2006 220 excalibur 330 dies underway HELP

[casmith71]

Purchased the boat last may and has been an issue off and on since day one. Boat starts fine and will run fine for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour before issue happens. Will be riding around at about 10mph and boat sputters and throttle becomes unresponsive then it dies. I can completely reboot the boat and 9/10 times the issue will go away for a while then happen again later in the day. When this happens the boat will rev fine in neutral, it only seems to be an issue under load. I've searched and found that it could be the TPS, TPS wiring harness, or throttle body. I replaced the TPS last year and the problem still exist. I don't feel its the throttle body because i do not have a rpm problem and it will rev fine in neutral. I ordered the TPS wire harness but it's back ordered. Anyone have other ideas/experiences? Closest inboard mechanic to me is 2.5 hours away.

[Badfoot]

I would check the oil pressure sensor. I had this happen to me on a 2005 LSV Indmar 325 engine. The part is easy to replace and inexpensive. Not saying this is the issue but its worth a shot.
Good luck

[biacs]

There is a long list of things (or combinations) that could be causing intermittent limp mode like this. One interesting consideration is the plugs/ wires and distributor cap.

Is your distributor cap corroded underneath? I grabbed a tuneup kit that had everything included last year but I haven't put much time on the water yet.

I did also replace my throttlebody/sensor as well. It's tough to pin down what exactly could be the issue.


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[shag]

It could definitely be a distributor cap.. Not a guarantee, but I had some transient issues like that and even though I could not see anything wrong with the cap, after I replaced it - the problem went away. I know there was a period of time around that year that there was a problem with some of the distributor caps.. Even some new ones were bad. I got one of those lol

[casmith71]

I guess I will start with the tps wire harness, then distributer cap, then he throttle body. It’s frustrating that it doesn’t do it all the time and this seems to be a common problem with this era of motor. But everyone seems to have a different fix

[Gmund]

It could definitely be a distributor cap.. Not a guarantee, but I had some transient issues like that and even though I could not see anything wrong with the cap, after I replaced it - the problem went away. I know there was a period of time around that year that there was a problem with some of the distributor caps.. Even some new ones were bad. I got one of those lol

I don’t know is ‘06 is the same as ‘07, but I can confirm the distributor as a culprit on my ‘07 330.

I had done service and put a new distributor block on. After the replacement, I had a similar symptoms to OP. Boat was fine sometimes. Sometime went into limp mode. The shop I bought the distributor from warrantied the distributor block and said “some of them are bad even out of the box”. I was skeptical, but a new distributor block has fixed it for years and no more issues.

Over the last 10 years I have replaced the gateway, throttle body, and distributor block (twice). I am beginning to call these things routine maintenance. That reminds me, I should order them now for the next time they die. But not the gateway, I just ditched the Faria gauges so I never need one again.

[jpwhit]

I guess I will start with the tps wire harness, then distributer cap, then he throttle body. It’s frustrating that it doesn’t do it all the time and this seems to be a common problem with this era of motor. But everyone seems to have a different fix

Everyone has a different fix because you're describing a symptom that is extremely generic. There is at least a dozen+ things that can cause what you're describing. IMO, you need to do deeper diagnostics before randomly replacing parts. Otherwise, you're likely to spend a good bit more money replacing parts than it would cost to take it to a boat mechanic that has the tools to diagnose the issue and only replace what is really causing the problem. Have you asked around at whatever lake where you boat if there is a good local independent boat mechanic?

Unfortunately the diagnosis for an intermittent problem like this requires tools that are somewhat expensive. If I were diagnosing this issue, I would use Diacom Rhinda to record all the data available from the boat's ECM when the random event happens. I'd also use an electronic fuel pressure recorder attached to the fuel rail when diagnosis an issue such as this. Third tool I use fairly often for issues like this, is an independent portable fuel tank, pump, and pressure regulator. That way I can run the engine off of my portable fuel system for an extended amount of time if necessary. If the problem goes away, then I know the problem is with the fuel system before the fuel rail on the engine. I can justify the cost of a lot of boat tools because between my multiple boats, my ski club's boats, and lots of lake friend's boats, I work on a ton of boats.

The only part I'd recommend you replace without doing deeper diagnostics, is the distributor cap and rotor. Only because it's essentially a maintenance item anyway and causes problems pretty often on the EX330 and EX343 PCM engines. I would not replace the TPS harness. It's not very common for that to cause an issue like this. I would not replace the TPS or the throttle body, because it would be very rare for the engine to actually die due to those parts. They can cause throttle response issues, but not cause the engine to cut off. Problems like this are most likely one of the many ECM / EFI sensors, a fuel delivery issue, or an ignition system issue.