No More Skip in the Engine AR195

[DonJohnsMusic]

So excited to tell everyone about this. Since purchasing our 2019 AR195 we have been having this intermittent engine skip every time we’ve gone out. Nothing to be too worried about, mostly just annoying. We’ve gotten all kinds of suggestions, too many to list here, but we noticed the most difference when we got new spark plugs. We went out, starting out slow, going fast then stopping for a while anchoring. Then we went back home, the skipping would start, no pattern, fast, slow, just very random. I’ve always thought since buying this boat with only 50 hours on it, maybe there was some water in the tank or in the line somewhere, my theory. So last week I put in the recommended amount of Yamahalube Additive Ring Free Plus in a full tank.
We did our normal routine starting out very slow and then increasing in speed, the minute we started going fast the skip started, but this time, over and over, not stopping like normal. This happened the entire day. I tried going even faster later that day after stopping for lunch and we dropped 10 miles in hour! We started getting a bunch of smoke and engine smell. I thought something really bad was happening so I slowed down, but the skip kept going. I‘ve posted a video of it so you can hear and see the rmp’s. Now this is more than annoying, we needed to have this looked into.
Got up next morning and battery was almost dead, so I went down to the only place open at 7 in morning and bought a battery, put it in and we went back out.
We did our normal thing and no skip! I sped up, no skip, went even faster, no skip. We anchored and chilled for about an hour. My wife drop back did the same thing, but she went even faster up to 25 mph. No skip! This was our first time out with absolutely no skipping! We are so excited about this!
Any thoughts on what could have caused that? My wife thinks it was the battery. I don’t have a clue, but I’m very happy that the engine is running so smooth now.
Here is the video of Saturday. Love the support we are getting from this forum. Thanks everyone!

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Probably the ground wire to the battery was dirty and the old battery was weak so the 2 issues cut back on the ignition or the fuel pump pressure always keep not only the battery posts clean but the end of the ground wire at the engine clean as well grounds corrode easily, however you usually have issues with the starter cranking slowly to warn you something is wrong.

 

[DonJohnsMusic]

So once again my wife was right! I did not think the two were related, but it does point to the battery since we had absolutely no skip! Thanks for the response!

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Aloha,

Just got here and saw that the new battery appears to have helped out...great to hear. Left you a long detailed comment else where and the last line was about a grounding issue. Rock & Boat On!

 

[DonJohnsMusic]

Thanks for the detailed info. It was white smoke coming out the back starboard side. Let’s hope the skip never comes back! BTW no dash warnings at all. I’m hoping it was the battery. Will post here again next time we go out to see what happens!

 

[DonJohnsMusic]

Update on the skip... 2nd trip out since the new battery and not one skip! Very happy about that! Thanks for everyone who responded! Boat is running best it’s ever had since we bought it! She’s a purring now! Listening to her on the last video she sounds really different, very smooth indeed!

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Good Morning. So So So Glad to hear that. Lots of troubles nowadays are being discovered by a last ditch effort of either charging, replacing or inspecting the battery, especially the mysterious ones like this. Lots of issues with bad grounding I'm seeing in the forums. Always learning.

What a long long long weekend. Still recovering...