Hesitation engine cut out only in choppy rough water

[tdub]

Hi, any help is appreciated.
My 2002 SANTE runs great in smooth water at all speeds and RPM. Then in rough water, when the boat starts jumping a little it revs down cuts out, loses power, and I have to go back to a throttle position at or near Idle before I can rev back up and start over.

It seems to only happen at higher speeds, for instance i can navigate choppy water with no issue so far below 2500RPM. This RPM is mysteriously close to what people describe as Limp mode, so before this weekend I thought I was having a limp mode failure. However, this weekend I ran WOT in smooth water, and up to 4500RPM with no issues for over an hour. Including starts and stops etc. No issue. Then in rough water, hit a couple bumps and it will cutout and limp...
any thoughts much appreciated!

[campbelljo]

It sound like fire to me. I am not familiar your boats ingition system. However i had a coil wire that had a short and it would only cut out under a load. I discovered it when i was checking to see if all the plug wires were on the distributor tight and got shocked. Replaced the coil wire that shocked me and never had the problem after.

Start snooping around you ignition system something is either not making a good connection or failing.

[fattymrm999]

Hey tdub, any updates or success on your problem?? I have the same issue with my 06 SANTE. Rough water kills it when I'm going over about 20mph, I have to turn off the engine and restart. Under that speed or in calm water, no problem. Maybe we can figure this one out together with some new ideas.

I already checked and tightened all the battery connections, I'm currently trying to hunt down a diagnostic code reader to see if that gives us any info. I'm also suspect on the throttle sensor.

[jkallen21]

I have an 06 SANTE and this same thing was happening. I traced it back to the positive connection that was attached to the back of the kickplate under the driver feet. Pull that board off, and check for tight connections. It was years ago, but I believe the cable was red.

[Infinity]

This is a really old thread....but typically when something like this happens, its a loose connection somewhere or corrosion creating a bad connection. Loose ground can cause this, which is first places I would look...then all harness and other wire connections.