2013 AR190 No Start After Running Fine

[APR_VA]

Hi Everyone -

Had a strange occurrence last weekend. Was running around the creek with the boat doing some tubing with the kids all running perfectly, came back to the dock to drop off the kids and then go skiing. Went to restart the boat and would crank, but never fired. Did some troubleshooting -

• Flipped the battery kill switch to off for a minute
• Charged Battery and cracked with 50amp charge (no change)
• Pulled and reset the safety lanyard
• Checked plugs (only 10 hours on them) and looked good and were dry
• Cranked with #1 plug/coil out and touching bolt into head with no spark
• Did not smell gas in cylinder after cranking with spark plug removed
• Occasionally threw an engine alarm, caught it once and it said 132

It threw a code last year a couple times after a start and ran rough, but once it was cycled off it was restarted fine. I believe the engine code then was the 132 and when I looked it up at that time was related to the throttle position sensor. The Boat has 310 hours on it, very well maintained and has a Ride Steady system on it.

My thoughts are - Ride Steady issue with TPS, TPS failure, Safety lanyard failure, or fuel pump failure.

The boat is located in a smaller town off the Bay in VA so finding Yamaha experts is not easy. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

 

[Southernerd]

Could it be an issue with kill switch on the swim deck? That's about the only thing you didn't list.

 

[APR_VA]

Thanks - We had not moved the swim deck for weeks, but things can fail at any time....

 

[David.Parrish]

My guess would be heat soak or vapor lock from running hard on a hot day and then sitting for a bit? I actually had this issue on my 2021 255XD this past weekend. Had been running around at WOT and having fun, then slowed down into a cove and immediately anchored for 30 mins - 1 hour without giving the engines time to cool at slower speeds. Port engine started right up, but the starboard would crank and not fire. Tried all the same things you did above with no luck. Ended up doing a couple of circles on the working engine at no wake speed to get some water movement - and then she fired right up. Haven't had the problem since. I have this issue a lot with my Ducati motorcycles as well. Just a thought.

 

[2kwik4u]

My guess would be heat soak or vapor lock from running hard on a hot day and then sitting for a bit? I actually had this issue on my 2021 255XD this past weekend. Had been running around at WOT and having fun, then slowed down into a cove and immediately anchored for 30 mins - 1 hour without giving the engines time to cool at slower speeds. Port engine started right up, but the starboard would crank and not fire. Tried all the same things you did above with no luck. Ended up doing a couple of circles on the working engine at no wake speed to get some water movement - and then she fired right up. Haven't had the problem since. I have this issue a lot with my Ducati motorcycles as well. Just a thought.

This is it.

Vapor lock happens when the engine is very hot, and left to sit. The fuel actually boils within the line turning to vapor and blocking the flow of new fuel from coming in.

Best practice is to run the blower during extended WOT/high speed use to keep the engine compartment as cool as you can. Then do NOT go from WOT/High load applications (like top speed runs or tubing the kids) to a dead stop/engine off condition. Use No Wake Mode for 5-10 minutes and let the engines cool a bit, while keeping the blower on. You want more than just idle to keep the cooling water pressure and flow higher.

My 190 does this from time to time if I'm not paying attention, or in a hurry, or otherwise don't follow protocol. Typically we get to the edge of the No Wake zone, then use no wake mode on setting 2 or 3 to go back and find out spot and toss the anchor out and get it set. THEN we kill the engines. Keep in mind you can run the engines in no wake mode as long as you like, even if they are in "neutral" position.

 

[David.Parrish]

Keep in mind you can run the engines in no wake mode as long as you like, even if they are in "neutral" position.

Really? This I did not know. I wonder if this works on the 255. I will give it a shot next time I am on the water. So in the neutral position, does No Wake just make the engines run at a higher idle speed?

 

[2kwik4u]

Really? This I did not know. I wonder if this works on the 255. I will give it a shot next time I am on the water. So in the neutral position, does No Wake just make the engines run at a higher idle speed?

I know it works on the 1.8L in both the 190 series and the 240 series. I would assume the same to be true for the 255's under the assumption it's the same 1.8L engine setup.

And yes, all that No Wake Mode does is increase idle speed to a preset level. There are 3 levels and they are completely independent of directional control. You can use NWM in Fwd/N/Rev at any time for any reason.........In fact, I use NWM on level 2 for docking to maintain control. No thrust = no control, you get thrust from revs. Add revs, get thrust, control thrust magnitude and direction with wheel and directional control. No transmission in these boats so shift as often as you like, you won't hurt a thing.

 

[APR_VA]

Good idea on cooling it down. I will use that going forward, however it does not seem that it was my issue. That said, I almost always use the blower under way, but last weekend I decided to cut back on using it...

As an update, I got back to the boat last night and tried to start it as is. It fired up. Since it is on a lift, I had to shut it down and then ran the water line and fired it successfully again. I have been talking to the tech support at Ride Steady and they have been helpful figuring out what might be happening. From what we can discern, it seems as though it went into limp mode at the dock and was preventing the engine from firing. It is still odd that it never recovered from the engine alarm over the time troubleshooting. We believe it is one of three items - battery (might be dropping unusually low in voltage on starting), APS failure, or throttle node failure. Now comes the fun of trying to test and eliminate possibilities. Thanks for all the help.

 

[APR_VA]

Went wakeboarding this weekend along with two trips cruising around and no issues....

 

[David.Parrish]

I know it works on the 1.8L in both the 190 series and the 240 series. I would assume the same to be true for the 255's under the assumption it's the same 1.8L engine setup.

And yes, all that No Wake Mode does is increase idle speed to a preset level. There are 3 levels and they are completely independent of directional control. You can use NWM in Fwd/N/Rev at any time for any reason.........In fact, I use NWM on level 2 for docking to maintain control. No thrust = no control, you get thrust from revs. Add revs, get thrust, control thrust magnitude and direction with wheel and directional control. No transmission in these boats so shift as often as you like, you won't hurt a thing.

Tried this out yesterday - sure enough - works like a champ on the 255 as well. Thanks for the heads up on this!

 

[APR_VA]

Hi All - Back to the drawing board. This weekend went tubing again, boat would not start at the dock again after returning. Ran at no wake speed for 5+ minutes back to the dock with the blower working. Had even stopped for a 10 min swim and it restarted after that (with some struggle). It is now 2 days later and have troubleshot a lot. Put in a new Battery and gave it about 24 hours to drain any capacitors and even connected the battery leads to each other. Bypassed the ride steady and no change. Found out that I do have spark on crank, but zero volts at the fuel pump. Swapped out the fuses, but not sure what to jumper on the relay (or even which relay so that is still a possibility). It threw the APS Code 132 again. What can cause no power to the fuel pump on crank? Bad ECU? Bad APS? Bad Relay/ground/wiring? Anything else or other ideas? Thanks for the help!

 

[dscable]

sounds electrical, possibly a bad connection or a short. Check all of your wiring harness connections, make sure all of the connections are secured down and not "flopping" around in the engine bay. Also, check the hot wire on the starter (mine vibrates loose from time to time and I have the same symptoms).

 

[RyanMurphy]

ever figure out the issue?

 

[APR_VA]

Well, the drama did continue. Took the boat to the dealership and here was the diagnosis -

Performed diagnostic testing. Found trouble code 13 (pulser coil). Performed peak voltage
test and found no voltage (bad). Performed stator resistance test and resistance value was bad. Performed
compression test and cylinders 2 and 3 failed. In order results were 186,100,145,185. Engine will need to
be removed and the engine taken apart to identify failure or motor replaced.

The failure of the pulsar coil and the drop in compression "never really happens to these motors" said the mechanic. Guess I am lucky. The compression loss is likely a bent rod from one of two things - 1) towing the boat too fast, or 2) flushing the motor with water when not running. I have done neither in the two years I owned it and it pulled strong up too when it stopped starting. It hit 44 MPH just weeks before and pulling 200 lbs skiers right out of the hole.

Last summer we got place just off the bay and we ordered a larger boat to handle the Chesapeake so I had been planning to sell this spring. Given the market and I hate to sell things not in good working order, I decided to pull the motor and it is in the process of getting rebuilt along with the other questionable parts getting replaced. So if you know anyone wanting a boat with zero hour motor under warranty 6-8 weeks from now, let me know