need help-220 Sundeck-anyone have this problem?

A

Artimas

New Member
May 23, 2010
13
NJ
Boat Info
220 Sundeck
Engines
MerCruiser® 5.0L MPI Bravo® III MCM
I am a fairly new boater in my 4th year of ownership with a 2007 220 Sundeck with a 2007 Mercruiser 5.0L MPI bravo III engine.

I have developed a new problem-

A few minutes into a trip while cruising at low speed about 1200 rpms, my engine suddenly cuts out for an instant, the boat lurches, the engine beeps like a "chirp", and then resumes normal operation. This happens every few minutes.

My dealer checked the boat and found a fluctuating water pressure sensor, and fixed it, but the problem continues, perhaps worse.

I'd appreciate any thoughts and guidance as to what to do.

Thanks very much.

-Artimas
 
Could be an IAC in the early stages of failure. When that beep is heard do you get any kind of warning code on the Smartcraft LCD display?
 
Thanks for the reply.
Pardon my ignorance, but what id the IAC?
Nothing showed up on the LCD.

Thanks very much.
 
The IAC is the Idle Air Control valve. It sends extra air around the throttle plates when they are closed to control the idle speed. It is common to have problems with them, and the replaceent is a very simple repair. Lots of info on this site about it.
 
Artimas said:
Thanks for the reply.
Pardon my ignorance, but what id the IAC?
Nothing showed up on the LCD.

Thanks very much.
Click to expand...

aqua*holic said:
The IAC is the Idle Air Control valve. It sends extra air around the throttle plates when they are closed to control the idle speed. It is common to have problems with them, and the replaceent is a very simple repair. Lots of info on this site about it.
Click to expand...

Here is a thread that will tell you how to replace the IAC. See post #8 here- http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/36072-Impeller-IAC

Again, this is just a possibility but it sure sounds like an IAC and these are known to be less than reliable.
 
I'm pretty sure they replaced this when they did my tuneup before my season launch about 6 weeks ago. I'll check.
 
Had the boat checked today. The dealer reproduced the problem and found an error code. They said the throttle position sensor is bad. Does this make sense?

Thanks.
 
Artimas said:
Had the boat checked today. The dealer reproduced the problem and found an error code. They said the throttle position sensor is bad. Does this make sense?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have heard of a TPS causing this kind of thing too, just does not seem to be as common as IAC. Glad they got it nailed down for you.
 
Jason-
Thanks very much. I'll report back after the repair. Hopefully it will take care of the problem.
 
An update-
The throttle position sensor waas replaced and did not fix the problem. Further investigation led to a finding that a fuse (not sure which one) was generally intact but had an internal loose connection that was intermittently opening and killing the engine for an instant. This was repaired and seems to have fixed the problem.

A tricky diagnosis, but seems to explain the behavior.

Thanks to all who replied.
 
They did. Also gave me a free fill-up for the trouble. i was pleasantly surprised.
 
Exactly which one? I'm having the same issue. Could you take some pics of it?
 
Mine is still doing this. While driving slowly around 1200 rpm the smart guage will beep and display lost communication and the engine will die. The motor will start right back up. When coming into the dock it did this 5 times in row. I pulled the panl with the key switch and unplugged the main harness and replugged it in. It seemed to help but it did happen again.
I need some help here guys.
 
Jimf1234 said:
Mine is still doing this. While driving slowly around 1200 rpm the smart guage will beep and display lost communication and the engine will die. The motor will start right back up. When coming into the dock it did this 5 times in row. I pulled the panl with the key switch and unplugged the main harness and replugged it in. It seemed to help but it did happen again.
I need some help here guys.
Click to expand...

You dont have many details in your profile but I will take a guess that you have a 350MAG and not a TKS engine. At first glance this sounds like a bad IAC but the "Lost Communication" bothers me. If the engine dies because of a bad IAC, the engine will die with ignition to ON and the ECM should still be communicating with the SC Gauge set at this point. As you describe the problem is occurring, the SC Gauge set is obviously loosing communication with the ECM in conjunction with the engine stopping. This sounds like it could be a problem with power to the ECM because even if the SC gauge set becomes disconnected from the ECM, I don't believe the engine should die. It is possible the power supply to the ECM is being interrupted causing the engine to stop. It could be as simple as a loose, corroded or bad connection like the OP had (although he did not say exactly what system the bad connection was on) and as complex as a faulty ECM Internal Power Supply. My suggestion would be to check for obvious loose connections to the ECM, however I would stop short of doing a lot of "fiddling". You could potentially damage a possibly good ECM. I would consult a professional or someone with a Merc Scan Tool or Rinda software. They can plug in to the ECM while the boat is running and see what is going on with the ECM and figure out if what I have suggested is occuring. The ECM is the silver box bolted to the top of the Port Riser. It has two large plugs going in to it.
 
Last edited:
Thanks yes I do have the 300hp 350. I was playing with it this weekend. It doesn't do it at idle. Once in gear from 1200-2000rpm it will do it fairly consistently. The difference is at 1700-2000 the system will beep and display lost communication but the engine will shutoff momentarily but then catch itself before it completely dies. I seemed to have developed a exhaust leak also. It is going in on the 24th. It only has 73hrs on it.
 
I had the exact same problem on my 2008 Sundeck 220 with 5.0 MPI engine. The far right gauge with engine information would beep, then flash "Lost Communication". The engine would cut for a split second and then continue to run. It never died, just cut for a short time. This happened about 4 times over 20 minutes and once the cluster showed "TPS Error". Within about 10 seconds it started working again. The entire time the engine was fine.

Today I looked at all the wiring and couldn't find anything loose in the harness. Then there is a small plastic box labeled fuses that is on the port side above the cylinder heads clipped to a bracket. I opened the box and all the fuses were slight out, I pushed them all in.

Went out and tested the boat for 2 hours and didn't have any problems.


Artimas said:
An update-
The throttle position sensor waas replaced and did not fix the problem. Further investigation led to a finding that a fuse (not sure which one) was generally intact but had an internal loose connection that was intermittently opening and killing the engine for an instant. This was repaired and seems to have fixed the problem.

A tricky diagnosis, but seems to explain the behavior.

Thanks to all who replied.
Click to expand...
 
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