Please Help!! Anyone get ECU repaired?? Newer SX190 with Issues!

[MiamiSX190]

Hi,

I have a 2015 SX190 and suddenly I have issues shown below:

1. "No Wake Mode" goes on by itself: Sucked up rope about 1 mo ago. Cut it all off and no issues going back to marina. As I was docking I noticed that whenever shifting into reverse it automatically turned on "No Wake Mode" and revs up to about 2500 rpm. It then stays at 2500rpm and I'm flying toward the dock in reverse unless manually pressing the No Wake Mode button down or immediately shifting into forward far enough to cancel the "No Wake Mode".
I shifted into reverse multiple times to test it and sure enough it engaged "No Wake Mode" each time. Totally at a loss here. Even with the No Wake Mode reverse issue, the boat worked well so we were just careful not to put in reverse and kept using it.

2. Now Engine Stalls Too: Then, suddenly, the 3rd time I took it out since "No Wake Mode" issue, after about 10 minutes of idling the boat suddenly beeped, and the little screen said "Check Engine", "Engine Overtemp" and "AL" was also in the bottom left corner.
We shut down the engine, waited a while and then restarted it, same warning and lights came on after another 5 minutes of idling. Weird thing was, the engine didn't even appear that warm at all. We ran it for about another 20 minutes and suddenly the engine drops rpm's to Idle and then can't even hold idle and stalls. Restarts 20 min later but moving throttle lever makes it stall again. So my brother reaches in the engine bay and manually throttles up by pressing on the cable directly. This works fine to get us back to the marina and were all confused as hell.

Attempts to Fix

Oil & Plugs: First, we changed to new plugs and fresh oil in case bad plugs were the issue. Didnt work. Weirdly, though no check engine light, AL, or overtemp warnings anymore. The boat just stalls after about 5 minutes of running.

Gave Up / Sent boat to Dealer: With no idea what to do now, I had the dealer pick up the boat from the marina ($250 deliver fee & $100 marina fee! Jeez!!). Dealer comes back and says, we think your ECU crapped out and it is causing all of this wonky behavior. It will be $1133 to replace. Also, Dealer says 3 weeks to get new ECU from Japan as none in stock in the US.

My questions regarding dealer's assessment:

1. What causes an ECU to short out on such a new boat and whatever it is, whats to say it wont short out my new ECU then?
2. Another dealer suggested to check all electrical grounding. How do I even do that and do you think that could be a cause?
3. I found a website that offers to repair bad ECU's for $250 with a 1 year warranty. Anyone have any experience with getting an ECU repaired or think its a bad idea?

Thanks Alot for any input!!

Best regards,
M

 

[itsdgm]

That's a bummer. I wouldn't have even thought that engaging reverse would be connected to the Ecu. But as @Julian was learning it seems that it is.

I think @Ronnie tried to fix an Ecu before. Any advice Ronnie?

 

[Julian]

That's a bummer. I wouldn't have even thought that engaging reverse would be connected to the Ecu. But as @Julian was learning it seems that it is.

I think @Ronnie tried to fix an Ecu before. Any advice Ronnie?

The behavior I'm describing on limiting reverse is with an e-series boat with electronic gate controls.....so different animal.

 

[veedubtek]

I'm pretty sure it's got nothing to do with it. Julians obviously being different as drive by wire. As far as I know, the throttles/reverse is 100% mechanical on that boat. I smell a wiring issue. I like the bad grounds guess, extremely common on german cars, but I have no idea where your ecm/engine grounds would be.

Disclaimer - I could be completely wrong on all of this. Just basing my guesses off what I think I know/what I've always assumed about these.

If it were mine, and my guesses are any kind of accurate, I'd be looking real closely at the routing of throttle/reverse cables and see if they can somehow hit a wiring harness anywhere. And I'd be looking real closely at that. I'd also probably open the ECM up and make sure no water has gotten in there (and seal it up really good afterward). Again, please refer to disclaimer above.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Sounds like your throttle control has some internal issues like corrosion or a broken part that is triggering pressure on your throttle cable when put into reverse or forward.

You say it goes into no wake mode, do the corresponding lights flash on the dash to confirm no wake mode is activated? Or are the rpm's raised with no indication that no wake mode is engaged.

 

[Ronnie]

My experience with the Ecu repair was not great. I sent it (an Ecu from an 06 waverunner, which had the same non-HO MR1 engine as the early 230s) to a place in Chico CA with $250 plus a few more for return shipping. This was after I saw on their website that they had repaired a similar Ecu before. It came back in a box within a box three to four weeks later. The inner box came from a country in Europe, I can t remember which. Anyway, the note attached to it indicated that it was unrepairable they also refunded most of my money minus a $50 to $60 diagnostic and return shipping fee. Apparently they drilled several holes in it I assume to insert probes for diagnostic purposes. They filled the holes with what looked like plasti-dip but it would not peel off easily like plasti-dip does. Here is a pic, there is not much to see though.



Other thoughts, the price for a new one sounds about right. If you have to buy a new one yourself because the boat is out of warranty check out Yamaha sports plaza of Seattle website. It should tell you if they have the Ecu you need in stock.

I took my ski to a couple of PWC shops before sending the Ecu in. They determined through process of elimination that the Ecu was bad. I'm paraphrasing but basically it came down to, "all of the other systems check out so it must be the Ecu." Before it died, the rectifier needed to be replaced, the ski itself would run for a few minutes and suddenly die, eventually it stopped running at all. The rectifier was under $100. This is important because soon after I replaced the rectifier the Ecu died. according to the PWC techs the faulty rectifier could have sent the Ecu incorrect signals which could have eventually led to its failure. I was also warned here and by the owner of the PWC shop that I'm a big fan of that faulty ignition coils can also send the Ecu bad signals and eventually lead to ecu failure so check out the resistance of each coil before replacing the Ecu. I've heard you can do this yourself with an ohm - volt meter but I never got around to it. Another alternative to new is a used one out of a waverunner of the same year. I would be shooting for an Ecu with a matching part number and on eBay because of their buyer protection plan, that is if it is doa you should be able to return it for a full refund.

Good luck in getting this address as quickly and I expensively as possible.

 

[MiamiSX190]

Sounds like your throttle control has some internal issues like corrosion or a broken part that is triggering pressure on your throttle cable when put into reverse or forward.

You say it goes into no wake mode, do the corresponding lights flash on the dash to confirm no wake mode is activated? Or are the rpm's raised with no indication that no wake mode is engaged.

Yes, the no wake mode light turns on as well, just as if I had turned it on when all I actually did was put it in reverse.

 

[MiamiSX190]

My experience with the Ecu repair was not great. I sent it (an Ecu from an 06 waverunner, which had the same non-HO MR1 engine as the early 230s) to a place in Chico CA with $250 plus a few more for return shipping. This was after I saw on their website that they had repaired a similar Ecu before. It came back in a box within a box three to four weeks later. The inner box came from a country in Europe, I can t remember which. Anyway, the note attached to it indicated that it was unrepairable they also refunded most of my money minus a $50 to $60 diagnostic and return shipping fee. Apparently they drilled several holes in it I assume to insert probes for diagnostic purposes. They filled the holes with what looked like plasti-dip but it would not peel off easily like plasti-dip does. Here is a pic, there is not much to see though.

Other thoughts, the price for a new one sounds about right. If you have to buy a new one yourself because the boat is out of warranty check out Yamaha sports plaza of Seattle website. It should tell you if they have the Ecu you need in stock.

I took my ski to a couple of PWC shops before sending the Ecu in. They determined through process of elimination that the Ecu was bad. I'm paraphrasing but basically it came down to, "all of the other systems check out so it must be the Ecu." Before it died, the rectifier needed to be replaced, the ski itself would run for a few minutes and suddenly die, eventually it stopped running at all. The rectifier was under $100. This is important bevause soon after I replaced the rectifier the Ecu sided. according to the PWC techs the faulty rectifier could have sent the Ecu incorrect signals which eventually led to its failure. I was also warned here and by the owner of the PWC shop that I'm a big fan of that faulty ignition coils can also send the Ecu bad signals and eventually lead to its failure so check out the resistance of each coil before replacing the Ecu. I've heard you can do this yourself with an ohm meter but I never got around to it. Another alternative to new is a used one out of a waverunner of the same year. I would be shooting for an Ecu with a matching part number and on eBay because of their buyer protection plan, that is if it is doa you should be able to return it for a full refund.

Good luck in getting this address as quickly and I expensively as possible.

Wow, this information is incredible! Thanks so much! I printed this out along with some of the other suggestions provided here to take to the Dealer today! I hope they're not annoyed that I'm asking them to check all of this out, because you know they always think they know much better than we do. I don't know if my boat has a rectifier, nobody ever mentioned it to me thus far.

You know, we specifically selected Yamaha due to reputation of reliability, but these issues at 1.5 yrs old are seriously disconcerting. How have you guys found your Yamaha's to be with regards to reliability? Am I just the lucky one here or are issues with these boats common? I'm honestly thinking to replace with a simpler Sea-Ray outboard type day boat in the near future. Had one years ago and outside of dead batteries, had no real issues. As you guys know, boating is only fun when you have a boat that works!

I'll keep everyone posted on the latest developments and seriously, GIANT thanks to all of you for your extremely helpful responses!!

Thanks again.

 

[Scottintexas]

I would be skeptical of an ECU that's only a year old going bad, that's unusual for us to hear about,

Is your boat still under warranty? if not when did it run out?
Did you take it to the dealer you bought it from?
What is the name of the dealer who has it now?

I'm not a professional mechanic but have 1,000's of friends here with new boats and it's extremely rare to hear about.
If you're not going to try to diagnose it yourself you've pretty much have to just go with what they say, unless you want to take it to another mechanic,

 

[MiamiSX190]

I would be skeptical of an ECU that's only a year old going bad, that's unusual for us to hear about,
My thinking too. This is why Ive asked the dealer numerous times, "if the ECU is indeed defective now, what is the underlying issue that damaged it?". They told me, "could be anything, saltwater boating it very tough on components." Sounded like such a cop out but what could I say to that? I've now sent them a list of things to check out from people's responses here. Told them to check out, "coils, wire grounding, water intrusion, corrosion on shift lever assembly" in an email just an hour ago. Lets see what they say.

Is your boat still under warranty? if not when did it run out?
No, it expired 6 months ago. Boat is 1.5yrs old now.

Did you take it to the dealer you bought it from?
No, too far away from the marina we store it at. Delivery fee would have been exorbitant. Took it to a nearby official Yamaha dealer.

What is the name of the dealer who has it now?
Jet Ski of Miami

I'm not a professional mechanic but have 1,000's of friends here with new boats and it's extremely rare to hear about.
If you're not going to try to diagnose it yourself you've pretty much have to just go with what they say, unless you want to take it to another mechanic,
The problem was that this seemed electrical, an area I'm very weak in. I can handle most mechanical DIY jobs with a bit of guidance. Just did the plugs and oil on the boat, for example. But after months of searching forums, I couldnt find anyone with a similar issue or any guidance on what to do next. So, reluctantly, I eventually sent the boat to the dealer.

 

[Scottintexas]

I might call the dealer you bought it from just to vent a little and see if they might not do something to help you,

 

[Irvs]

I have no experience with that boat but have you tried resetting the ECU per the service manual?

 

[Mainah]

I would check the wiring connection at the APS/TPS (where the throttle cable attaches in the engine bay). I would also check the wiring at the throttle body.