Just purchased... 2001 tango... not accelerating

[ANation]

PLEASE HELP!
We purchased the 2001 sugar sand tango with the mercury 210 last week, took it out for about an hour Saturday and it ran fine... today for about 30 minutes before we lost almost all acceleration. We made it to the other side of the lake before it didn’t want to go. Pulled to closest dock and checked the grate, nothing blocking it. Started back up and started our 45 minute, extremely slow journey back to the dock our truck was at. The rpm’s still go up, idles fine, but wouldn’t go faster than what seemed to be about 1 mph... Impeller looks undamaged... no idea where to look next, this is our first boat and the mechanics here aren’t keen on jet boat repairs... any input would be greatly appreciated... I should include the overheating alarm sounded at one point when trying to accelerate about halfway back to the dock so we left it almost in neutral position and made it back...

 

[sunbyrned]

Im not familiar with your boat. Do you have a clean out port cover? If so, it sounds like it has popped loose.

 

[ANation]

Honestly, I do not know... never owned a boat before and our research prior to purchasing was more on pros and jet boats vs others... there’s not much information on this boat anywhere that we’ve found since the issue arose... would it be located by the grate or impeller?

 

[sunbyrned]

If you have a hatch at the back of the boat, lift it up and it will be under there. If you have one, you’ll find a tube about 6” wide. At the bottom of the tube is a cover that allows you to clean out debris that gets around your impeller. That cover may have popped loose.

 

[ANation]

The only cover at the back is where the engine is. I’ll look tomorrow as it’s dark now... is it likely that it would be in the same compartment as the engine, if there is one? Or would it be a separate compartment like the Yamaha videos I’ve seen (because there is not a separate compartment)?

 

[sunbyrned]

It would be a separate hatch.This hatch would be further back than the engine compartment. Hopefully someone with your boat will chime in. Keep us posted.

 

[marcham]

Most likely something is stuck in the impeller... were you getting full rpm? Is the boat on a trailer?

 

[ANation]

No separate hatch...

Yes it was getting full rpm just no acceleration. Also, it was smoking a lot... The boat is on a trailer. We removed the grate and couldn’t see anything and when the key is turned the impeller spins, so it’s not jammed. Of course we can’t see completely on the back side of the impeller but we looked as best we could and didn’t see anything on that side either.

 

[ANation]

Everything was running great... until it wasn’t... it appeared we lost all power without the engine actually shutting down. We were going about 35mph, slowed down to turn, accelerated for a second then bam... nothing... we putted to the closest dock, turned the boat off and felt underneath and in the backside where the water comes out... nothing there... a hat did float from under the boat so we assume that was sucked to the grate but it didn’t actually go through... could that have caused this issue? And if so do you have any idea what that could’ve messed up?

 

[spatty99]

Sugar Sand boats did not have a clean out hatch. You could have gotten something tiny wedged in the impeller (even a chunk of hat leftover could do it) but have to pull the boat to confirm. Overheat might restrict engine speed, by design.

 

[ANation]

We have pulled the boat and removed the grate cover. There’s nothing in there that we can see and if we turn the key the impeller spins freely. The hat has no rips, missing pieces, no damage. You could tell by the lines on the hat of nasty green stuff that it was sucked to the grate and not through it. The engine speed was restricted long before the overheat warning. We were basically coasting across the lake before and after the overheat alarm sounded. When it sounded we were attempting to go a little faster, rpms were still going up when we attempted but no speed came from it so we went back to coasting. Left it in neutral, tied to the dock to pull the trailer down and power never returned. Is it something that needs to be reset or do you think we broke/damaged something that needs replaced?

 

[Scottintexas]

so did the boat run ok after the hat left,
not sure if the hat was removed at the dock looking for repair or while putting the boat on the trailer.

if at the dock for repair, the boat should have ran fine going back to the ramp,

I would suggest pulling the impeller/shaft out to confirm nothing else is in there and then take it to the lake for a test run, many debris get stuck in the pump area only to float away when you dock or put it on the trailer, Yamaha boats have "cleanout ports" that let you access the pump area from the swimdeck to help clean debris out,

You've got a boat that the builder went out of business 15 years ago, your support system is going to be very limited.

 

[ANation]

The boat never ran ok after the hat. We believe the hat started the problem but honestly it could’ve been something else entirely and the hat set it off or is completely irrelevant. The symptoms aren’t like any I can find online. It ran fine, then lost all acceleration, pulled the closest dock to inspect, hat came out, started boat, still no acceleration, so we drove back to the dock our truck was at as slow as possible (took about 45 minutes), and loaded the boat on the trailer. Never regained speed... it sat at the ramp, idling for about 5 minutes before we loaded it on the trailer, drove in a circle “just in case” before loading it but nothing had changed...
I realize the support is limited that why I came here, hoping someone with more knowledge than myself knew which direction to point me in... a lot of hope haha... boat mechanics where we live don’t like working on jet boats so we may end up having to take it back to the dealership 3.5 hours away to get it serviced... trying to avoid that... I have no idea how to remove the shaft/impeller.... ??‍??‍ Any help is GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[Bilmon]

If it still revs up but doesn't accelerate there almost has to be something stuck in the pump or hung up on the impeller. It doesn't take much, a little one inch piece of wood or whatever can do it. here is a link that shows impeller removal but that shouldn't be necessary. https://www.outlaweagle.com/forum/files/sjannualservicev1.1_190.pdf

 

[ANation]

@Bilmon Even if the impeller moves when the key is turned?

 

[ANation]

@Bilmon where is the pump located?

 

[Bilmon]

Yep , if motor runs impeller is turning but some thing can still be in there, anything that disturbs the water flow can cause it to cavitate and make it feel like it is "slipping" or spinning your tires. If your looking at the impeller you are looking in the pump. Look in from the rear and from underneath an make sure nothing is there, it's amazing how crap can hide in there

 

[Scottintexas]

, it's amazing how crap can hide in there

and it's amazing how crap can fall out without anyone knowing and amazingly it's "fixed" the next time you go out.

@Bilmon where is the pump located?

the "pump" is a generic term we use to refer to the area that holds the impeller, the impeller spins and pumps the water out the back,

.

 

[ANation]

Looked in from under and rear and couldn’t see anything...
I figured that was the “pump” just wanted to be sure as, like I said, I have no idea what I’m doing.
I think we are going to take it back out and see what it does. If it didn’t miraculously fix its self we’ll take it back to the dealership we purchased it from and have them take a look. Thank you!

 

[Bilmon]

If it still acts up be careful not to overheat, pump also supplies the cooling water. Wouldn't surprise me at all if it fixed itself like @Scottintexas says, always feels good when that happens