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Greetings, just recently bought my Malibu used from an Owner in VA. Took the Malibu out a few times and it performed great. However, this past Sunday, I notice that the engine was over-heating. There was steam coming from the engine, and an alarm going off. I knew something was wrong, so I tried to hurry and dock the boat but when I throttle it, I was only able to go about 10 mph (figure this was normal to prevent the boat from further damage). The boat is now out of the water and stored. Now we just experienced a lot of rain this weekend here in Charlotte. I normally keep the boat in a open storage facility. I notice that storm-water accumulated in the boat before I took it out this past Sunday. Could it be that the storm-water may have damage the cooling system somehow? I'm thinking the engine was submerged, and a sensor or fuse must of got damaged. Anyone know if this is possible? If so, where should I look and what to replace? Could the water intake be clogged from debris? I also heard that I might need to replace the impreller? Any advice will help. Thanks!

This is my first time posting to this board and I have read quite a few posts about temperatures and overheating but I wanted to get a little more clarification on what is normal behavior. I recently purchased a 2008 Malibu Wakesetter VLX (5.7 Indmar Monsoon 340) this summer and the first time out I had some issues overheating. The boat entered "limp" mode that restricted rpms on the engine and temperature got hot enough to melt the plastic elbows where the hoses connect to the exhaust. I don't know what the exact temperature the boat reached at this time but I did not run it too long when it got hot and once the elbows melted we shut everything off and got towed into dock. After that incident I took the boat into a local marine shop and they replaced the elbows with brass elbows and replaced my impeller because there was a tear in it and they believed that would fix my overheating issues. After reading this forum I decided to buy a new 160* thermostat replacement and replaced the thermostat myself because it was easy enough and cheap enough to do. (I also tried testing as some suggested by putting the thermostat in a pot of water and see if it functions correctly but saw no noticeable difference when it got up to temperature. I don't understand what part "opens and closes" on it.) Anyway I assumed the new part I bought was good and installed it. Yesterday I took the boat out and would watch the temperature gauge on the boat fluctuate a lot between 160-200. It would never stay around 200 very long and would go back down to 160-170 range and then climb back up. So I don't know if this means that I have a faulty gauge and that worries me because then I don't know how hot it actually is. I know it once beeped and let me know that it had reached 201* but that happened for about 2 seconds before it "cooled" again. Other than the gauge fluctuating a lot it seemed to perform fine as in I never entered "limp" mode. The exhausts I think are too hot to touch and if I splash some lake water on them after recently shutting down the engine the water sizzles. So my main questions here are: Does the temperature normally fluctuate like that? Do I have a problem here? If so, what other things should I do after my list below? For reference I live in altitude (~5280) and air temperature yesterday was 79* and water was 76*. If you guys agree that my temperature is a problem I would guess my next course of actions would be: Use IR gun to measure and see if gauge is accurate Check for blockage on the transcooler (I have sort of done this but not sure if there is a blockage where it would occur. Is it adequate to just disconnect the hose from the transcooler to the thermostat housing and inspect that or do I need to remove more than that and check?) Pull the circulation pump and inspect it Thanks for any help, Ryan

Hey everyone, I am a year old Wakesetter owner - dug into the forum last fall for winterizing advice and was impressed with the quality of information all around!! This spring rolls around and I’ve got some issues with my 2008 Wakesetter XTI, Indmar Monsoon 5.7L 340. Hoping to get some ideas! The issue first became evident when I smelled a burning rubber smell after cruising WOT for about 5 minutes. Upon investigation I found a hole in the rubber exhaust tubing - which appeared to be dry rot or aging of some sort. I replaced the hose, and next time out all seems to be going fine until I have issues making full power and get the burning rubber smell again. I had burned another hole in the new tubing, and now was only able to get 3500rpm and about 33-34MPH. The hole is in the underside of the port side softwall exhaust tubing - a couple inches aft of where it connects to the exhaust manifold, so I have to assume its hot exhaust gas hitting the hose directly with little cooling. It is worth noting that there was water spurting out of the hole both times it happened, but not a significant amount. Photos of Hose Here - Google photos album link After about 10 hours searching the forums I decided to do a few simple things first... 1) replaced impeller and checked transmission cooler and all lines for debris- which I did find a fair amount of seaweed and 1 rubber fin from the old impeller. 2) replace the fuel filter- the screw off in tank filter (I think that’s the only one I have) 3) replace the exhaust hose again After these repairs, I fired up and checked a few of the hoses to make sure I was getting water flowing through the system - and as far as I could tell, it was running fine. However, as I was idling the engine got up to about 150 degrees, but immediately dropped back to 120 once I put it in gear and increased RPM slightly. Hoping the issue is resolved at this point. All is normal as I slowly continue to add power, until I get to WOT at 4900rpm...and I’m only going 33MPH with the engine is running at 160 degrees. After slowing to idle I feel the exhaust tubing and it feels extremely hot again - like it’s about to melt a third time. I back off the power and limp back home dejected and frustrated. I'm going to do a more in depth check of the cooling system tomorrow, to verify I’m getting water in all areas but that still doesn’t address the top end speed. Oil is fresh and proper level, transmission fluid has not been changed but is leveled properly. Any thoughts or directions I can investigate?? Thanks in advance!