Engine Communication Error

[Jwiley]

I admit I am a new boat Owner. 2014 SX 190 with 72 hrs. When i bought the boat a couple of weeks ago I stored it in my garage. The next day I hear an alarm and the Tach jumping from 0-8 repeatedly. Yes, the master battery switch was still on but Radio and all other electronics were off. I have a small Schumacher battery charger/maintainer so i put it on my boat battery. The next day, my Schumacher is flashing green which means battery fully charged and is now in 'maintaining' mode. We took the boat out for the first time Sunday, Cold and Windy but I couldn't wait, and the boat starts just fine, showing 14 ish amps while motor is on. When we shut the boat off to sit and listen to the radio, after a few minutes the tach starts jumping again and it reads "Engine Comm Error". As to not get stranded, we left the boat on for the remainder of the trip. Sunday night i store the boat back in the garage and purposely left the master battery switch left on and did NOT hook up the battery charger. By monday afternoon the Tach is jumping with same "Engine Comm Error". After pushing buttons for a while i come accross the different functions one showing diagnostics and i found this "Yamaha Trouble Code: No Eng Comm". Once again, this is in my garage, all electronics that i can tell are off, and main batter switch left on. I am assuming i have a short somewhere but where...

 

[ToddW850]

Apparently there is a way to reset your gauges. I'm not 100% on the process. Yamaha recommended another Jetboater try this when they got a similar error. Maybe try that and see if it continues? Sorry, but I searched and that's all I could come up with at the moment.

 

[Jwiley]

thanks... i am calling different dealerships (tech department) maybe i can get a nice guy to give me some pointers/suggestions.

 

[Jwiley]

Well two different 'Techs' said sounds like a bad battery. So i suppose i am off to have the battery checked. I needed an excuse to buy a new battery and maybe even a second battery system... Fingers are crossed that this cures the Error code.

 

[ToddW850]

Good luck. Hopefully that's it, because that's a quick fix. Keep us updated.

 

[cabbie]

There is a battery charging vendor on this forum: perhaps he will find this thread. 12.3 volts is too low for a battery that has been charged, your battery is just above 60% charged. Why? How old is the battery? Check the terminals for cleanliness and tightness.

Good luck,
Cabbie

 

[MIDLIFECRISIS]

This may sound funny cabbie but a battery can show volts but not have any amps. I see it all the time on the HMMVWs LMTVs and other Army stuff that I work on. We have some highspeed battery analizers here in the Army that will check the battery for voltage and then check the amps, it calls it battery life. Some will say 12v 100% life but some will say 12v 10% life, the last one will have a hard time lighting up a 12v head light and suck the life out of the rest of the batteris that are tyed in with it. Then it is replace all the batts, 2/4 of them.

 

[Jwiley]

FYI - I haven't had the opportunity to remove the battery and have it tested yet. The terminals are clean and the connections seem solid. The Boat is a '14 so i am assuming its a factory battery. Hopefully i will be able to have it tested this weekend and i will report back the findings.

 

[McMark]

Yamaha boats aren't tolerant of low battery voltage. I pulled my boat out of storage. Got it all ready to start (aside from recharging the batteries). I spun each engine a bit with the tether pulled to pump some oil. I was too psyched up to not start it. Both engines started easily but threw a check engine light for each engine and no comm. I charged both batteries and she started with no check engine or comm fault. I knew exactly why as soon as I got the error.

I'd get a new battery if I were you. Boats are tough on batteries. They take a beating.

 

[Jwiley]

** Follow Up **
I forgot to update what i found. I took the battery out and had it tested at two different locations. I reinstalled same battery but i noticed that the terminal was a little corroded. @cabbie had suggested cleaning the terminals but without my face right over the battery, i could't tell they were corroded. Anywhoo.... I cleaned/noncorrosive goop/and tightened terminals and we have been out a couple of times with no issues. Still looking to add an 'accessory' deep cycle battery but for now all is well. K.I.S.S. I should have cleaned/scuffed terminals from the beginning.

 

[Julian]

Another happy ending!

 

[ToddW850]

Awesome! Thanks for updating.

 

[Irvs]

I admit I am a new boat Owner. 2014 SX 190 with 72 hrs. When i bought the boat a couple of weeks ago I stored it in my garage. The next day I hear an alarm and the Tach jumping from 0-8 repeatedly. Yes, the master battery switch was still on but Radio and all other electronics were off. I have a small Schumacher battery charger/maintainer so i put it on my boat battery. The next day, my Schumacher is flashing green which means battery fully charged and is now in 'maintaining' mode. We took the boat out for the first time Sunday, Cold and Windy but I couldn't wait, and the boat starts just fine, showing 14 ish amps while motor is on. When we shut the boat off to sit and listen to the radio, after a few minutes the tach starts jumping again and it reads "Engine Comm Error". As to not get stranded, we left the boat on for the remainder of the trip. Sunday night i store the boat back in the garage and purposely left the master battery switch left on and did NOT hook up the battery charger. By monday afternoon the Tach is jumping with same "Engine Comm Error". After pushing buttons for a while i come accross the different functions one showing diagnostics and i found this "Yamaha Trouble Code: No Eng Comm". Once again, this is in my garage, all electronics that i can tell are off, and main batter switch left on. I am assuming i have a short somewhere but where...

I had the same error on my 2015 sx192 after prepping for this season after being stored outside.

Initially, I thought the problem was humidity getting into the electrical connections so I unplugged every gauge connection and left it drying overnight. At the same time I was messing with the battery connections. Got rid of the problem and used it that weekend.

On the following weekend as I'm prepping it for use I was not able to crank the engine as a sanity check and was getting the engine comm error (I had bought a new optima marine battery from Sams club the day before) I hauled it to the dealership that morning and while describing the problem the tech said that they had many problems like that with pwcs. I waited for the service manager and he printed out the procedure on how to reset the gages.

Initially we couldn't get to the service mode.....so unbeknownst to him I went to the battery compartment and forcefully rotated the battery terminals to try and get good connection. The boat cranked and no engine comments error! We were both puzzled....nonetheless, long story short, the problem was poor conductivity between the positive battery connection and the battery terminal. The ecu does not like low voltage. It's very sensitive!

Have not had thenough issue since keeping my power connections clean

After being stored, the boat was in a high humidity environment and the terminal coroded. I live in Florida.

Will post the reset procedure for the gages or ecu.

 

[Irvs]

Here are pictures of the the tech exchange. The title says it's for a different year but the dealer said it applies to my 2015 sx192. The sm followed the instructions and reset the gages for me.

 

[GugaMD]

Same problem here with the gauges cycling again and again. Eng Comm Err. Relatively a new boat (2015 212SS) but definitely a new battery (purchased last September and used 2 weekends).
I winterized the boat and put the both batteries (old and new) on a tender over the winter.
Plugged everything back on this weekend and can’t get things going. I checked everything I can think of:
Cleaned the terminals,
Batteries are fully charged,
Checked the fuse box,
Took the spark plugs off and put the
back in,
Took the instrument dash off and unplugged the gauges and plugged them back on,

I was not able to reset the gauges as described above.

I am leaving the boat on the trailer at a Lake 2 hours from home. Came with the family and stayed in a hotel near by. The Yamaha dealership is 2min away but for the first time in years, they are not keeping a mechanic on the clock over the weekends anymore. Dealership is closed now and I am losing the whole weekend here.
Everyone seems to think this is an easy fix but I can’t get to bottom of it.

Any suggestions for a 2015 boat? Not sure what brand my gauges are. I would like to try the reset.

 

[boudin]

Coating the terminals with conductive grease will help keep them from rusting and corroding.

-Greg

 

[FLBulldogger]

@GugaMD in your post I noticed you mentioned that you have a new and an old battery. Is your battery switch turned to use both/1&2 when you start? Could you try and switch to just the new battery and see if she will crank? These batteries take a beating and knowing you just got her out of storage the older battery can actually show voltage but not have enough amperage to do the job. I have read that these boats are very sensitive when it comes to the batteries. Good luck!

 

[boudin]

I winterized the boat and put the both batteries (old and new) on a tender over the winter.

I would pull the batteries and take them to he auto parts store for testing. Not sure what kind of tenders you have, but the cheap ones will have trouble with batteries if they are not fully charged initially.

 

[GugaMD]

Funny enough, the marina owner came out this morning 20min after I posted. Tested both batteries at rest and understand heavy demand. They passed with flying colors. He then played with the terminals and asked me to try again.
This time around the gauges didn’t even cycle and/or beep right before I turned the keys (like they used to do). The motors started as if I had never even winterized them. Not a hiccup!

I was able to enjoy the day on the lake with the family. Tomorrow, I will call the dealer and ask if the gauges not cycling before turning the keys is a problem.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I wish I knew what it was that he did so that we could all learn.

 

[KyleP]

Funny enough, the marina owner came out this morning 20min after I posted. Tested both batteries at rest and understand heavy demand. They passed with flying colors. He then played with the terminals and asked me to try again.
This time around the gauges didn’t even cycle and/or beep right before I turned the keys (like they used to do). The motors started as if I had never even winterized them. Not a hiccup!

I was able to enjoy the day on the lake with the family. Tomorrow, I will call the dealer and ask if the gauges not cycling before turning the keys is a problem.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I wish I knew what it was that he did so that we could all learn.

I’m pretty sure what caused this because I have made the mistake myself. On my boat there are actually 2 ground wires that hook to the battery. If you forget one or don’t get them both on well, your electronics will work but your engine will not and throw a comm error. I’m betting when he reinstalled he hooked up both grounds