Help!Boat gives loud,long, beep, then dies when driving.

[dallastige]

Boat 2003 Tige 22V: This problem started a few months ago, and has gotten worse every time I take it out. Today I drove the boat for about 30 min with no problems. I then shut the boat off for an hour or so. When I started it to head back in after about 1 minute of cruising it gave a loud beep, engine bogged down and then died. It did this all the way home and would only stay running for a minute at a time, sometimes less. It starts right back up with no problem. It will idle all day long, but as soon as I give it any gas it beeps loudly, bogs down and dies. All the gauges appeared fine, amperage, temp, oil pressure.....does anyone have any ideas????

[chpthril]

Have you checked all the fluids? Engine oil, Transmission, V-drive? How long since the last Impeller change. Water in the fuel/water sep? Just a couple of ideas.

[dogbert]

Yeah, if you haven't changed your impeller in a while, then you could be overheating. Your engine will go into protect mode so you can limp home.

[R&T Babich]

It starts right back up with no problem. It will idle all day long, but as soon as I give it any gas it beeps loudly, bogs down and dies. All the gauges appeared fine, amperage, temp, oil pressure.....does anyone have any ideas????

Sounds like it might be low on fuel pressure. Is it carb or FI?
Dogbert, what was the warning sound like when your fuel pressure regulator went out?
For FI a fuel pressure gauge on the test fitting on the fuel rail would tell you right away if the fuel pressure is low.

[dogbert]

It would beep intermittently and it never bogged down or died. I don't know if that's what usually happens when your fuel pressure regulator goes out, but that's what happened on mine. Of course, I did take it in right after the first time it happened.

Good catch, R&T Babich.

I'd recommend taking your boat to the dealer or someone who's authorized to work on Mercruisers and have them check the codes. They will tell you what the issue is.

[Weil Thing]

My '07 was doing similar things, and it ended up being a loose connection on the ignition switch...mine was intermittent because of hitting waves or chop...on smooth water it ran fine...just another idea of something simple to look at before taking it in.

[dallastige]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas..I checked all the fluids and they are all fine. The impeller was changed at the end of last summer, so should be fine. It is not overheating. As far as the loose ignition switch, it seemed ok. I do not have a fuel/water separator, so can't check this...maybe I should get one...it is Fuel injected, but I don't have a fuel pressure tester.

Regarding the comment on the fuel pressure reg...something similar happened last year, except it finally stopped running completely...it ended up being the fuel pressure reg...hopefully this is not the same problem.

I think I'll take it into the shop...I was just hoping it might be a quick fix so I didn't have to put it on the trailer!

[lee]

If it is a Mercruiser engine, sounds like it is going into guardian mode. You will need to have the computer scanned for codes and then cleared to remove the faults.

[R&T Babich]

I do not have a fuel/water separator, so can't check this...maybe I should get one...it is Fuel injected, but I don't have a fuel pressure tester.

If your engine is a Merc it should have a fuel/water seperator on it. Our 2000 Mag MPI has it mounted inside a plastic housing on the front right corner of the engine. All you can see is the fuel lines going into the housing. If it doesn't have one I recommend you put one on. My only experience with water in the fuel was with our old boat with a carburetor and it had similar symptoms - would idle fine, but no power when trying to accelerate. I try not to buy gas from marinas anymore.

Since you have a fuel injection computer there will probably be a fault code triggering the "loud beep". Please post the code and problem resolution when you find out what it is.

Fuel pressure testers are readily available and not all that expensive. I added a gauge that threads into the fuel rail so I can easily see if the pressure is low.

[dallastige]

Wanted to update everyone in case it helps anyone in the future-

I disconnected both batteries for about 4 hours to take them to be tested (they were both good). After re-connecting the batteries the problem myseriously went away. I took it to the dealer just to make sure, and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They said the computer probably threw a false alarm and put it into limp mode, and by disconnecting the power for an extended period of time the computer was reset thus fixing the error. Not sure if this makes sense or not, but have been out two full days with no problems!

[da.bell]

Yes, that does make sense. In the computer world, when there are problems going on, the first thing you do is restart the computer in hopes that it fixes the problem.

[Gymi]

Last year my 6.0 did this. Had this problem last year. We found no voltage at the TPS. We replaced the TPS, and it fixed it. But the dying/beeping could be a variety of things.

[dogbert]

Yeah, there were a few folks that had grounding problems initially with the 6.0. Perhaps you fixed it when you disconnected and reconnected the batteries.

Glad it's working again!