty low...like 30% charged.  same for both batteries?  disconnect and measure separately, and i'd charge with a high current (10A) charger if you can.

[RCorsa]

I totally jinxd myself saying y boat was doing well!! Interesting today I went out and had multiple issues in my m240(30 hours) One of the surf gates got stuck open then the cruise control wouldn’t lock I did a restart and got everything going but it was definitely odd.  I may try plugging in the boat at the built in charger.  Is there any other way to charge the batteries?  

Edited July 4, 2022 by RCorsa

[oldjeep]

3 minutes ago, RCorsa said:

Is there any other way to charge the batteries?  

The alternator should be doing it, unless the loads that are in the boat exceed it's ability to keep up.

[RCorsa]

I get it that the alternator does this.  However I will say being an avid car enthusiast, I’ve had multiple late model cars including some exotics and more and more these cars are super sensitive to battery charges.  In fact all the big shops provide OEM trickle chargers to hook up when the car is in the garage to ensure batteries are alway full.  This bait stuff reminds me of that.  I assume it’s all the electrical systems in the new boats?? Maybe I’m wrong 

[oldjeep]

4 minutes ago, RCorsa said:

I get it that the alternator does this.  However I will say being an avid car enthusiast, I’ve had multiple late model cars including some exotics and more and more these cars are super sensitive to battery charges.  In fact all the big shops provide OEM trickle chargers to hook up when the car is in the garage to ensure batteries are alway full.  This bait stuff reminds me of that.  I assume it’s all the electrical systems in the new boats?? Maybe I’m wrong 

I guess I will stick with cheap cars, that is crazy.  To me the boat thing sounds like nothing more than a poorly selected battery/ charging system.  These are normal car/ truck engines, and nobody is plugging their Silverado or Camaro in after everytime they use it.

Edited July 4, 2022 by oldjeep

[RCorsa]

My old boat mechanic (now retired) used to say this and would Always change the stock batteries to expensive ones so I never had to worry about them dying or having issues. I wish I recall what they were as I’d probably try changing them out. 

Edited July 5, 2022 by RCorsa

[Slayer]

21 hours ago, Five Cent Worth said:

How did the XT24 compare to your 25 LSV?

There's a lot to this response, but it's a very nice boat.  I'll be short and to the point as I don't want to derail this thread.  The XT24, while very nice and comfortable with a very nice wave, seems to have less for the money than the 25LSV.  It's a similar price point when comparably equipped but there are things about the boat we just don't like and things we love.  We don't like how loud it is.  The surfstar system is very nice with lots of adjustability to the wave.  The boat is comfortable.  The flip up rear facing seats on the port side allow for the observer position to sit with their feet on the floor facing after without having to twist the body to put feet on the floor.  That's a nice tough and when not fipped up is a great storage location.  We're going to demo an XStar and X24 in the next few weeks as well.  

[Slayer]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:16 PM, hethj7 said:

What volts are you all seeing on the dash?  I was out tonight and never used thrusters and my volts were normally low 12s while underway but would dip into the 11s at times with seemingly no load change to the system.

My boat again was consistently turning itself off when bumping thrusters today, so I quit using them.  And it usually takes multiple start attempts for the dash switch to start the boat. 
 

I also got my first surfgate errors tonight with gates stuck out, etc.  They ended up correcting themselves but something is going on.   
 
Mine was flawless the first 5 or so but issues seem to be getting worse as hours click by.   

I'm seeing between 13.5-13.8 on the dash on the regular.  @IXFEmakes a great point about voltage.  I've never really considered it much but it makes sense.  We always start and run our boat on both batteries.  The only time we ever use only 1 is if we're sitting listening to music.  

I don't think the operating system is unstable.  Once the bugs were worked out on my 2021 with the same operating system, I didn't have any issues.  It's working through what pops up in the first 20ish hours that's a total pain to deal with.

[wedge88]

56 minutes ago, Slayer said:

I'm seeing between 13.5-13.8 on the dash on the regular.  @IXFEmakes a great point about voltage.  I've never really considered it much but it makes sense.  We always start and run our boat on both batteries.  The only time we ever use only 1 is if we're sitting listening to music.  

I don't think the operating system is unstable.  Once the bugs were worked out on my 2021 with the same operating system, I didn't have any issues.  It's working through what pops up in the first 20ish hours that's a total pain to deal with.

So what changed in 2022 boats?  If the operating system is based off the 2021s, all those bug fixes you experienced with your last boat shouldn't be an issue.  I'd be asking dealer/Malibu what cost saving measures they used in 2022.  If a 2021 didn't have these issues then a new component is causing it.   I know we have a global shortage of components so substitutions are becoming the norm but unfortunately those seem to be lesser/inferior quality.  

I just have an Axis and love the Garmin screen and expected issues because it's a 1st generation and I'm, essentially, the guinea pig to test it for them.  I would be pissed if I bought a boat next year that had the same issues because software corrections should be fluid and constant going forward but I don't see much movement, from Malibu, on these software/firmware updates.  

[Slayer]

34 minutes ago, wedge88 said:

So what changed in 2022 boats?  If the operating system is based off the 2021s, all those bug fixes you experienced with your last boat shouldn't be an issue.  I'd be asking dealer/Malibu what cost saving measures they used in 2022.  If a 2021 didn't have these issues then a new component is causing it.   I know we have a global shortage of components so substitutions are becoming the norm but unfortunately those seem to be lesser/inferior quality.  

I just have an Axis and love the Garmin screen and expected issues because it's a 1st generation and I'm, essentially, the guinea pig to test it for them.  I would be pissed if I bought a boat next year that had the same issues because software corrections should be fluid and constant going forward but I don't see much movement, from Malibu, on these software/firmware updates.  

I understand your statement.  This operating system was new in 2020.  So we're on the 3rd model year run with it.  My 2021 was not free from issues, nor were those from others.  In my case, all the issues were traced down to a pinched ground wire.  Not sure where, but that's what I was told by the dealer.  Malibu told both me and the dealer that after replacing several components and no fix, it had to be a ground and sure enough it was. 

As mentioned earlier in this thread, proper voltage and ground is critical.  Something awry there causes all kinds of gremlins.  I really don't think it's the operating system because to my knowledge, it hasn't been changed. 

[IXFE]

1 hour ago, Slayer said:

I understand your statement.  This operating system was new in 2020.  So we're on the 3rd model year run with it.  My 2021 was not free from issues, nor were those from others.  In my case, all the issues were traced down to a pinched ground wire.  Not sure where, but that's what I was told by the dealer.  Malibu told both me and the dealer that after replacing several components and no fix, it had to be a ground and sure enough it was. 

As mentioned earlier in this thread, proper voltage and ground is critical.  Something awry there causes all kinds of gremlins.  I really don't think it's the operating system because to my knowledge, it hasn't been changed. 

I don’t believe it’s the OS either. As you said it’s the third year with this software (I’ve had all three years). It’s gotta be a combination of voltage, ground, and/or faulty sensors (surf gated, wedge, etc) that feed the OS. 

The issues reported about speed control are interesting… those seem new this year?? I wonder if some of the programming has changed. I did notice once while surfing that I looked down, after having reached set speed, and noticed I was going too slow, and the throttle indicator was outside the range. I assumed it was “user error” and I just bumped the throttle until it re-engaged. Never happened again. But I’ll be keeping an eye on this as we add hours over the next few weeks. 

[Slayer]

I agree with you @IXFE.  The speed control issues are new.  Perhaps the programming was changed with the elimination of the paddle wheel any maybe that has something to do with it?  It's not frequent on mine but it's there.  She's going in this week for a 50-hour service so I'll ask them to look into this along with some other miscellaneous items. 

[hethj7]

Cross posting this from the 25LSV thread - 

 

A quick update on electrical gremlins.  I spent some time going through connections and found the main ground at the engine block super loose, like the nut was almost falling off to be lost in the bilge forever.    After a lot of curse words I got it tight again - I've only done a short run to grab lunch on the water, but zero electrical issues occurred.  Hopefully between that ground and the software update things are cured.   I'll report back after more use.   

 

For those that may want to check the ground - it is near the port side, front(ish) part of the block, almost in line with the lifting eye.   It is super tough to get a tool on it - I had 2 extensions hooked to my ratchet and was able to snake it through from the back of the boat and get on it eventually to get it tight.    I'm not sure if it is actually metric or not, but 17mm socket fit it.   This was an issue on my 2019 as well, so while I'm hopeful that will solve my issues, I'm disappointed to be fighting the same issue from the factory again.  

[coveman]

Similar electronic issues with my 2022 VTX.  Surf gate sensor fault then the speed control starts lunging.  I did a complete reset under system settings, which requires you to reenter boat options, boat model hull ID and any changes you've made to your presets (make sure you take pictures of everything before you do this).  So far, works great again.  It's the Bill Gates fix, just reboot. 

[RCorsa]

Can you walk through how you do a reset.  I checked my software which says it’s updated but after 30 hours my m240 has massive gremlins (all of the above) but I don’t see any reset option 

[hethj7]

@RCorsa What software version do you show?   There is a recent update, at least for the 25LSV.  I assume it is also for the M240 but am not sure.  

[RCorsa]

Did the reset.  Now I’m getting power module 1 over current fault and the center drain breaker keeps hiting10amp and tripping. 
 

software version ml2022 20210618_001_036

[hethj7]

Hmm, that ain’t the version I have.  Someone smarter would have to confirm if it to the same across the 2022 lineup or if boat models matter.  
 

Sorry, I don’t have ideas on your issue.