Our boat would alarm (beep) and then die. Rinse and repeat. Some days not at all, or once, or several times all day.
This is a story about my 2008 Tahoe Q7fsi, with a 4.3 MPI Mercruiser (190h). This issue may affect other MPI years/makes/models/brands of boats.
-Always would restart immediately after.
-It "FELT" like an electrical short, gauges would all turn off for a second, and would miraculously solve itself after the motor shut off.
-Sometimes it would beep multiple times, or one long beep before the motor would shut down.
-Some days the alarms would beep, the engine would lose power for a hot second, and keep going. But mostly die.
-Some days were worse than others, and it would happen every few minutes, seemed to happen in rougher water...then not, Very very hot summer days, and cool early fishing season.
Battled this issue for 3 seasons. Scoured the interweb for clues, replaced things like
-Larger starter battery
-Replaced ignition and key
-2 mechanics (one with a computer to read codes) tried to find a short, cleaned and prepped every connection (the main cannon connector and all the pins as well).
-No computer codes were pointing to any failed sensor or part, still felt like an electrical issue of some sort.
-Major tune up items that were needed anyway, cap/rotor, plugs/wires, yadda ya.
-Next thing up for consideration was the computer module, ~2500 dollar part! But our mechanic wasn't certain it was that, so that repair was held off.
Me, a shotgun, and my chainsaw were going to solve this issue next, ....I was emotionally done with it.
......and then
. This spring happened.
Up to now we had trailered our boat to different lakes and rivers, and typically bought street gas at the cheapest stations when I filled up the truck as well.
This past spring, we moved our boat to a lake on a lift, and started buying marina fuel (non-ethanol), and all of a sudden the problem started happening fewer and further between, until about the 2nd or 3d tank of gas, the problem has not occurred since.
In case anyone is having this same or similar issue, I wanted to post it for you all to find. The sensors on this now 10 year old boat have aged over time, and must not like the street gas anymore. Lots of folks will tell you not to run street gas in your boat, but never describe an issue like this (or so I could find), and it never felt like it was a fuel related issue, always ran perfectly...till it beeped and died. Hopefully this helps at least one person out there, and saves them at least one "bust out a thousand" event which ironically is about what it cost in the long run.
This is a story about my 2008 Tahoe Q7fsi, with a 4.3 MPI Mercruiser (190h). This issue may affect other MPI years/makes/models/brands of boats.
-Always would restart immediately after.
-It "FELT" like an electrical short, gauges would all turn off for a second, and would miraculously solve itself after the motor shut off.
-Sometimes it would beep multiple times, or one long beep before the motor would shut down.
-Some days the alarms would beep, the engine would lose power for a hot second, and keep going. But mostly die.
-Some days were worse than others, and it would happen every few minutes, seemed to happen in rougher water...then not, Very very hot summer days, and cool early fishing season.
Battled this issue for 3 seasons. Scoured the interweb for clues, replaced things like
-Larger starter battery
-Replaced ignition and key
-2 mechanics (one with a computer to read codes) tried to find a short, cleaned and prepped every connection (the main cannon connector and all the pins as well).
-No computer codes were pointing to any failed sensor or part, still felt like an electrical issue of some sort.
-Major tune up items that were needed anyway, cap/rotor, plugs/wires, yadda ya.
-Next thing up for consideration was the computer module, ~2500 dollar part! But our mechanic wasn't certain it was that, so that repair was held off.
Me, a shotgun, and my chainsaw were going to solve this issue next, ....I was emotionally done with it.
......and then
. This spring happened. Up to now we had trailered our boat to different lakes and rivers, and typically bought street gas at the cheapest stations when I filled up the truck as well.
This past spring, we moved our boat to a lake on a lift, and started buying marina fuel (non-ethanol), and all of a sudden the problem started happening fewer and further between, until about the 2nd or 3d tank of gas, the problem has not occurred since.
In case anyone is having this same or similar issue, I wanted to post it for you all to find. The sensors on this now 10 year old boat have aged over time, and must not like the street gas anymore. Lots of folks will tell you not to run street gas in your boat, but never describe an issue like this (or so I could find), and it never felt like it was a fuel related issue, always ran perfectly...till it beeped and died. Hopefully this helps at least one person out there, and saves them at least one "bust out a thousand" event which ironically is about what it cost in the long run.
