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Check engine light not going away and fault code gone...

Luc Lafreniere

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Hi, I posted this on the Scarab Facebook page but haven't received an answer.

4h ago (boat engine time), I got a P0303 code (along with a check engine light, NOT the wrench) which corresponded to a misfire on a cylinder. I immediately suspected the spark plug since I haven't changed them in over 125h of use. I take them off every year, inspect them and reinstall. Everything had been running fine until recently and when it started running rough, I essentially got that code right away. Regardless, I intentionally kept using the same plug and kept a spare set in the boat along with the tools in case I needed to replace them. No biggie. So I did.

Boat is running perfectly since. I have now put about 4h on the boat over a dozen sessions if not more. The code indeed went away as I was told if the problem was fixed. BUT the check engine light has NOT. I still get it each time I turn the engine on. Everything still running smooth and perfect.

Can anyone confirm if the check engine light should have gone away by now? Or does the code go away, but you still need to reset the check engine light? If so, I'll consider just buying the candoo pro software, just trying to avoid that expensive if possible. Dealers are pretty far away... and if I have to pay them for this, I'd rather just buy the software instead since I plan on keeping this boat for a long time.

With that in mind, the other possibility I considered was my battery which is now on its 4th season of use. I have no issues starting the boat and no issues running everything like normal. The battery, at rest registers as 12.73V on my multi-meter. So to the best of my knowledge, the battery is perfectly fine still. It's also on a battery tender all winter and I recently added a solar trickle charger while I'm away from the boat since it sits in the water for many days at a time with nobody around. So to rule that out, I took my car battery and put it in the boat to see what would happen. After running the boat for a just 10 min, no difference. I ran out of time before leaving the cottage so couldn't keep running it to see if the check engine line would eventually go away like the code.

Anybody know for a fact why the check engine light would still be on with NO code whatsoever at this point? And yes, there is NO active fault code anywhere in the display. I've tried every trick in the book.

This is the older model 2015 Scarab 165 (150HP).

Merci!
 

Dean P

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I usually get this code when the battery is low. I have heard of other replacing the sensor and the problem goes away. Hope this helps.
 

Luc Lafreniere

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Sorry @Dean P , I don't follow. I have no code. The code was for the bad plug, but that is now replaced and the code is gone. There is no code left. Just a random check engine light. I've heard of O2 sensors having problems, but to my knowledge, there's a code for that. Nothing for me...
 

Winerocks

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Hi Luc, you may need to bite the bullet on the Candoo.
The CEL should go off once enough the error is fixed, and a certain number of "no error" signals are sent to the onboard computer. You may still have an intermittent or "pending" error occurring.
Might be worth asking some SeaDoo jet ski folks in the Ottawa area if they know anyone with either BUDDS or Candoo Pro.
 

Luc Lafreniere

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Thanks. Yeah, not sure if someone just has one. I follow quite a few boat groups (and sea-doo) and nobody is talking about this at all. I'll probably have to either bring it to a shop and simply pay to get it checked or just bite the bullet and get the software. I think the latter is a better approach since I've been doing all my own maintenance up to now. Seems like a good investment. But man I'm curious why the light is still on if everything else is working.
 

Luc Lafreniere

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*sigh*, after calling two boat dealers that deal with Sea-Doo but not Scarab, both confirmed they've tried in the past and aren't able to interface with Scarabs because their software isn't of the right type (i.e. not designed for this series). The nearest Scarab dealer is a 2h drive away.... an expensive towing option for just a light.

So I bit the bullet and just ordered Candoo Pro. Now I have to get a hold of an old Windows laptop somewhere since I don't have any. lol All of this and I bet you all I have to do is reset the light. But who knows... and I don't want to drive the boat for the rest of the summer not knowing in case something is indeed actually broken.

Convincing the wife that I "needed" this wasn't easy. lol Hopefully it will pay itself over time since I do my own maintenance... I'm also curious because I bought my boat "used" with 22h. I suspect the dealer that sold it to me turned off maintenance reminders somehow because I'm now at 154h and never received one. I did all maintenance correctly of course... but I'll be curious to see how it's set in there.
 

JetTech72

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The check engine will eventually go away if you have no code present in the cluster. Fault in cluster are active codes, check engine light will turn off after 3 consecutive drive cycles in "healing" conditions. That's true for all OBD related faults, misfire is slightly different as the healing as to be done in the similar condition as when the fault was stored in memory, so that's why it would take longer.
 

Luc Lafreniere

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@JetTech72 interesting... so this could still go away eventually huh? I'm actually back at the cottage now and will be doing some more boating this weekend. We'll see what happens. I think I'll keep the Candoo Pro when it gets here anyways... sounds like I'll eventually need it anyways. Merci!
 

Luc Lafreniere

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For the record, finally plugged in Candoo Pro. As I stated on Facebook: "FYI, confirmed it was a fault code related to the fuel pump. I've been messing around with it because it kept getting stuck. I guess unplugging/replugging it so may times eventually caused a fault code P0231. I just had to clear it and light seems to be gone. lol Fun times."

Glad I'm splitting the software cost with 3 other guys. That seems like a lot of dollars to clear a light. lol
 
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