05 sv211 ecu questions

[JET-MAN72]

I am new to the forum so thanks for the add.

So I am buying a 05 sv211 with the Excalibur 330 5.7L. Dealer winterized it after running it last fall. Boat has 520 hrs. All work was done at nautique dealer. I made an offer and they accepted. They wanted to wake it up from winterization before doing a sea trail with me. They call me the day before our appointment and said the ecu is bad. Would not crank at the dock. They said they brought it back to check everything. Supposedly had a twin engine Volvo with the 5.0L’s with the same ecu. Went back to the lake and it fired up and ran great. Fast forward a few days and the original ecu is on the way to California for fixing or replacement with a new one if it cannot be fixed. Before I actually purchase this boat I need to know if these ecu’s are a common problem or this was just a rare thing that just happened??? A new one is selling for around 3500.00. I just don’t want this to happen again if the sale goes through.

I am in the automotive business and the ecu looks just like a trailblazer ecu. I know the programming will be different but why so freakin expensive. I guess because of the four letter word (BOAT). lol.

thanks in advance
Steve

[NautiqueJeff]

$3,500 for an ECM for an Excalibur? That's way high.

Contact NautiqueParts and ask them. They used to sell those for just over $800. They aren't on the website anymore, but I am sure they can still get them.

Before replacing it, I suggest replacing the RELAY that powers it. Those are only about $14 and are a known failure point.
https://nautiqueparts.com/relay-12v-...p-tbi-r130012/

[jpwhit]

NautiqueJeff are you talking about an eControls ECM on the 2007 and later Excalibur, or the MEFI 4b that I "think" is what's on a 05 Excalibur. My impression is the MEFI 4b are getting harder and harder to find. I don't know if $3500 is a fair price or not, but I do think they are starting to get expensive. MEFI 5 and 6s are still fairly available, but I don't think you can substitute that on an engine that is setup for the 4b. I don't think eControls ECM prices have gone up all that much.

JET-MAN72 marine ECMs are similar, but different than the automotive ECMs. They are/were produced by the GM Marine Division as a derivative based on the automotive ECMs. I'm not sure how much GM Marine is investing in Marine ECMs anymore now that most boat marinizers have moved to eControls ECMs.

I have seen a lot of boat engine problems get diagnosed as the ECM is bad, when it's really something else as NautiqueJeff has suggested. I love it when a boat mechanic swaps out something like an ECM and says, "hey ECM is bad because this other one I put in works". Never mind that they just yanked around a bunch of wiring harnesses in the swap including the relay harness that NautiqueJeff is talking about that is a known failure point. Not only do those relays fail, but it's also really common for the connector in the relay socket to get corroded and become intermittent. That's really just a form of throwing parts at a problem instead of true diagnosis of the problem.

Of course there is the rare horror story where a boat keeps going through ECMs. I figure that's gotta be something like an intermittent faulty wiring harness that's shorting out the ECM. Or it's serial bad diagnosis of the problem where the ECM is blamed.

But the answer to your question is, no ECM failures are not typical or common. I think I would want a pretty detailed explanation from dealer on why it failed and how they diagnosed it. First thing they should have done is back probe the ECM connector to verify the ECM has power and ground on all the appropriate terminals before disturbing the wiring harnesses.

[JET-MAN72]

Jeff. Thanks for the heads up on the relay.

jpwhit. It is the mefi b4 style ecu. I did my own research and it seems like there are not many around. Every site that had them listed were showing out of stock. The dealer shot me the numbers off the computer because I am in the automotive business and it’s an AC delco part. I know the marine will be different it just seems crazy the price compared to, of course I know there are way fewer junked boats than cars.

thank y’all for the responses. I should know more come the first of the week. Anything I should know about the sv211 that might be common problems or anything I need to check.

steve

[Nigel06]

Hey JET-MAN72 I have an SV211 with the ZR6 which also uses the MEFI 4 B. I purchased the boat in 2021 with a just replaced ECM. Last season I unfortunately suffered a failure of this new ECM also, and found myself in a similar situation to yourself. From my research my understanding is unfortunately there seems to be a lack of DIODE protection in the MEFI4B and as a result the slightest power surge can result in the ECM becoming damaged beyond repair.

When I suffered the failure last year we tested everything we could to ensure the issue was with the ECM, verifying the safety lanyard switch was good, all relays and fuses were good, manual test of the fuel pump etc, and finally tried connecting via Rhinda but had no joy, ultimately everything pointed to the ECM. I found a guy on youtube called Maic Salazar Diagnostics who is very experienced in repairing damaged ECMs. I sent him my ECM and he performed the test, uploading a video of the testing also but unfortunately he was unable to repair it. Link to my ECM test video - 2004 MEFI 4B Marine ECM no start no comm from Ireland (youtube.com)

I found Maic really good to deal with and would say it is definitely worth sending him the ECM and getting it tested, I see his latest video uploaded last night is actually for another MEFI4 issue, so as I say this is quite common.

If your ECM is confirmed to be at fault then there is only really two options. Either replace with a New/Refurbished MEFI4B or change to a different ECM. I deliberated what to do over a number of months looking at options to try and move to a newer ECM which would offer better protection. My initial thought was to try and move to an eControls ECM which was used in the 08/09 onwards boats by Nautique but this would have required a different loom; which would have been plug and play to a degree I believe but also fly by wire throttle, different perfect pass system etc and just seemed to expensive to me. I then looked at using an after market ECM such as a Holley offering or other marine type ECMs. Installing an aftermarket ECM seemed relatively simple enough in as far as getting the loom rewired and the boat running, the problem arose with the Mapping of the ECM. I have a really good automotive Mapper who was willing to do this but he ultimately said he thought we would struggle to map the boat properly across the whole rev range without removing the engine and mapping on an Engine Dyno. Now note I am based in Northern Ireland where there is a much smaller market for boating than compared to you guys so this may be something that you will find easy enough to do. Of course this could also potentially put off any future prospective buyers if you were ever to sell the boat the on.

I spoke with a Nautique Dealer who said they could get me a Mefi4B from Nautique/PCM but the price quoted was approx. $4,500 by time I got it delivered and paid import taxes etc. The final resort was to turn to Bob at MEFIBURN. Now I am not saying this is the only option but he certainly seems to have the market cornered for refurbished MEFI4 B and as such can charge whatever he likes. I ended up purchasing a refurbed ECM from Bob and fingers crossed it has behaved up until now.

Regarding common issues which can lead to the MEFI4Bs becoming damaged I was told of include, injectors, bad earths and jump starting a flat battery rather than using a new or fully charged battery. I discovered some corrosion on my earths which I cleaned up and I replaced the three main relays and all fuses in the ECM harness and basically cross my fingers every time that I push the start button that I hear the fuel pump prime. Its not an ideal situation at all and if I was aware of this issue before purchasing my boat, I think I would have held out to try and get one which runs on a newer ECM.

[JET-MAN72]

Nigel06 WOW THANK YOU FOR ALL THE INFO -- I KNEW THE AGE AND VERY LIMITED SUPPLY I WAS SEEING THERE HAD TO BE A PROBLEM. MEFIBURN IS WHO THEY SENT THE ECU OFF TO SEE IF IT CAN BE FIXED OR HAS TO BE REPLACED. SINCE THE DEALER IS PAYING FOR IT I HOPE THE OLD ONE CANT BE FIXED AND HAS TO SEND A REFURBISHED ONE OUT. I STILL MAY BAIL OUT ON THIS DEAL KNOWING THIS NOW LIKE YOU SAID. ITS REALLY A GOOD DEAL AND INLINE WITH MY BUDGET. WHAT WAS THE WARRANTY ON THE ONE YOU BOUGHT FROM HIM??

SORRY FOR THE ALL CAPS -- JUST REALIZED THIS. -- AT WORK ON COMPUTER

[Nigel06]

There is no warranty offered on replacement ECU's from MefiBurn, so its a complete gamble fitting it and hitting the start button that the same thing wont happen again. If the ECM is found to be at a fault and repaired/replaced I would recommend checking all earths and fuses/relays etc. at minimum before installing the ECM and attempting to fire the boat up, With a bit of luck they may be able to communicate with your ECM and read any codes giving an indication of possible cause of issue, in my case this wasn't possible unfortunately and I opted to replace all relays and fuses in the ECM harness and cleaned up all my earths to be on the safe side.