Soft Alarm And Occasional Choking When Starting

[DiverGuy]

I was out on the water yesterday and had an issue for the first time. I cranked up and idled out of the basin and went for a ride for a few minutes. Boat ran fine. I shut down and cranked back up and started getting the 2 beeps/minute. Oil pressure was 40-50, temp never over 170, drive lube reservoir is midway between the operating lines. The boat continued to run fine but kept beeping every minute. I shut down and cranked several times with no problem. Then after I shut down and sat anchored for 15 minutes or so, I cranked up and when I tried to apply throttle, it sputtered and choked down. Tried again and it cranked but choked down with throttle. Kept trying and it finally wouldn't even fire up. I raised the hatch and removed the spark arrestor. Arrestor is a little grimy, especially where the plastic tube attaches to one of the tabs (what is that tube?). I noticed a little piece of foam stuck in one of the holes at the side of the carb (picture attached). I removed that piece of foam and tried again and the boat fired up and seemed good. I reinstalled the spark arrestor and was on my way. Drove around for probably 30 minutes, several stops with restarts shortly after and no issues. Then once again I shut down and anchored for a half hour, then when I cranked up to go, the same issue started again. I flagged someone down and they offered to tow. While they were towing me, I left the hatch open to get some fresh air in there, thinking that maybe sitting with the hatch open for a while was what got it running before. After about 5 minutes I cranked it and gave it some throttle and it was fine. I thanked the guy for his help, reeled in the rope, and headed back to the ramp.

I found where someone posted a chart listing beep patterns and their causes, and the two beeps/minute can be a lot of things. I'm hoping maybe the behavior I described here might clue someone about the potential problem. Also, what is that piece of foam in the picture and should it be there?

 

[Ididntdoit]

foam is the IAC muffler - yes, it should be there

 

[Lazy Daze]

First, you don't have a carb. You have a throttle body since you have an MPI engine. Yes, 2 beeps per minute is basically "some" sensor is either going wonky or seeing something it doesn't like. On the scale of 'liklihood' of things... IAC. You can verify this when you have the issue and advancing the throttle allows you to start. Or, get the codes read.

 

[DiverGuy]

Sorry I'm so late with feedback about this. A lot of things going on lately so I haven't had the boat in the water in a few weeks. I installed a new IAC and cleaned the muffler. Took it out today and ran for a couple of hours, starting and stopping. No more alarm and it cranked every time. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[DiverGuy]

Just FYI for everyone, this problem continued even after replacing the IAC and muffler. I ended up having the fuel pump replaced. It wasn't keeping pressure up once it got warmed up. The mechanic said the old pump was down low on the port side of the engine. They replaced it with a newer style that is mounted on the starboard side toward the front where the fuel filter was before. Much more expensive than the IAC, but now it cranks every time, and has much better acceleration. Still have the two beeps going on. Mechanic didn't have a scanner to read the code. I just started a new thread about that issue.