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First weekend with the almost-new 215. Not a good start...

CaptRob

Jet Boat Lover
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1995
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Hi Everyone

First I'd like to say thanks to everyone for all of the good advice and info prior to my purchase, this forum has been excellent! A special thanks to @luanders for letting me join him in his 215 for a nice lake run. Well, we picked our 215 last Friday and it has been an eventful weekend so far to say the least. We left the dock on Friday after launching and made our way downriver about 10 minutes to have our port engine suck something up and basically start vibrating the boat like crazy. Hobbled back to MarineMax in Ft Myers (luckily just a relatively short ride across). Most of their crew had gone home but the Svc Mgr was able to get one of his people to get the boat out of the water. Discovered a small piece of tree bark that had made it's way through the grate into the port impeller! Got that taken care of and headed back out. Within 10 minutes I had a stbd engine light on with a warning code. Called my salesman, and the Svc Mgr, no one seemed to have any idea what this code was about. Code is a P2245. Svc Mgr tells me he has basically no staff that know anything about Rotax engines, even though they are THE dealer in the area. So now we are waiting for them to find someone on their team that can come have a look.

My salesman says no worries, probably just a faulty sensor. He says to go ahead and use the boat. We motored out last night to catch fireworks on the river, made two passes and the port engine (not stbd, which has the current warning light) quits. Would not restart due to a "low voltage" battery message. Motored back crippled at a very slow speed as I now have discovered the twin engine cannot do much w/o it's partner. About 3000RPM and we were lucky to see 3-4mph.

So now the boat sits, since the port motor will still not turn over (although the stbd still does) and I stare at it, waiting for someone at MarineMax to track someone else down that might know a thing or two about this boat. Right now I have to say my enthusiasm has really waned for this boat. Don't get me wrong. Love the boat. And I own a much larger boat so I realize all boats have issues. But if I'm having these issues at 36 hours total time on engines, it scares me to think what kinds of issues I'll have at 100 hours, 200 hours, etc. One more thing, I discovered the seats stain with watermarks from the factory canvas. Who knew?

Anyone else experiencing issues on my level, or is this just jetboat beginner's luck?
 
Last edited:
Did you clamp the waterline before limping back at 4K?

That totally sucks by the way.
 
No I did not realize I was supposed to. Our sales rep did not give us really any orientation. Been reading the manual but even that is quite light on explanations and procedures!
 
You shouldn't have to clamp waterlinea off if you have a closed loop cooling system only if you have an open loop system which uses the water the boat is in as coolant.

Aside from that what you are going through really sucks IMHO. Your pump ingesting debris is going to happen and the dealer can't prevent that but I suggest you figure out a way to deal with it yourself in the future so you don't have to call the dealer for help on the same.

It is just ridiculous that the dealer can't help with the other issues you have, especially on a new boat. I know there are others here that love their scarabs but after reading your and similar stories I would not buy a scarab jet boat unless or until the dealers become more than just middle men that only increase the overall cost without adding value to the transaction. I understand that their tech is not available after hours but the following work day I would have expected him to call me directly or a call from the dealer telling me to bring the boat in immediately or to schedule a pick up time for inspection by their scarab / brp certified tech.
 
Hi Ronnie yes I would agree. It is quite frustrating. But I'm trying to stay optimistic!
 
P2245 is low voltage to oxygen sensor http://www.brpdiagnostics.com/site_files/442/2014 Sea-Doo SPARK DTC Table.pdf

Have you checked the battery voltage? It is possible that a low battery is causing the error code and the engine not cranking.

As others posted our boats are vacuum cleaners so they are going to suck stuff up. Unfortunately BRP based boats do not have clean out ports to allow you to reach in and pull debri out of the jets so you will need a toolkit of long reaching tools.

You mention 36 hours and just picking the boat up. Did you buy used? Do you know if the previous owner had issues?

As for slow speed on one engine, we limped our SX230 home on one engine after picking up a large piece of plastic in May. We were able to hit 14 on one engine. After fully applying trim tabs she planed out and hit 18.
 
My two cents....
I have 26hrs on mine. Last night we basically put both engines out with some tiny branches. Not scarabs fault at all...just a jet boat thing.

Had my wrench light come on about an hour or so before that but I know that's first oil change

I've also had the P2245 code. I reset it and it hasn't been back. I love my boat. I could see where having all those items hit you at once would be frustrating though.
I'm still adjusting to mine so I know a lot of this stuff will go away with time. I've had seadoos for years so getting stuff stuck in the pump is old news to me. The other difference is I can't flip the boat upside down in the middle of the lake and clear it.
Another plus I love is I haven't seen another Scarab on the water since I got it home to Oklahoma.

Scarab HDQs told me any BRP dealer can warranty for me engine issues so I'm not worried about the lack of dealers. Seadoo dealers are everywhere
 
You shouldn't have to clamp waterlinea off if you have a closed loop cooling system only if you have an open loop system which uses the water the boat is in as coolant.

Aside from that what you are going through really sucks IMHO. Your pump ingesting debris is going to happen and the dealer can't prevent that but I suggest you figure out a way to deal with it yourself in the future so you don't have to call the dealer for help on the same.

It is just ridiculous that the dealer can't help with the other issues you have, especially on a new boat. I know there are others here that love their scarabs but after reading your and similar stories I would not buy a scarab jet boat unless or until the dealers become more than just middle men that only increase the overall cost without adding value to the transaction. I understand that their tech is not available after hours but the following work day I would have expected him to call me directly or a call from the dealer telling me to bring the boat in immediately or to schedule a pick up time for inspection by their scarab / brp certified tech.

It is NOT a fully closed loop cooling. It is closed loop for engine and raw water cooling for exhaust.

Sounds like the OP was going pretty slow, I would be surprised if there are any problems with water intrusion. But that is one way to ruin your engine, probably not covered under warranty.
I would be very careful and carry a clamp.

--
 
If the engine cooling system is closed loop is there any risk of water intrusion to the engine by running the boat above no wake speeds with only the other engine?
 
If the engine cooling system is closed loop is there any risk of water intrusion to the engine by running the boat above no wake speeds with only the other engine?
Yes. Therefore the need for clamping the water supply hose inside the engine compartment to keep water from accumulating in the exhaust system which will otherwise enter the engine and cause damage.
 
Can someone post exactly where your suppose to clamp the water line off for Towing purposes. Thanks.
 
P2245 is low voltage to oxygen sensor http://www.brpdiagnostics.com/site_files/442/2014 Sea-Doo SPARK DTC Table.pdf

Have you checked the battery voltage? It is possible that a low battery is causing the error code and the engine not cranking.

As others posted our boats are vacuum cleaners so they are going to suck stuff up. Unfortunately BRP based boats do not have clean out ports to allow you to reach in and pull debri out of the jets so you will need a toolkit of long reaching tools.

You mention 36 hours and just picking the boat up. Did you buy used? Do you know if the previous owner had issues?

As for slow speed on one engine, we limped our SX230 home on one engine after picking up a large piece of plastic in May. We were able to hit 14 on one engine. After fully applying trim tabs she planed out and hit 18.

Thanks for the info Bruce! Maybe these are related issues after all. I will have to look and find a set of tools for clean out purposes. I did buy used, no idea if the previous owner had any issues.
 
Sounds like both issues are due to low voltage....did you get the battery tested?
Hi Julian-not yet but will be doing this tomorrow. Am also going to try a trickle charger to see if that helps.
 
My two cents....
I have 26hrs on mine. Last night we basically put both engines out with some tiny branches. Not scarabs fault at all...just a jet boat thing.

Had my wrench light come on about an hour or so before that but I know that's first oil change

I've also had the P2245 code. I reset it and it hasn't been back. I love my boat. I could see where having all those items hit you at once would be frustrating though.
I'm still adjusting to mine so I know a lot of this stuff will go away with time. I've had seadoos for years so getting stuff stuck in the pump is old news to me. The other difference is I can't flip the boat upside down in the middle of the lake and clear it.
Another plus I love is I haven't seen another Scarab on the water since I got it home to Oklahoma.

Scarab HDQs told me any BRP dealer can warranty for me engine issues so I'm not worried about the lack of dealers. Seadoo dealers are everywhere

Appreciate the info. Yes all of it happening at once is quite frustrating. Trying to keep it all in perspective!
 
@Ronnie. I'm not a closed loop cooling system (and I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express ;) ) but from what I understand, the engine cooling system is closed loop, however the exhaust system is cooled with a "traditional jet pump" style cooling system. So not clamping that inlet over no-wake speeds could still hydro lock the cylinders through the exhaust side just like the Yamahas.

@CaptRob, sounds like you're on to the remedy for your issue with low voltage. Hope that cures your issue.
 
It is NOT a fully closed loop cooling. It is closed loop for engine and raw water cooling for exhaust.

Sounds like the OP was going pretty slow, I would be surprised if there are any problems with water intrusion. But that is one way to ruin your engine, probably not covered under warranty.
I would be very careful and carry a clamp.

--
Thanks Ronnie, where do you clamp off?
 
@Ronnie. I'm not a closed loop cooling system (and I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express ;) ) but from what I understand, the engine cooling system is closed loop, however the exhaust system is cooled with a "traditional jet pump" style cooling system. So not clamping that inlet over no-wake speeds could still hydro lock the cylinders through the exhaust side just like the Yamahas.

@CaptRob, sounds like you're on to the remedy for your issue with low voltage. Hope that cures your issue.
Thanks! Hoping that I am. If anyone has any instructions for clamping off I'd appreciate it in case this happens again!
 
I know on a low battery our boat (Yamaha) ran funny, full charge and it was fine. Hope it's something simple.
 
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