Thoughts on 1996 Echelon with Monsoon 320

[32off]

Hello crew. 

I have another question. I am looking into purchasing a 1996 Echelon with the FI 320 motor.

I am worried about going back to a small comp boat but I am hoping to just get thru the season with my son. 

I have heard issues about the computers going bad.  What are issues and remedies if I purchase the boat AND what should I look for during the initial inspection. 

I have heard about soft floors and the computer problem but that is it...Big question is what can I do if I loose the computer?

Thanks everyone. 

[justgary]

I'll presume that you are talking about the Medallion computer for the gauges, not the engine computer.  The engine ECM on an injected engine is built like a hammer and should not go bad.  An annual hose bath and then a spray with light oil all over the engine (except the belts) is the best thing you can do to keep the Boogey Man away.

The MDC gauge computer could fail, but if it hasn't already it may be OK.  Many of those have been fixed by resoldering the cracked solder joints on the main board.  Others simply rip them out and sell the replacement set that is available from another source.

I would guess that 99.9% of the problems you might have are related to bad connections and not actual hardware failures.  Cleaning all of the connections under the dash and spraying them with light oil is the other great way to keep the Boogey Man away.

Your initial inspection could include a good look at the engine to see if it is all crusted over with gunk, rust, and slime, or if it looks clean and shiny.  I would also look under the dash and see if the bus bars are green and cruddy looking or if they are clean.  Obviously, you should also test the engine compression and maybe take a scan tool to read engine data (including hours) from the ECM.  If the engine runs great now, it should easily run that way the whole summer long.

Does the boat you are looking at have Perfect Pass installed already?

[Woodski]

@32off - Not sure which computer as Gary mentioned you are worried about, my friends '97 Response still runs great, these boats are still pretty simple with a basic gauge package and as noted the engine computer is pretty bullet proof.  My neighbor had a '96 - that boat still had Airguide speedo's and basic gauges.  For that boat, things like the fuel pump & injectors (leaking) would be items that need attention.  Malibu's of that era do / did have a soft floor issue, it simply becomes a slight depression next to the engine box as there tended to be a slight void in the foam under that area.  Also, but not a '96 issue, the honeycomb material used for the rudder cover tended to fail which was replaced under warranty.  Another item that can get cruddy and cause some angst, the fuel tank anti siphon valve which is located on top of the fuel tank.  One other note - the '96 is the first year for the Vortec cylinder heads which bumps the power up from 285 to 320, that makes a noticeable difference in performance.  Helps a lot popping some people out of the water, running a barefooter (or two) at 40+ mph. 

That should be a fun boat to get your son out on particularly if he is going to ski and / or barefoot.  The SV23 hull is an excellent barefoot hull.  For best slalom, run a low tank of fuel, remove the rear seat and don't put any 'stuff' in the transom area.  Good luck and happy shopping.

[Michigan boarder]

The OP might be talking about the notorious Computron failing.  Which it will, but really it doesn't affect anything.  Not all Echelons came equipped with the Computron but if it did, it's really just a display to help the driver monitor speed and display water temp, air temp, rpm, engine hours, etc.  If it fails, the display will not work but everything else on the boat will work fine (guages, engine, blower, everything).  For example, my Computron is erratic so this year I am unplugging mine and replacing my dash with new guages as an update.  So if this is the computer that you are referring to, the answer to the question is if it fails it will have zero impact on the operation of the boat.  What to look for, is the display on the dash and whether it works, I'm guessing the depth function is gone and you may not be able to toggle thru the other functions consistently (that's what mine was doing).