can't get it up

M

matt327

New Member
May 23, 2009
44
RI
Boat Info
2003 260 DA
Engines
350 mag w/Bravo III
ok ... here is this weeks problem... can't get it up on plane.
went out for a 15 min ride, ran great. stopped for lunch hour later went back out ... after a short ride thru no wake zone went to bring it up on plane and it wouldn't go over 3000 rpm!! I don't know what to look for. gas is good, filters are new... did a big tune up this spring and dealer rebuilt the outdrive and it has been good till yesterday. What can it be? 350 mag, bravo III, 350 hours
 
Have you checked drive oil reservoir. If it runs out the sensor in the bottom will cause what you described.
 
impeller was changed this spring, temp is fine

drive oil is good, I always look now since that was last years problem.
 
Has your boat been under a lot of stress lately? Financial issues, personal problems? Had it been drinking at lunch?

Seriously though, I am going to guess because thats all we can really do at this point but for something like this to come on so suddenly makes me think you have a bad spark plug wire somewhere. Id go out and fire it up at night with the lights off and take a look. You may see arcing going on on the distributor cap or somewhere along one of the wires. That would be my first suspect and its easy to check out to keep the initial investigation simple. Check to see all the wires are secure on the plugs too. Next suspect would be your spark advance. If that slipped a bit it will kill the performance too. Both of these are quick to check and cheap to fix so good to start there.
 
If reservoir is full, unplug the 2 wires just beneith the reservoir. Try it and see if there is any difference.
 
Does an alarm sound at all? Are there any unusual noises or feel to it? Engine guardian?
 
Last edited:
I picked up nothing, first thing I checked. I have no alarms, everything seems fine.
it seems like the engine went in to safe mode, from 3/4 to wide open on the throttle getting up on plane there is no differance... I'm thinking it is a sensor
 
Did you check the trim reservoir? (Different than the drive reservoir) If this becomes low, it will not allow movement or trim of the lower unit.
 
matt327 said:
I picked up nothing, first thing I checked. I have no alarms, everything seems fine.
it seems like the engine went in to safe mode, from 3/4 to wide open on the throttle getting up on plane there is no differance... I'm thinking it is a sensor
Click to expand...

I had the same engine/drive package on my previous boat and had the same thing happen. Engine went into 'limp mode' when a code was thrown - wouldn't run past 3000 rpm. Have your mechanic plug in and check for you. It was a bad ICM. Replaced it and cleared the code and all was good.
 
Did you check to make sure your drive was in the full down position when you throttled up? Sounds silly, but it's a common problem and cheap to fix.

If my drives are not full down in the 280DA, I will plow bow high at 3200ish and not get anywhere (lesson learned...twice! :smt021).

Tom
 
Also, did you have extra weight near the stern? My 270AJ is well aware of extra folks or dive tanks aft. I thought my engine was malfuntioning out in open water once with about 3 ft seas because I couldn't get on plane. A little weight shifting and/or trimming and no problem.
 
impactg said:
I had the same engine/drive package on my previous boat and had the same thing happen. Engine went into 'limp mode' when a code was thrown - wouldn't run past 3000 rpm. Have your mechanic plug in and check for you. It was a bad ICM. Replaced it and cleared the code and all was good.
Click to expand...

thanks, getting a guy down Friday morning to plug in and read it.
I'll let you know how I make out
 
Sorry for not getting back sooner .... that work thing keeps getting in the way of my spare time.
It turns out it was a defective distributor cap. Dealer put a new cap and rotor on and it was all set.
It was new in the spring, they said they have seen a few bad ones this year ... and I got one of them.
 
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