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Seaweed causing throttle to stick in forward and check engine light

jvc167

Member
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
10
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2024
Boat Model
252SE
Boat Length
25
We purchased a 2024 Yamaha 252 SE this year, and love it. But we are experiencing a very frustrating issue, and do not feel what the dealer is telling us is the whole truth.

We experience a weird issue when moving from high speed to low speed (mainly when coming back into the marina) one of our engines (mainly the port engine) has the check engine light come on and that engine is stuck in forward gear. The only way to get the boat out of gear is to turn that engine off. When we turn the engine back on, the check engine light comes back on and the engine goes right back into forward gear. Not the best scenario when you are trying to dock in the marina.

we are being told, by the dealer, that there is seaweed stuck in a sensor (our boat is all electric throttle, not cable throttle) which is causing the Check engine light to come on and experience this. The only solution is to turn the boat off, turn the battery kill switch, and then turn the battery back on and then the engines. This clears the issue and the boat is back to normal.

I just cannot believe that this is a seaweed issue, as it happens almost every time we take the boat out. for the price of the boat you think there would be something to help clear the sensor?

I have talked to other Yamaha owners who have similar boats 252 and 255 and they have never experienced this at all.

Has anyone else run into this? Is there anything else I can do? The dealer is sticking to the seaweed issue and saying there is nothing Yamaha can do.
 
"we are being told, by the dealer"

Did you take it to them, or are they diagnosing this over the phone?

It sounds as if they're diagnosing this over the phone, since it sounds like you're still having the issue.

Have you pulled the boat out of the water to investigate the pump area, or are you wet slipped, and can't easily access it until you can pull it out of the water?

I'd make sure to pull it out of the water, if you haven't been able to. Grab an inspection light and go over the area to see if anything stands out. While you're in there, take pics and post them for us. Don't use your phone as a light, get a powerful light to assist you.

You may see something as soon as you pull it out, that jumps out at you as being the problem, or someone else may see something from your pics you'll post. This is the first I can recall hearing of this issue, so this will be interesting to track the problem down. Please keep everyone posted and follow up with any attempts to resolve this, and what the results were.
 
Yes we have taken it to the dealer three times to have this looked at. We even had them take it out on the water to test. They keep coming back that there’s something getting stuck on the sensor. When we pulled it out last time there wasn’t anything in the ports, or thrusters (including the shutes)

We will be pulling it out of the water in a week to prep for winter storage :(

It is just weird that we are the only one experiencing this in our marina (that has over 50 Yamaha jet boats currently docked) dealer said we are they only one reporting this issue to them.
 
maybe it has a bad sensor or bad connection
 
This exact same thing happened to me yesterday. 6 years with my boat and this happened out of nowhere which lead me to see if anyone else has experienced this on the forum. I did the exact same thing, 1st shut the engines down and restarted - No luck. 2nd shut the batteries down, waited 1 minute and turned them back on and started the engines - success! I was cursing around the lake when this took place, water depth around 36’ no seaweed. I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this?!
 
Just clearing up some terminology
one of our engines (mainly the port engine) has the check engine light come on and that engine is stuck in forward gear.
That i know of there is no forward gear does your model have some type of designation on the dash that says forward neutral reverse ?

When you went out did you use reverse in water 4 feet or shallower?

From what I know on the 2017 e series the gate on the jet drive is controlled by a servo adjusted by the throttle levers forward neutral reverse. If it senses to much friction it pulls higher current that throws a code or engine light. If you use reverse in shallow water 4 feet it blows junk pebbles and anything else of the sea floor. This debris can lodge in the gate and jam it. Typical scenario you launch your boat but need to back out about 20ft so you put it in reverse the water is 3 ft deep all types of junk gets blown around and sucked up you shift to forward that gate shifts but pebbles are now lodged in the gate that will not allow it to drop down to neutral or reverse. When it tries it throws a code. Cycling the power the gate cycles or tries to defaults to fully open and the pebbles could drop out.
 
Just clearing up some terminology

That i know of there is no forward gear does your model have some type of designation on the dash that says forward neutral reverse ?

When you went out did you use reverse in water 4 feet or shallower?

From what I know on the 2017 e series the gate on the jet drive is controlled by a servo adjusted by the throttle levers forward neutral reverse. If it senses to much friction it pulls higher current that throws a code or engine light. If you use reverse in shallow water 4 feet it blows junk pebbles and anything else of the sea floor. This debris can lodge in the gate and jam it. Typical scenario you launch your boat but need to back out about 20ft so you put it in reverse the water is 3 ft deep all types of junk gets blown around and sucked up you shift to forward that gate shifts but pebbles are now lodged in the gate that will not allow it to drop down to neutral or reverse. When it tries it throws a code. Cycling the power the gate cycles or tries to defaults to fully open and the pebbles could drop out.
Yes, indicates F N R on connect screen. As I said, I was cruising speed in 36’ depth and already out over an hour. I got a quick warning light and no matter what direction I moved the throttle in the Port side engine remained in forward
 
for the 2019 model the cables could be older and starting to create resistance. I didn't know that they show the gate direction forward Neutral and reverse the 2017 and older don't . You can get the boat on the trailer go inside and flip the switches in the servo this releases the cables then go to the gate and move each one up and down see if they move freely. Does the boat stay in the lake for long periods of time ? Do you have the original Batteries ? weak batteries could be an issue as well
 
for the 2019 model the cables could be older and starting to create resistance. I didn't know that they show the gate direction forward Neutral and reverse the 2017 and older don't . You can get the boat on the trailer go inside and flip the switches in the servo this releases the cables then go to the gate and move each one up and down see if they move freely. Does the boat stay in the lake for long periods of time ? Do you have the original Batteries ? weak batteries could be an issue as well
No cables, didn’t need to pull off water, problem was resolved as I originally stated!
 
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