Broke down last night - Drive control check engine?

[mraz72]

So we went out to a spot where we eat dinner often, about a 5 minute drive. Threw the anchor and hung out for 2 or so hours, when I went to start the boat I got a check engine error

"Drive control check engine"

The motors would not start. After turning the key off an on a few times, I decided to try to place the battery switch on start only, turn off house. that didn't work. I then placed the battery switch on start AND turned on parallel (left house off) and I was able to get the engines started BUT I could not throttle at all, the boat was stuck in idle speed (about 3 miles per hour).

I pulled anchor while the boat idled, then limped back to my slip. While moving we turned on the house battery and that lit up the connext screen BUT still I couldn't do anything with the throttle, no reverse no increase speed, just idle.

To dock, I had to turn off the engines prior to my slip and glide close enough to jump out and walk the boat in, which was a bit of a pain.

So, now I'm in my slip with forward idle power only, it's going to be fun to drive to the trailer to get it to the dealer.

here is a pic of the error


Any ideas on what could cause this?

Background on my battery situation:
I cannot run connext or the stereo on just house, I have to have house and start on, so something is wrong there, probably with the switch. That is what got me thinking of trying different battery scenarios to start the motor with the above error. I don't know if it's related but it could be.

 

[mraz72]

reading this thread

https://jetboaters.net/threads/242-limited-e-series-drive-control-check-engine-message.15566/

the user did a control / alt /delete and started the motors? What is that?

 

[djetok]

reading this thread

https://jetboaters.net/threads/242-limited-e-series-drive-control-check-engine-message.15566/

the user did a control / alt /delete and started the motors? What is that?

I think he is reffering to a hard reset like on a computer. Cntrl/alt/del to reset the computer. He stated he turned off the batteries, I don't think you have a c/a/d on your display. Just turn your batteries off

 

[Beachbummer]

Restart. Turn everything off then back on?? At the battery switch too.@djetok beat me to it.

 

[biglar155]

Not familiar with your model, but I'd wiggle every electrical connector I could find under the dash and in the engine compartment. Make sure it isn't simply something that came loose.

 

[mraz72]

I'll probably get the boat on the trailer somehow, that's going to be a mess, and take it to the dealer. I'll take a look for any obstructions on BOTH jet pumps since both motors were acting the same.

I have a feeling this electrical weirdness I have (not able to place my switch on house only AND having to turn on the parallel switch last night just to get the motors started has something to do with it. I don't think there is any obstruction, but you never know.

 

[TPABoatGrl]

This happened to me a few months ago. Turned out to be a battery issue. The way my ‘16 242x is wired, (according to the dealership that did the service) the Connext screen doesn’t accurately reflect each separate battery (even with parallel switch not on), so I had one battery that was very low but the screen was showing about the same volts for both batteries so I thought both were fine. Once the low battery (the house) was replaced, I haven’t had the problem again. Probably worth checking both of your batteries and their connections just to rule that out as a cause.

 

[mraz72]

I've had battery issues, just replaced one so maybe it's the other battery. Also, I might go charge them with shore power today and see if that helps.

 

[Julian]

That happened to me with a low battery situation. I called the dealer and he had me shut the whole boat off, battery switches off, then turn everything back on (this was after letting the engines run for 5 min to charge the batteries). That worked for me. This happened when my boat was wired wrong and was draining the batteries all the time. They found crossed wires in one of the wiring harnesses (never found out which).

 

[Julian]

Also, in the future, if your engines are running but you have no gate controls, you can take the cover off the servo motors behind the helm (on the floor) and manually control the gates from there (would be a pain to drive...but better than nothing). A "reboot" should clear that error though if the batteries have enough of a charge.

Did you batteries show low voltage?

 

[Julian]

NM on the battery voltage...I see from your shot of the Connext screen that they were fine. I wonder if you would have been able to manually move the gates....wonder if something was stuck in a gate????

 

[Jameson Clark]

NM on the battery voltage...I see from your shot of the Connext screen that they were fine. I wonder if you would have been able to manually move the gates....wonder if something was stuck in a gate????

With that much voltage, I am gonna bet the boat was running when that picture was taken. Still could've had low voltage when trying to start the boat and that caused the error.

EDIT: Yeah, definitely running unless he was in a 3mph current.

 

[Julian]

With that much voltage, I am gonna bet the boat was running when that picture was taken. Still could've had low voltage when trying to start the boat and that caused the error.

EDIT: Yeah, definitely running unless he was in a 3mph current.

Good point...

 

[mraz72]

So yes, I was idling when the pic was taken. This afternoon I went to the boat and it started right up no issues. I am guessing that the solar panels had a chance to charge the batteries a bit.

Last night when the issue occurred, I was listening to music for about 2 hours on battery in cloudy conditions, when I tried to start the boat it was near dark. Since the motors started correctly today, I am assuming it was the batteries that caused my situation.

@Jullian, I don't think I have an issue where the batteries constantly drain, but I cannot run anything when JUST the house switch is on, and that is supposed to work. I am going to try to make it to the end of the year and then have the dealer fix the issue.

@Jullian if I take the cover off the servos, would I be able to manually change the idle power from forward to reverse? That might have helped a bit but like you said, that would be a pain.

Last night I could only start the motors by turning on the parallel switch, which indicates to me there is an issue with the batteries. Even after starting I was getting that error and couldn't do anything but idle forward.

Lastly, I didn't go out today, just started the motors and gave a little throttle while tethered to the dock, everything seemed normal. I have a planned day tomorrow with a few folks. I am NOT going to run electronics when the motor is off, I'm guessing that will keep me safe for now.

Bottom line, I don't think there is an obstruction, I think it is a battery issue. The start battery is original and was stored outside last year, probably needs to be replaced. Next time, if this happens, I'll measure voltage of both batteries with a multimeter.

 

[swatski]

NM on the battery voltage...I see from your shot of the Connext screen that they were fine.

It's a 2016 boat so if not fixed the battery voltages SYS and AUX are not reading correctly - both show the same battery, without the fix.
If one battery is bad, that could be THE issue.

--

 

[Julian]

So yes, I was idling when the pic was taken. This afternoon I went to the boat and it started right up no issues. I am guessing that the solar panels had a chance to charge the batteries a bit.

Last night when the issue occurred, I was listening to music for about 2 hours on battery in cloudy conditions, when I tried to start the boat it was near dark. Since the motors started correctly today, I am assuming it was the batteries that caused my situation.

@Jullian, I don't think I have an issue where the batteries constantly drain, but I cannot run anything when JUST the house switch is on, and that is supposed to work. I am going to try to make it to the end of the year and then have the dealer fix the issue.

@Jullian if I take the cover off the servos, would I be able to manually change the idle power from forward to reverse? That might have helped a bit but like you said, that would be a pain.

Last night I could only start the motors by turning on the parallel switch, which indicates to me there is an issue with the batteries. Even after starting I was getting that error and couldn't do anything but idle forward.

Lastly, I didn't go out today, just started the motors and gave a little throttle while tethered to the dock, everything seemed normal. I have a planned day tomorrow with a few folks. I am NOT going to run electronics when the motor is off, I'm guessing that will keep me safe for now.

Bottom line, I don't think there is an obstruction, I think it is a battery issue. The start battery is original and was stored outside last year, probably needs to be replaced. Next time, if this happens, I'll measure voltage of both batteries with a multimeter.

Probably a battery voltage issue.

Yes, when you take the cover off the servo motor housing I'm pretty sure there are directions in there for moving the gates. You can manually move them into forward, neutral and reverse. If they won't move manually, then there is your problem - something stuck (like little bits of gravel) in your reverse gates....get in behind the boat and disconnect them and free them up. This thread has photos of how the gate spring loaded connector works.

If the gates do move, then I'd run the engines for 5 minutes and then shut them down and reboot the system...meaning shut the whole boat down completely and restart it. This should have solved your problem last night.

Yes...you should be able to play music with just the house switch on.

PLEASE do let us know what you find out.

 

[Coheeba]

You cannot manually shift from forward to reverse with the manual release levers. You can technically do it from the water but.....This is just to get the boat in forward if you were in reverse when the problem occurred.

 

[Coheeba]

I tried to attached the pages from the manual but wouldn't upload so, here is a link to the file Shift Gates

 

[mraz72]

thanks for the info guys, I am definitely getting this because of my battery issues, just had this happen again this weekend after listening to music for about 3-4 hours. This time, I was more prepared.

drive control error again, I then turned off all batteries at the switch. I have a battery charger purchased from harbor freight, I also have a 4 port battery tender. I plugged the battery tender into the battery charger and charged both batteries for about 30 minutes. I then started both motors and had no issues for the rest of the evening.

Moral of my story is until I fix my battery issues, I can't really listen to music for hours. I'll continue to bring my charging equipment until things are fixed....

 

[Bluewater272]

Do you have power available at your slip? Might be worth installing an on-board charger to keep them topped up all the time. I don't have an E-Series, but not sure if the solar panels are up to the task of consistently recharging the batteries after extended periods of drain.