Just bought a 2013 SX190...Help Please

[slow007]

I'm a newby here. I just purchased my first jet boat...2013 SX190 with 29 hours on it. I have previously owned Yamaha Waverunners (Wave Venture and VX Deluxe). The boat spent 2014 and 2015 docked on a fresh water lake in Tennessee. It's only trip out in 2016 was when I test drove it. During the 45 minute test drive, the boat ran great although I thought the top speed seemed a little low. (35mph at 7400rpm with 900+ lb on board...conditions were windy and water was choppy). The previous owner had the boat winterized at the Yamaha dealer after each season and the engine oil looked clear. The hull and jet had a decent amount of oxidation. I spent 4 hours cleaning on it and am probably 60% complete. Other than that, the boat appeared to be water ready.

Over the weekend I got the boat out twice. The lake that was clear and without debris a month ago was now a little murky and "lake weed" was present in some areas along the shore. It ran great on Day 1 and we burned a full tank of gas with kids tubing and skiing. On Day 2, after a couple hours of tubing the engine overheat alarm went off. I pulled the port and went under the boat to check for blockages but didn't find anything of significance. I let the boat sit with the engine hatch open for 30 minutes and then cruised for 5 minutes at 6500rpm. No alarm. I let the boat sit another 30 minutes and then resumed tubing for the remainder of the day with no issues. What does this sound like?

I suspect the previous owner didn't flush the engine after each use and there may be some partial blockages somewhere that are restricting the water flow.

Also, on Day 1 at one point I had only myself, my 9 year old daughter, and a couple coolers on the boat (400 lb total). I still struggled to break 35 mph (7400 rpm at WOT) on relatively flat, calm water. I checked the speed on a GPS speedometer app (boat speedometer appears to be 2-3 mph slow).

Any thoughts or suggestions on where to start? Could the speed and the overheat issues both be a result of poor water circulation through the engine? I assumed the speed issue would be jet, impeller, wear ring, etc. related. I have not checked the spark plugs yet. Thanks in advance.

On a side note, I paid $16k for the boat, trailer, and about $1k in extras. I thought that was a decent price even though it needed a little TLC.

 

[Zeus2013]

I had the same boat. If the alarm is not going off again you should be ok. You might have just sucked up some weeds and they got pushed out before you shut down. I had that happen once or twice when there were lots of weeds around.

As for speed, 42 at WOT was typical except on windy days. If you had the bimini up, that could have been a factor also. What is your elevation?

 

[96Pirate]

Did you make sure water was flowing out the peehole? If not then you might have a blockage.

 

[swatski]

I have had it happen in my SX190 once or twice.
One time I remember - was out of the blue, right after a hard run pulling some (stupid) tube, and I had felt some cavitation at the beginning of the run. I turned everything off, waited a bit, turned it back on, went forward and reverse, and it was fine - went WOT for a while, no problems. I have read of others experiencing similar temporary cooling issues here.

 

[slow007]

My elevation is less than 1000' so that shouldn't be an issue. The Bimini top was down when running 35 mph.

Honestly, I didn't even think to check the pee hole during the incident...I was about half panicked and went straight to the grate and port. I assume if I hook the garden hose up, approximately the same amount of water water should exit the pee hole?

Again, thanks for the help.

 

[swatski]

My elevation is less than 1000' so that shouldn't be an issue. The Bimini top was down when running 35 mph.

Honestly, I didn't even think to check the pee hole during the incident...I was about half panicked and went straight to the grate and port. I assume if I hook the garden hose up, approximately the same amount of water water should exit the pee hole?

Again, thanks for the help.

It will trickle on the hose, shoot hard at speed on the lake.

 

[haknslash]

My elevation is less than 1000' so that shouldn't be an issue. The Bimini top was down when running 35 mph.

Honestly, I didn't even think to check the pee hole during the incident...I was about half panicked and went straight to the grate and port. I assume if I hook the garden hose up, approximately the same amount of water water should exit the pee hole?

Again, thanks for the help.

Anytime you start your boat in the water its always a good idea to look over and make sure the pee holes are peeing. I had my 192 overheat once on me but I believe that was because I was hauling butt and then shut off the boat to attach my fender and dock lines without letting the boat cool down. Ever since then I made sure that if I was working the engine hard I would allow time for it to cool down before shutting off the engine and I haven't had an alarm since.

As for hooking it up to a hose and seeing water, as I've found out, that all depends on how much water pressure you have at your house or water source. I did some testing and it seems to take right at 70 PSI of water for both pee holes to have water trickle out at idle. On the lake while under moderate power you should have a strong stream of water coming out the pee holes. It's RPM/load/thrust dependent so at idle it's more of a weak trickle and at WOT its a strong stream.

 

[96Pirate]

My elevation is less than 1000' so that shouldn't be an issue. The Bimini top was down when running 35 mph.

Honestly, I didn't even think to check the pee hole during the incident...I was about half panicked and went straight to the grate and port. I assume if I hook the garden hose up, approximately the same amount of water water should exit the pee hole?

Again, thanks for the help.

Proper way to test the peehole flow is on the water unless you like to rev your engine on the hose (which I do not do).

 

[ToddW850]

As far as your speed, I've heard similar stories of guys having the bottom of their hulls "acid washed" and it brought their top speed back up to normal. Reason I bring this up is you said he stored it on the water for 2 seasons. Just a thought

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

After you use the boat a while you will develop a feel for the way it is running and performing, you will know when something is not exactly correct. Weeds and trash in the pump or intake grate are the first thing you need to be aware of, and the reverse move will save you a lot of trouble so if you are not familiar with that do a search, also avoid reversing in shallow water as that shoots up trash into the intake grate and the pump. If you start to feel the boat getting sluggish and a slight vibration , you can usually bet it's weeds in the pump. One mistake people make is thinking limp mode is safe mode it is not , so if you ever go into limp mode shut down the engine as soon as possible and find what the issue is.

 

[Bruce]

The low speed is likely due to a dirty bottom or a damaged impeller. A damaged impeller would contribute to cooling issues as well. Our boats do not have associate "pump" for cooling, it is extracted from the jet pump through a filter.

You should be able to feel if your hull is smooth.

You can stick your phone up through the intake to take pictures of the front of the impeller. They should show the condition of the blades and may show wear from cavitation.

 

[Eric Ballard]

Anytime you start your boat in the water its always a good idea to look over and make sure the pee holes are peeing. I had my 192 overheat once on me but I believe that was because I was hauling butt and then shut off the boat to attach my fender and dock lines without letting the boat cool down. Ever since then I made sure that if I was working the engine hard I would allow time for it to cool down before shutting off the engine and I haven't had an alarm since.

As for hooking it up to a hose and seeing water, as I've found out, that all depends on how much water pressure you have at your house or water source. I did some testing and it seems to take right at 70 PSI of water for both pee holes to have water trickle out at idle. On the lake while under moderate power you should have a strong stream of water coming out the pee holes. It's RPM/load/thrust dependent so at idle it's more of a weak trickle and at WOT its a strong stream.

Great minor point @haknslash, I usually run the kids on the tube hard and at the end of the run I just stop and turn the engine off to make sure I don't suck the rope up, but given what you are saying I think I will assign someone (or even just me) to grap the rope slack and leave the engine on for a minute or two. I have had times where after I do a hard run and turn off the engine the engine will not start on the first couple key turns when I'm ready to get going again. The boat always does turn on OK after a minute, but I wonder if I let the engine cool down before I turn it off at the end of a WOT run I won't have this issue and it will be better for the boat.

Long winded response just to agree, but I thought I would share my experience as it relates to this....

 

[Olin]

Down here in Texas a 190 will run 45-47 mph with a 200 pounder at the wheel and NOTHING ELSE in the boat. Engine usually turns at 7600-7800 rpms. When you start adding weight the speed starts dropping and the rpms follow. More weight equals more wetted surface hence less speed. A dirty hull, not completely fouled to the point of not being able to see the hull, will drop speed by 25%-50%. Any more fouling and it'll get down to a crawl real quick. If you plan on keeping it on the trailer always go by a car wash as soon as you notice it getting dirty. Keep the hull absolutely immaculate. And washing your bilge area is excellent practice. The engines are sealed so as long as you don't spray the inlet port in the air filter housing you can wash everything under the engine hatch, just don't get "down" on it with the pressure wand and go lightly on the electric box and acceleration position sensor. Keep that area degreased and debris and trash free and if you need the bilge pump to function (hopefully not) it will. I noticed that you said the water was weedy a bit. It's not uncommon for loose obstructions to fall out when you turn the engine off. The prop has to bite the obstruction, stick, weed, etc, or draw it up into the wear area, plastic bag or rope, for it to stay there. And running in reverse doesn't help. The engine and pump always rotate in the same direction so water flow never changes direction, it's always moving out threw the nozzle. Most stuck debris can be removed without removing the pump by using a l-o-n-g screw driver and going up threw the inlet duct. Sometimes grate removal is necessary. It's hard to remove debris threw the manhole opening. Unless you're a five year old contortionist with arms four feet long. Also, you'd be surprised at how little it takes to upset water flow through the pump. Think pencil, about one inch of it caught in the impeller. That'll cause enough turbulence to upset performance and cause vibration. Sucking up rope or long weeds is problematic, usually requires pump removal. ALWAYS stop the engine asap if you think you have and look down into the manhole to see if you have. Rope or weeds accumulating on the shaft can destroy the through hull fitting the pump shaft goes through to spline into the bearing box shaft. The boat will take on water extremely quick when that happens. Always have a knife or something to cut with so you can cut rope, weeds etc. By the way, your over heat alarm may have been related to temp gradient not actual temp. You can get the alarm from a fast elevating engine temp, not just an actual temp above the set thresh hold. Keep on cleaning your hull till it is immaculate. You'll get as much out of it as it has to give with it clean. Sounds like your engine and electronic package are doing what they're supposed to. Good boating.

 

[slow007]

Thanks everyone for the help. I hooked the garden hose up and let the boat idle for a couple minutes...nothing came out of the peehole. I tried to push weedeater line through the pee hole and couldn't. I removed the pee hole line but it was clear (I think a couple bends in the line kept me from pushing the weedeater line through it). I read where it takes 70psi in the garden hose to push water through the peehole so maybe I just didnt have enough pressure. Next, I removed the Y fitting to make sure it was "bored out" and it was.

I will be taking the boat out tomorrow (looks like it could be one of the last good weather days of the year here in KY) and will certainly verify that I am getting water through the peehole once on plain.

I have quickly learned that this forum is an invaluable tool in my journey to becoming an avid jet boater. I can't thank you guys enough.

 

[haknslash]

Yup my boat won't show any water coming out of the pee holes until I adjusted my water pressure regulator to read 70 PSI. At 60 PSI I would have only one of the pee holes (further one to rear of boat) barely trickle water out.

 

[Olin]

It won't "pee" unless you have high water pressure at home. Are you turning the faucet on fully? Don't be afraid to open the faucet fully on. It won't hurt anything. The correct procedure is to start your engine, then turn on the water. To stop, turn off the water then rev up the engine a few times (about four) and turn it off. If you are able to push trimmer line down into the tell/tale fitting about a foot then it isn't clogged unless it filled with sand etc. And probably not. You can also blow into the tell/tale fitting with compressed air. It won't flow at the lake until the engine rpms are up to about 3000. No fear, if it flows at 3000 plus rpm it's flowing enough at idle to cool, you just aren't seeing it (no tell/tale). The pump is making very high pressure and the cooling system is supplied via the pump. As long as your engine is able to spin up and your boat performance is good it'll cool unless restricted. Also, if you run in salt water, brackish water or just high mineral content water be sure to flush and wash the engine and pump. Too much to lose dollar wise from corrosion. And that's every time you pull out. Safe boating.

 

[slow007]

I took the boat out yesterday and she "peed" just fine. Slow stream at idle and a burst at WOT. No overheat issues whatsoever yesterday. I am still fighting a low rpm/speed issue. Yesterday my top speed was 36mph at 7300rpm on absolute glassy water with no wind. From what I am reading, it sounds like 43mph at 7500+rpm is more the what I should be seeing. I am still only 60% complete with the hull cleaning but that shouldn't effect rpm...only speed. Thoughts?

My 2013 now has over 40 hours on it...she had 29 hours a couple weeks ago when I bought it.

 

[Olin]

If you are cleaning from the front to the back then finishing is going to make a big difference. Hull fouling doesn't seem like a big deal but if the wetted surface is fouled it's like dragging an anchor.
Can say more but if the hull is still fouled that needs to be done before going further with troubleshooting.