Engine surges/loses power at upper RPMs

[LittleTiger]

I have a 2007 22VE with 13hrs, bought new in 2009. The engine (Vortec 5.7 L, 340HP) surges/loses power around 3700+ RPM and above. I experienced this issue the day I bought it and was told it was bad gas or bad fuel filter. 10 hrs later and several tanks of gas, I still have the surging/loss of power. If I run below 3700 RPM, it runs fine. It accelerates fine from a dead stop. Just doesn't want to open up. I'm up in Seattle, Washington. The boat is in the shop now, but they are not familiar with Tige's and PCM powerplants. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

[BrownClown]

The same thing happened to me last year. They replaced the soft fuel pickup line with a hard one. That solved the issue. Apparently, the line would collapse at higher rpms. Call Harvey Smith at the factory.

[chpthril]

What prop is on it, should find the model # and size stapped on the hub.

[dgeiler]

One other piece of information to keep in mind, you have a 5.7L 340HP Marine Power powerplant. PCM engines were not used until 09.

[LittleTiger]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I don't have the boat, so I can't check the prop. Is there a known issue I should look for?

Thank you for the tip on the fuel line. I will contact Harvey.

[majestic]

Welcome Little Tiger it is nice to see another Washington Tige Owner. I am sorry you are having issues, I am going to take a wild guess you bought you boat up in Everett at Sundance Yacht Sales? If so I'm also faily confident that that is one of the repo boats that came up from California and had been sitting for a while. I am aware of another person that had a similiar issue with one of those boats but I have not had an update on how it turned out.

Have you tried the local Tige dealer and is it under warranty? We will be out on Sammamish on Sunday if you want to go for a ride in my 22ve to get a comparison of how the boat should run.

[LittleTiger]

I actually bought it from California last year and yes it was sitting for quite a while.

Lynnwood Motoplex is our closest official Tige dealership. The boat is there now. It is still under warranty, so it is just a matter of figuring out what is the cause. They tested the fuel pressure under load and didn't think the engine was starving for fuel. They are working with Marine Power directly now.

If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know. I would like to get my boat back sooner rather than later.

[wellspun]

Just curious, did you buy that from Capitol Watersports in Sacramento? I purchased my "brand new" 07 24Ve from them, and when it was delivered it had 20 hours on it, and had a few issues that they swore they would fix. Of course they didn't fix any of the issues, but the price was amazing, and overall I'm still happy that I purchased the boat I did.

[LittleTiger]

Yes, I bought it from Capitol Watersports. Yes, this surge/loss of power was identified during my test ride and they thought it was bad gas or bad filter...obviously not. But yes, great price.

[gcsuper]

Several years ago we had a Ski Supreme that lost power in the upper RPM's. Did it from day one. The dealer had just picked up Supremes, didn't know much about inboards and after three trips they said it checked out fine. Tried another non inboard dealer closer to my house but also with no luck. Finally found someone to go to the lake with me to check the symptoms out as they happened. Turned out to be the knock sensor. It was detecting a noise that sounded like detonation and would retard the timimng the faster you tried to go. We unpluged it, and from that day it ran perfect. But it took someone to go the lake and test it. They could not duplicate the symptoms in the pit.

[LittleTiger]

Thanks for the tip. I willing to try anything.

[LittleTiger]

Just an update. Dealership could not repo the problem after lake test. I picked it up, put in, ran fine for a little bit and then back to same problem, but this time at lower RPM (1400 and up). Boat is basically useless. Issue only appears under load. I can rev and hold at any rpm range when prop is disengaged.

I've informed the dealership, but given there lack of experience with Tige boats, I'm starting to look elsewhere.....frustrating as it is finally nice in Seattle.

[Tanner]

When your saying loss of power.... please define that. Are you saying the motor goes into limp mode and you can't go above idle? Or are you saying you just can't go any faster and the motor is running rough? Any knocking, pinging, detonation, missing, etc?

If it weren't for the fact that you said it only happens under load and not when running in neutral, which btw is pretty common, I would lean to say it sounds like your timing is off. Since you said it was a repo boat, it's possible someone yanked the distributor and never timed it correctly when it was replaced. The Marine Power is a unique motor to time, everything works of the cam sensor. Make sure the timing is set around 42-43 degrees on that motor. There's a specific procedure on that motor to time if it, that's available through marine power in the event the timing is off.

But like I said, this isn't the case since the motor runs fine when revving it up under neutral. Even still, you may have them throw the timing light on there and see where it's at.

[kko]

Tell me this does it feel like it speeds up when you just back off the throttle some. My boat did the same thing as what you are describing to a "T". Mine is an 03 but has the same motor. I also checked fuel pressure and all that basic stuff and never could find a real problem. I took a shot in the dark and replaced the high pressure fuel pump and it has run like a raped ape ever since.

[Jason B]

Mine does that when it needs a new fuel filter. It takes about 1/2 hour to do it and costs about $10, that's worth a try.