2018 SX195 help please

[SportBilly]

I had the back of my boat close to shoreline approximately 1.6ft of water (thrust vectors lifted) and when I started to move off my engine felt like something was possibly stuck in the impellers. I rode 8mph back to the ramp and lifted the boat out and noticed nothing in the impeller or clean out plugs. So took it with me to Florida as I assumed (hoped) all was well. Took it into the Indian river in Sebastian and my power felt missing. Checked and verify that the clean out plug is correctly set. Even pulled down impeller while at the ramp and nothing in the impeller. However when I launch after pulling the impeller I can get up to approximately 5000 rpm and then the revs jump to 7000rpm without much changes in the speed. Almost like something is stuck. Any idea or recommendation what else to look at? I saw someone mention on another thread maybe spark plugs but those were changed back in September. But open to any other suggestions or recommendations please. Thanks in advance to this awesome group of people. Appreciate all I have learnt so far on this forum.

 

[Mesa50]

Make sure the reverse bucket is raising all the way up, and out of the way when the throttle lever is in the forward position. If it’s partially lowered, it could result in reduced performance.

 

[jEt_jAk]

Check impeller make sure not bent or damaged.

 

[Betik]

Need to check the pump outside the water and while on the trailer. It is likely you might have to pull the pump. Hopefully you have some small piece stuck in there ( it happens ) . If not probably bent impeller. Easy job to replace, @swatski can tell you all about as he has changed like double digits LOL

 

[swatski]

Even pulled down impeller while at the ramp and nothing in the impeller.

Did you pull the pump out? The easiest way to do it is to pull the stator segment with the impeller and inspect everything. I fyou want to post some pics it would help. Sounds like your pump shows excessive cavitation. Either due to impeller damage (likely if you sucked rocks) or lost sealant and sucking air, usually from the bilge.

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[DrPhil]

"...pull the pump out..." Seems like this might be something important to know how to do - especially in certain environments (shallow, rocky)? Is this easy?

 

[SportBilly]

Make sure the reverse bucket is raising all the way up, and out of the way when the throttle lever is in the forward position. If it’s partially lowered, it could result in reduced performance.

Yes I did check the bucket and it is raised all the way up when in full forward position. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[SportBilly]

Check impeller make sure not bent or damaged.

Impeller looks like it’s still in good state. Didn’t look bent or damaged when we pulled it on the boat ramp.

 

[Betik]

We got to open the pump

 

[SportBilly]

Need to check the pump outside the water and while on the trailer. It is likely you might have to pull the pump. Hopefully you have some small piece stuck in there ( it happens ) . If not probably bent impeller. Easy job to replace, @swatski can tell you all about as he has changed like double digits LOL

I’ll probably pull it again and take pictures the next time and send over. Possibly do before the weekend and send pics of the impeller to ensure I am not missing anything.

We got to open the pump

will do that and post pics for suggestions and directions. Appreciate all the support this great group has offered so far. Thanks a bunch.

 

[SportBilly]

"...pull the pump out..." Seems like this might be something important to know how to do - especially in certain environments (shallow, rocky)? Is this easy?

I pulled mine on the boat ramp and watched a video to ensure I didn’t miss anything. Only a few bolts to be honest. However my friend had all the right tools which helped big time. Now I purchased more tools to keep in my tow vehicle

 

[SportBilly]

Ok sorry for the late response. Had family issues so just got a chance to pull the pump and attached is some pictures of the impeller and the housing and I am not seeing any spots in the housing or any damage or issues with the impeller either. So not certain what else to look at unless I am missing something from these pictures. Let me know if more pictures are needed as I haven’t reattached just in case. Thanks again everyone for directions.

 

[Betik]

the impeller and housing seem fine to me, at least from the pictures they do.
I did re read your desertion and given the impeller and housing are okay, I would say that you cannot sustain high pressure. I take it you are able to get on plane and then between 5 to 7K RPM your speed does not change by more than say 5 mph ? It feels as if you have a loss of thrust under high load.

How possible it will be for you to get back on the water and take a video ( with sound) of what is happening? I believe there are couple of people in the forum who might be able to diagnose cavitation by sound. Not me, but if you post a video I will make sure to ping them for you

 

[SportBilly]

Thanks for the response. I’ll take the boat out this weekend coming and will get some videos and upload. Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate all the help and direction this forum has provided. Thanks all. Video coming soon.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Well The first answer is probably on the spot I constantly tell people that removing the stainless steel spacers from the reverse hood is not a good idea and on E series boats especially. So I would be looking at the movement of the reverse bucket travel The small spacers the factory installs creates a clear void for the buckets to travel unrestricted As for being covered under the factory warranty , if the original spacers are removed it isn't their responsibility to fix it.

 

[Betik]

Well The first answer is probably on the spot I constantly tell people that removing the stainless steel spacers from the reverse hood is not a good idea and on E series boats especially. So I would be looking at the movement of the reverse bucket travel The small spacers the factory installs creates a clear void for the buckets to travel unrestricted As for being covered under the factory warranty , if the original spacers are removed it isn't their responsibility to fix it.

That makes sense but would the ingestion of some rockets would have caused the bucket to drop ?

 

[SportBilly]

Below is the first video of me starting and at low speeds you hear the rpm rev around 14 seconds into the video. I was going anywhere between maybe 10-15 mph when the rpm jumped from 5000 to almost max and you can see the smoke. Thoughts ?

The second video, you can hear it even more at higher rpm when I am around 30mph and similar to above rpm jumped high and then once it “engaged” it picked up speed and the rpm dropped and stabilized.

Thanks for any feedback. Other than that it runs pretty decent and with 2 people on I can even got up and above 42mph a few times without any issues or struggle.

 

[Betik]

I am not sure that I can hear anything wrong with either of the videos, but then I have scubadived a lot when I was young.
To me it sounds as if your engine has enough power to turn the impeller after that the torque can push the boat. This is very common if you are really slow speed and you gun it.

As far as the RPM spiking and then dropping is most likely righted to what I was saying. When you go on super spin so to speak the RPM goes really high but when the water low catches up and your impeller bites then you loose some of that RPM.

As far as the smoke, I am sure if recall seeing that on my boat, but typically I don’t look back lol. I have see.

As a final word I would say, are you sure t
Your boat was not doing this before ? You might have noticed now, but I have the feeling this was always the case and you never paid attention to it.

As far as tip speed goes I am not sure what you sou posed to get.

 

[Crob83]

I have an '18 AR195 and nothing in your video seemed off to me. Sounds fine, I thought I saw smoke then I thought it was water, not sure.

 

[2kwik4u]

That smoke is steam from the water cooling the exhaust. Perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

Both video's sound fine to me. Might have a little cavitation in the first as you throttle up, but nothing major. Best test for that is "hammer down" from a dead stop at idle. If revs shoot up, then settle back down, it's cavitating a little. Start by sealing the intake tunnel, and checking the impeller for knicks/dings in the leading edge.