2008 ar230 25hrs, couple speed/rpm questions

[bobbyc]

Hi, Very Excited; just bought a ar230 after searching all fall/winter/spring. One engine has 24.6hr and one has 25hr. Sold my yamaha exciter 270 cheap, as a mechanics special, last summer after it developed engine problems. Was tired of the 2 cycle motors and our family was getting too big for the exciter. It's nice to have a boat where you can store stuff without constantly opening up the engine hatch.

Anyways, this boat is in pretty good shape. All I really had to do was replace steering lines, and replace a huge section of wood/fiberglass on the deck that covers the fuel tank, since the balsa wood rotted at the table base. About $30 in scrap plywood and bondo and cloth, and my deck is stronger than a new $600 one.

Anyways, the oil looked new since it was serviced at 20hrs by the previous owner. It was overfull so I siphoned out quite a bit. It is now sitting at just above full.

I greased the (intermediate bearing?) in the engine bay on each engine, using the method of removing the hose, squeezing grease till you see it come out the hose, and then reattaching the hose and squeezing two more times (I squeezed 5 more times since the hose seemed completely empty.)

I completely took apart the jets and lubed the spline, and the bearing cone. Spline seemed very dry, bearings seemed fine but I wiped out as much original grease and put in my moly grease. I packed it in there tight. There's not much air in either bearing cone, if any.

The starboard impeller looked fine. The silicone in the seals looked fine. The port impeller was dinged up, but not along the outside edge. Just on the front of one of the three blades. I filed the ding flat with minimal effort. A little bit of loose silicone in the jet, so I peeled it out. Never replaced it though with new sealant.

I centered the steering wheel and centered the jets by measurement. Also installed thrust vector XV fins.

Took the boat out this last saturday, and it drives pretty smooth. Had cooling water squirting out of all four holes on the side. No leaks (bilge never ran, even though I tested it in my driveway so I know it works). There is a little rumbling/vibration when turning sharp to the right. Also it seems like I should be going faster vs RPM. RPM's vs throttle position are way out of sync too. We had full tank of gas, and 2 adults 3 big kids, 1 small kid on boat. Bimini top was up.

I will be making small adjustments to my steering this week. The starboard jet seems a little off after checking it when we got back. Also I will be siphoning a little more out of each engine and getting it exactly at full on the dipstick.

Also, I noticed that the tightness on the two bolts on the side of where the fwd/rev cable attaches to the gate; if those are too tight, the jet can't turn all the way left/right...? I will be checking those a little bit too and seeing if that is causing the issue when turning sharp to the right... but I fear it is cavitation since I had to peel a bit of loose silicone off the port jet when inspecting it. Never replaced what I peeled off.

I also adjusted the fwd/rev gates before taking it out; but after I got home I see I have to bring the starboard gate up a little more since it is blocking the jet when in forward by maybe 1/8".

Anyways after I make my steering and gate adjustments and oil level, and the bimini down, I hope to give my speed another shot this coming weekend. Maybe try for top speed/rpm as well. I didn't push the motors above 8500rpm this first trip.

 

[sethman919]

Nice. I thought I scored when i found my 08 with only 89 hours on it. I worry with one that low. seems sitting for a year/years without being used is almost as bad as using it a lot. I haven't had to do a ton to mine. mostly mods. it was stored in covered storage and maintenance performed every year. I had to do more work to the trailer than the boat because the PO kept the brakes locked out because it was never towed more than 300yds to the ramp. Where about in CA are ya? i grew up in Turlock and lived in the bay area and roseville for several years.

 

[bobbyc]

Here's the engine rpm vs speed vs throttle position. Stumped on this one, unless it is a impeller/cavitation on the port engine? causing the imbalance. I haven't played with the other end of the cable yet under the intake covers; but read that it usually is fine since it just controls a 'fly by wire' type of system and not the actual throttle body....?

 

[bobbyc]

Nice. I thought I scored when i found my 08 with only 89 hours on it. I worry with one that low. seems sitting for a year/years without being used is almost as bad as using it a lot. I haven't had to do a ton to mine. mostly mods. it was stored in covered storage and maintenance performed every year. I had to do more work to the trailer than the boat because the PO kept the brakes locked out because it was never towed more than 300yds to the ramp. Where about in CA are ya? i grew up in Turlock and lived in the bay area and roseville for several years.

Hi, yes I am hoping it is trouble free. I don't mind small issues... hoping for no engine issues! That's why I already siphoned out the overfilled oil before the air filter got contaminated with oil. It looks squeaky clean. And the spark plugs looked great, and #3 cylinder on each engine looked great and the spark plugs came out easy.

 

[sethman919]

I would go ahead and change the plugs anyways. this seems to be a common issue with an engine running at lower RPM with the same throttle position. If that doesnt work you will need to adjust them. apparently its in the service manual. if you dont have one i can see if i can find it and scan it.

Did you depth gauge work? mine didnt and i replaced it with a hummingbird HDR650.

 

[bobbyc]

Hi,
I have to read how the depth guage works. The transducer and wiring looks good on the bottom/back of boat, but no... I was able to get it read once maybe 20 or 40'... can't remember. Everywhere else it didn't work. How deep can it read? Maybe I was too deep.
I'm in sonora, real close to turlock but up in the foothills. We live 10 minutes from new melones reservoir!

 

[zipper]

@bobbyc These boats in that year are not "fly by wire" the throttle cable is connected directly to the TB. Also be careful of the oil level. These have a dry sump and are not filled to the full level when not running.

 

[zipper]

@bobbyc In the pics. on your dash and throttle, is that full throttle? You should be up around 10,200 rpm at full throttle and,I, get 48.8mph GPS on smooth water (glass) with just me in the boat. And no bimini up. FYI.

 

[sethman919]

Hi,
I have to read how the depth guage works. The transducer and wiring looks good on the bottom/back of boat, but no... I was able to get it read once maybe 20 or 40'... can't remember. Everywhere else it didn't work. How deep can it read? Maybe I was too deep.
I'm in sonora, real close to turlock but up in the foothills. We live 10 minutes from new melones reservoir!

The depth gauge should be working all the time. They are notoriously garbage. the HDR650 was a pretty easy install. I was able to reuse all the holes. The big connector on the transducer even fit through the original hole through the fiberglass once you cuss a lot and clean out the old sealant. Youll need to pull the cleanout hatch and might as well do some more cussing and install the SS Scupper while you're in there.

More than familiar with Sonora! used to go up there all the time as a kid.

 

[Scuba_ref]

You can make adjustments to the cables at the motor to bring your throttles in line.

 

[bobbyc]

@bobbyc In the pics. on your dash and throttle, is that full throttle? You should be up around 10,200 rpm at full throttle and I get 48.8mph on smooth water (glass) with just me in the boat. And no bimini up. FYI.

Hi, No that was at the rpm's and speed in the picture. I didn't push the engines past 8500rpm this trip. I wanted to get my steering and fwd/rev gates dialed in, and sync the throttles, and the oil levels, before I push it to the max.

 

[bronze_10]

DONT trust that speed o meter! They are very rarely correct. Varify through GPS on your phone. . I'll normally in the low 20s at around 7k rpms. My 08 had 30 hours and did not run from 09 until 2015.. I have had no issues at all!

 

[scokill]

You should be at 10K-10,200 on RPMs and speed range from 45-48. There is no absolute set speed for these boats as there are too many variables. This is at or near sea level. As mentioned by others no fly by wire. You can adjust the throttle cable at the throttle body. Just pull the air cover and filters and the two adjustment nuts are accessible. Loosen front nut and pull back, tighten back nut for more throttle on the low engine. I take the small wrenches to the lake at the first of the season to adjust.

 

[bobbyc]

Thank you for EVERYBODYS replies. I appreciate it. Will update next week if I get it out this weekend

 

[Jgorm]

Nice work and cool boat!

 

[bobbyc]

Update; been super busy and crummy weather past couple weekends, so still haven't taken the boat back out to the water. Working in my driveway, I was able to dial in the steering even better so both jets are exactly identical when you measure each jet from the transom plate to the bolt that attaches to the steering forks. One was off by almost a quarter inch.
But, the bad news is that I snapped BOTH reverse cables. I had tightened the small bolts that are on each side of the shift rod lever, for each jet. Then turned the jets left and right and both reverse cables snapped at the same time right in front of the locking nut behind the shaft joint ball.
Found the 18' OEM ones (CCX63318), so just ordered two for really cheap, and they will be here in 2 days! Also ordered a part inside the throttle assembly that I may have strained when I tightened the reverse cable a couple weeks ago in there. 703-48345-01-00
Anyways, I will get them here fairly quick, and hopefully get them installed fairly quick. I am kinda glad they broke (at least the starboard one) because I was completely out of play on each end to get the reverse gate to clear the jet in forward. Still was blocking it a bit, because there was so much play in the cable. I was reading on this forum on a older thread, that its time to replace them when there is lots of play.

My question to you fine folks, is when I get the new ones installed, what is the proper procedure to tighten the bolts on the sides of the shift rod lever? The bolts attach the reverse gate and the shift rod lever together; and I assume there must be lots of play in there, so that the shift rod lever can flex around when turning and not SNAP the reverse cable like what happened to me....?

I assume you leave them loose so that the jets can turn all the way left and right? But if you leave them loose, what is going to keep them from falling out over time... use locktite?

 

[bronze_10]

I had a hard tine following you on tour question.. Someone elseay be Blessed to answer. I am not sure how u snapped both cables by turning... Something doesn't sound right.. Anyway you may want to think about picking up two steering cables as well and just do it all at once. I have the same year boat and replaced all of mine last fall. It has made a world of difference on how my boat handles. Also one of my steering cables had a real bad spot in it that I couldn't see while installed.

 

[bobbyc]

Yes, I replaced both steering cables a few weeks ago. They were frozen when I bought the boat

 

[bobbyc]

I replaced the starboard reverse cable yesterday morning. Went pretty fast. My original port cable still had enough thread showing where it snapped, so I was able to re-use it but without a locking nut on the back; then opened up the control end and gave it some more slack. The gates are perfect now, and since I was able to re-use the port cable, I have a spare cable should it go bad in the next few seasons.
We took it out yesterday afternoon for a few hours. Still need to siphon some more oil out of both engines. Checked oil on the lake and they were both overfull still. Port engine hits 10k rpm but starboard hits 9.2k.


I'll siphon some more oil out this week, and I will gap and replace spark plugs.

My steering is way better aligned too. No more weird vibrations when turning sharp to the right.

My 4200 around the shifting cable only had a couple hours to cure; but the fact that the shift cable goes thru that factory grommet and the previous silicone from the factory, I was happy that when I pulled the drain plug there was not a drop!

It still feels to me like the engines have to work to hard to get any decent speed. My exciter 270 seemed to have way more power, but was a way smaller boat too. I might have to get some aftermarket impellers sooner rather than later... or I am just spoiled by the exciters performance.

 

[96Pirate]

Congrats on what sounds like a great find. One word of caution. You may want to change out your scupper with a SS one. Those plastic ones are known to crack and can cause serious water intrusion if it does. Good luck with everything else.