Easy way to clean debris out of your jet pump (without pulling plugs or going in the water)

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I am not sure if the e series will work if you turned the keys back to the on position and put the controls in forward maybe someone could try it or already has tried it. I guess if you tried it with the boat on the trailer ,turn the keys on and place the controls in forward to see if they lift up!

 

[Julian]

On the e series boats, what is the trick to manually control the gates? Either for the reverse move or to open the gates while being towed? Or, just to reach in there while on the trailer?

I assume the gates don’t move unless the engine is started normally? Or, will they adjust with the key on and not started?

If you have forward engaged and pull the kill switch will the gates close automatically or stay open?

Or, am I incorrect in assuming that the gates are now motorized in conjunction with the e-throttles? (I’m pretty sure I read that)

<The Blue replies are from my contact at Yamaha>

Under the helm there’s a black box that is the mechanical override, and it will lift the buckets up. You don’t have to take the whole cover off, you can just loosen it and there’s two levers you flip from 2 o clock to 11 o clock. That disengages the electronic portion of the buckets.​

I assume the gates don’t move unless the engine is started normally? Or, will they adjust with the key on and not started?

Generally the buckets try to go back to forward when the key is off or lanyard is pulled. We tested it and the buckets slowly go back to forward. They are always in forward anytime the engines are off unless they are disengaged moving around manually.​

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In normal mode, the key on will not do anything because they are always in forward with key off.​

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If you have lever flipped in emergency mode and flip it back, the buckets will reset to forward.​

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So from my perspective, the reverse move will likely still work but it might be more effective if you quickly flip to foward before killing the engines. I know I've used it a lot on my E-Series boat....knowing that it might be faster to move to forward than letting it slowly move there is something I will try next time out.

 

[Butch44]

Your right Julian, and I first learned this trick from you 5 years ago! I found that even if it didn't work the first time, I could get it clean pretty quick if I just repeated it again.

Awesome tip

 

[Mt.Ridge Adventures]

...cept that time you run over the rope...

ohhh brother don't get me started on that rope thing.... when my wife drove over it and it disappeared lol.
Never tried that method but definitely give it a try

 

[galonuscct]

Stupid question: how do you know when you have debris in your pumps? New to jet boats and have only spent 4 days on the water so far with my 2017 242ls.

Is it a subtle feel or dramatic change only an idiot wouldn't notice?

 

[Beachbummer]

It can be both. One time in over 100 hours of use (few weeks ago) I caught some seaweed, just barely, and it caused an overheat, only after riding at higher RPM, probably caught the seaweed about an hour prior. absolutely unnoticeable to me.

In most all cases you do notice diminished performance, significant vibration and bad noise and/or increased RPM with no thrust.

 

[nofd843]

Worth a shot.

 

[pmustico]

1) Put it in reverse, and get the boat moving backward (faster the better)
2) Kill the engines (pulling the lanyard off is the fastest way)
3) Put the throttles into forward (this allows water to be pushed directly into the exposed jet nozzles and force stuff in the tubes back through the grate, or off the grate).
What I do is grab the lanyard with my left hand, put it in reverse with my right hand, get up some speed, yank the lanyard with my left and instantly put it onto forward with my right.....works 95% of the time. The only time it didn't work for me that I recall was when I sucked up a flexible frisbee...and it was lodged hard in the intake grill.
This works great for weeds, sticks etc.

I got to try that

 

[Liveto99]

Seaweed on the FSH210, you will notice your speed slow Down. You mat not Evan notice it but will see it. 42, 40, 5 min later 38, 5min later 35 28 as you pick up more you slow down. Your rpm’s stay the same but your not going as fast. Problem is you are losing gas mileage also so on a long trip it makes a difference on range. Also you will overheat when going at no wake speeds or just idle. That is how you know you have seaweed in there a.k.a. the Florida Keys in the winter you got that on windy days. If you get a vibration in one of the motors normally the whole boat will shake and it will raise rpm without thrusting. That is a nut, stick or other object quite between your prop and the wall in your jet so it does not spin freely. A k a Hudson river debris in the spring. I have gotten in the water off of the swim platform and used my feet to pull large masses of weeds out of the intake grate in the keys.

 

[Beachbummer]

Overheat with weeds is also possible at high speeds. Towards the end of an hour leg I gunned it at the end and after a few minutes at 9000 rpm I overheated due to Weeds.

I think we should have temp gauge from the factory, but it was the first time in 3 years of owning the boat that the temperature was affected.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Be very careful about overheating these aluminum heads, with all the valves they have as you can crack a head between the valve seats or warp a head pretty easily.
As for heat sensors they make small button type sending units that you can attach to a head and monitor each engine however you do need some small gauges installed , I always did that to my outboard engines at the top of the head where they get the hottest after running over some construction plastic that was submerged that blocked off the water and blew the engine.
Also remember the limp mode is NOT SAFE MODE if you go into limp mode stop and find out what is wrong before it destroys your engine, overheating is one cause and low oil pressure is another, both will take your engine out even when idling.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

1) Put it in reverse, and get the boat moving backward (faster the better)
2) Kill the engines (pulling the lanyard off is the fastest way)
3) Put the throttles into forward (this allows water to be pushed directly into the exposed jet nozzles and force stuff in the tubes back through the grate, or off the grate).
What I do is grab the lanyard with my left hand, put it in reverse with my right hand, get up some speed, yank the lanyard with my left and instantly put it onto forward with my right.....works 95% of the time. The only time it didn't work for me that I recall was when I sucked up a flexible frisbee...and it was lodged hard in the intake grill.
This works great for weeds, sticks etc.

@Julian ....a very interesting concept. With your knowledge obviously you are not concerned with any ramifications to the engine with a hard stop while running at a few thousand rpm? Does this procedure still hold true for 2020 engines/pumps?

 

[Julian]

@Julian ....a very interesting concept. With your knowledge obviously you are not concerned with any ramifications to the engine with a hard stop while running at a few thousand rpm? Does this procedure still hold true for 2020 engines/pumps?

No issues whatsoever. Applies to all jet boats. Works well. Wont clear twigs or other things jammed in the impeller, but great for weeds.

 

[biffdotorg]

@Julian ....a very interesting concept. With your knowledge obviously you are not concerned with any ramifications to the engine with a hard stop while running at a few thousand rpm? Does this procedure still hold true for 2020 engines/pumps?

This has worked well for me on two different boats. Wasn't this shot down on the newest boats as the buckets were electronically locked once you killed the engine? Sorry, I still own old technology and was not sure how the e-throttles worked.

 

[Julian]

This has worked well for me on two different boats. Wasn't this shot down on the newest boats as the buckets were electronically locked once you killed the engine? Sorry, I still own old technology and was not sure how the e-throttles worked.

Works fine on the E-Series boats. On the E-Series boats, when you kill the engines the bucket moves to the open position (those Yamaha engineers know the reverse maneuver too).

 

[Dean P]

I find twins are easy. Get the boat moving backwards and kill one engine. Repeat for the other engine.

 

[jim1]

Works fine on the E-Series boats. On the E-Series boats, when you kill the engines the bucket moves to the open position (those Yamaha engineers know the reverse maneuver too).

Interesting, so with an E-Series it’s not necessary to put the throttles in forward at all?

I haven’t had to use the technique yet (fortunately), but I figured I’d have to throttle forward quickly (and immediately) before pulling the lanyard to get the buckets up.

 

[Julian]

Interesting, so with an E-Series it’s not necessary to put the throttles in forward at all?

I haven’t had to use the technique yet (fortunately), but I figured I’d have to throttle forward quickly (and immediately) before pulling the lanyard to get the buckets up.

Nope....you should find (test it to confirm) that when you kill the boat, your gates move to the open position. I am still so trained to move them manually that I do it anyway.....

I find twins are easy. Get the boat moving backwards and kill one engine. Repeat for the other engine.

I kill both as I wondered about one intake just dumping its weeds into the intake of the running engine. But I'm sure this would work pretty well.

 

[jim1]

I find twins are easy. Get the boat moving backwards and kill one engine. Repeat for the other engine.

Don’t you risk hydrolock with that method?

 

[Julian]

Don’t you risk hydrolock with that method?

No, for 2 reasons.
1) If you can get your boat going in reverse faster than no wake speed, I want to watch! LOL
2) The intake grate on the pump scoops water from the forward direction....going in reverse would likely pull water OUT of the cooling system.