2004 Yamaha SX230 both engine trouble

[NathanT10]

Alright bear with me while I try to make it make sense.

-Tubing practically full throttle for damn near 2 hours.
-Stop to pick someone up so I kill the motors for them to pull out the ladder and climb on the boat, go to fire it back up once they’re on the boat, same way as I have every time right away when they’re on it for the last 2 hours.
- Right motor won’t start at all
-Left motor won’t show RPM’s anymore, AND at max throttle I’m going like 3 MPH, something is obviously not catching or something.
-To clarify, right motor won’t do ANYTHING, no power, no crank, no nothing, turn the key and I might as well not have turned it.

Ran great no issues for the 2 hours before, just this one time turning it off out of the 15 times I turned it off and on over the last 2 hours.

Any thoughts?

 

[Acard7]

No warning lights?

Check your clean out hatch safety switches, may need to adjust them to being pushed down harder for your no start on the motor that won’t do anything.

Last time you changed the spark plugs? Oil level okay? Air filter is clean?

Check your impellers for possible things sucked up and stuck in there. This could be causing your running engine to only go 3mph.

 

[NathanT10]

No warning lights?

Check your clean out hatch safety switches, may need to adjust them to being pushed down harder for your no start on the motor that won’t do anything.

Last time you changed the spark plugs? Oil level okay? Air filter is clean?

Check your impellers for possible things sucked up and stuck in there. This could be causing your running engine to only go 3mph.

Okay so I opened up the rear hatch and found that my right safety switch fell off, the nut is completely gone but the part that holds it is still there, need to try to get the switch out that fell down into the compartment. (It’s already 100° here in Texas I’m inside cooling off) would this kill switch being gone cause the lack of power in the left motor? It accelerates just like it should slow to high but the propeller isn’t giving any true propulsion

 

[Acard7]

Each engine has its own clean out hatch safety switch. Find a way to secure the switch and just tape the button down so you can run the engine.

My guess on the left motor, which I assume is your port motor (passenger side), is you have something stuck in the impeller, pull the clean out plug out and feel around the impeller to see if you have something stuck in there, even a small wood chip or stick will cause a total loss of power.

Also on another extremely important note, do not run the boat on one engine while underway unless you clamp off the cooling lines of a broken down engine. If you have done this, before you start the engine that didn’t run check your oil to see if it’s milky.

 

[Acard7]

I should say, technically you should be able to run the boat at no wake speed and water shouldn’t back up into a broken down engine if you don’t clamp it. Just don’t wanna chance it though, clamp the water lines to the affected engine if an engine breaks down.

 

[Beachbummer]

Okay so I opened up the rear hatch and found that my right safety switch fell off, the nut is completely gone but the part that holds it is still there, need to try to get the switch out that fell down into the compartment. (It’s already 100° here in Texas I’m inside cooling off) would this kill switch being gone cause the lack of power in the left motor? It accelerates just like it should slow to high but the propeller isn’t giving any true propulsion

So, Did this propulsion loss on the running engine happen while the other engine was off? With a single engine going the propulsion is highly diminished vs 2 engines running. Were you able to move the boat some with the other engine that had "no propulsion"? Hopefully it's just debris.

Regarding the failed hatch switch....
You can replace the hatch switch to restore full safety, or you could bypass it electrically (permanently or while you wait for the new part) so you can use the boat now, at risk of you or someone else getting their hand in there and replaying a scene from a horror movie where the hand is in the blender..., I do run my boat that way, after having been in your exact situation. At the time I was able to tape the broken pieces back together to allow us to complete the outing, I taped the hatch switch "closed", and I later electrically bypassed both switches. We can debate how wise this is, but it's so far the right thing for me, been running for a few years like this, and I can clean out one side while the other engine is running. I just pull the key before I go back there to open the hatch.