check engine alarm 05 x10 when under load

[redac7]

Hello,

I had a strange issue today while out on the water. The check engine alarm was going off on my 2005 x10 when it seem to be under load. By that I mean the check engine alarm went off when:

-Pulling a normal size person (~180lbs) wakeboarding at 20mph with full ballast tanks and half full ballast tanks with radio on and also with radio off
-Pulling the same size person wake surfing at ~11mph with ballast tanks half full
-Making a left turn going ~30mph not pulling anyone, just cruising

The check engine alarm did NOT go off when:
-cruising down the lake at 30-35mph pretty much driving straight not pulling anyone
-taking right turns going 25-30mph not pulling anyone
-Pulling someone wakeboarding at 20mph with ballast tanks empty (although sometimes the ballast tanks maybe were around 1/4 full I think)

The engine sounded beautiful and the engine temp right at 160 and the oil pressure was just fine. Didn't see any jumping with the voltage so that seemed fine. The following work was just done in Feb:

-Replace Spark plugs on starboard side and swap out wires and cap and rotor for tune up
-Distributor Cap and Rotor Set
-Exhaust manifold replaced on one side of the engine because it was leaking

So any idea what the issue could be? Here are some the alarm could be from but not sure:

-bad gas? the fuel was treated and there was some recent fuel put it, and the engine never sounded rough
-stereo equipment causing short? I did just add the JL Audio MBT-RX bluetooth adapter, maybe a bad splice? or bad stereo wiring? It is strange because I did have the stereo cut off a few time around the time of the check engine alarm. Also one of the speaker has a lot of static when the ballast pumps are running
-bad wiring for the dash panel? I do have PP but it was put in at the beginning of last season and didn't have any issues.
-anything else???

Thanks for the help

[CrashCourse316]

Hello,

I had a strange issue today while out on the water. The check engine alarm was going off on my 2005 x10 when it seem to be under load. By that I mean the check engine alarm went off when:

-Pulling a normal size person (~180lbs) wakeboarding at 20mph with full ballast tanks and half full ballast tanks with radio on and also with radio off
-Pulling the same size person wake surfing at ~11mph with ballast tanks half full
-Making a left turn going ~30mph not pulling anyone, just cruising

The check engine alarm did NOT go off when:
-cruising down the lake at 30-35mph pretty much driving straight not pulling anyone
-taking right turns going 25-30mph not pulling anyone
-Pulling someone wakeboarding at 20mph with ballast tanks empty (although sometimes the ballast tanks maybe were around 1/4 full I think)

The engine sounded beautiful and the engine temp right at 160 and the oil pressure was just fine. Didn't see any jumping with the voltage so that seemed fine. The following work was just done in Feb:

-Replace Spark plugs on starboard side and swap out wires and cap and rotor for tune up
-Distributor Cap and Rotor Set
-Exhaust manifold replaced on one side of the engine because it was leaking

So any idea what the issue could be? Here are some the alarm could be from but not sure:

-bad gas? the fuel was treated and there was some recent fuel put it, and the engine never sounded rough
-stereo equipment causing short? I did just add the JL Audio MBT-RX bluetooth adapter, maybe a bad splice? or bad stereo wiring? It is strange because I did have the stereo cut off a few time around the time of the check engine alarm. Also one of the speaker has a lot of static when the ballast pumps are running
-bad wiring for the dash panel? I do have PP but it was put in at the beginning of last season and didn't have any issues.
-anything else???

Thanks for the help

* I would start with a quick verify on oil level. It's possible the added tilt with ballast is just enough to sound the alarm for low oil if you are near the low end of "safe"

* Was the battery dead recently or disconnected? I have read a couple of times that when you get a low voltage code it may take several full cycles of use for it to automatically clear and stop sounding your alarm under load for low voltage. Other choice would be to go to a dealer to clear the code unless you have the software to do so.

* and third, Since you were working on audio, run until exactly as you would to get the alarm to go start, stop and disconnect your audio modification from power, rerun the boat the exact same way, if no Alarm for a while, stop, reconnect, and then run it to try and get the alarm again. This will tell you right away if its a wiring issue causing a low voltage alarm or a short. Repeat-ability is a big key to finding the culprit to something like this I think.

once you isolate what is causing it, you can then figure out why it's causing it.

[redac7]

Thanks for help. Oil level was looking good, about 3/4 way to the top line.

The battery had been disconnected for months before Sunday when I took it out but didn't see the issue on Sunday. I was only out there for a short time just running the boat very lightly and didn't pull anyone though or put the same load on engine that caused the check engine alarm.

thanks for the advice for the third point, i will go through and see if i can exactly pin point when the alarm comes on.

could a bad alternator or one that is starting to get weak and go bad be the reasoning for these things to happen and the check engine alarm?

[CrashCourse316]

could a bad alternator or one that is starting to get weak and go bad be the reasoning for these things to happen and the check engine alarm?

If the alarm is a low voltage alarm then yes, It does sound like a low voltage alarm would be likely but you never know unless you know (*_*). If you think you want to invest in the software to pull diagnostics data or are just interested in learning about it you might benefit best by just getting the software and hookup the diagnostics to the boat. Run it and collect the data. As soon as that alarm goes off you would be able to tell right away what all the data was and what caused the alarm to go off. then be able to target root cause. If there is no obvious engine issue I think your best bet is to just start trying to isolate the issue, but don't get too carried away in throwing money into random parts unless you know the part is bad.

* Could also try hooking up a separate voltage reader to the boat and try and reproduce the alarm and check voltage.

[37tr3n5k]

Engine / motor noise in speakers is due to a bad ground. This makes your wiring suspect in my opinion. Are the power wires from your stereo fused? If an unfused power wire is shorting to ground, your alternator could be overloaded, pulling high amps, dropping voltage as a result. Make sure all your wire splices aren't touching power to ground. If they aren't fused and going to ground you could actually start a fire. If this seems like a potential culprit to you, I'd start by just disconnecting the amp wire at the battery and the red power to your stereo to kill everything and then try to reproduce the problem. If that seems to eliminate the symptoms, Id check the connections. As you probably know, a visual check of connections doesnt always seem obvious- Sometimes strands of power wire can be touching a ground wire or the frame where you cant see it. Since you said it happens with the radio off, is your amp powered with the remote turn on wire (blue) from the deck?

On the other hand, if it is not that, attached is the Indmar Troubleshooting guide in the event you have an MCX. I have a 2004 and my boat is almost identical to yours.

[redac7]

unfortunately i disconnected the amp from the battery and also disconnected the red wire of the stereo and the check engine alarm came on.

maybe a dumb questions but is it possible to have too much ballast where the engine is strained causing the alarm to come on? Along with the hard tanks in the rear and center ballast i added i added a 450lb sac in each rear locker and a ~700lb fat sac in the bow. i road last summer with all these filled up and never had the alarm come on.

the thing that gets me is if i have the ballast tanks/bags filled i won't have an alarm but when i'm pulling someone the alarm goes off within 30 seconds.

[CrashCourse316]

unfortunately i disconnected the amp from the battery and also disconnected the red wire of the stereo and the check engine alarm came on.

maybe a dumb questions but is it possible to have too much ballast where the engine is strained causing the alarm to come on? Along with the hard tanks in the rear and center ballast i added i added a 450lb sac in each rear locker and a ~700lb fat sac in the bow. i road last summer with all these filled up and never had the alarm come on.

the thing that gets me is if i have the ballast tanks/bags filled i won't have an alarm but when i'm pulling someone the alarm goes off within 30 seconds.

It wouldn't make much sense to base an alarm off "stress" on a boat where you can just floor it at any point in time and cause extreme stress over and over. There has to be a sensor causing it. What engine do you have in it (manufacturer/year/model) we can start looking up what sensors are on the engine and maybe figure out what might make sense as getting triggered due to load. I'm still suspicious of the oil level sensor maybe causing it. Thinking maybe you have a little less oil than last summer and the sensor is triggering the alarm based on a low reading for a extra few seconds when trying to come up on plane. I could be totally wrong on that but it's a theory.

[redac7]

Thanks Sam for the input. I have the Multi-port EFI 350 cubic inch GM V-8 Vortec MCX 5.7L 2005 year. When i checked the oil level out on the water it was 3/4 full. Oil pressure on the gauge is a bit high, not sure if this indicates anything.

[CrashCourse316]

Thanks Sam for the input. I have the Multi-port EFI 350 cubic inch GM V-8 Vortec MCX 5.7L 2005 year. When i checked the oil level out on the water it was 3/4 full. Oil pressure on the gauge is a bit high, not sure if this indicates anything.

Yea, I don't think that indicates much other than your filled at proper level for normal operation, I was just thinking maybe under load you get an tilt which the sensor may read as just under the mark and if adding on a person your towing out of the water it may just add enough time to cause the sensor to go off. Have you tried putting the boat at a speed that causes the most bow rise and just leave it at that rise for a bit to see if the alarm goes off?

outside of buying software to run live diags your probably just going to have to keep investigating as you use the boat.
Also is that an Indmar engine?

[CrashCourse316]

Another thought, did you check your transmission oil level lately? Trans oil overheat might cause the alarm as well. If low or maybe bad flow through the heat exchanger you might be getting a high temp on it under the higher load.

was it just an alarm or did the check engine light (if you have one)come on as well?

Here is the Indmar manual Assuming it's the indmar engine, fliping through it might give you an idea.

https://indmar.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2006-Indmar-Operators-Manual.pdf

[redac7]

I haven’t checked the transmission fluid yet this season, it did get switched out last year. I will check that. It is a beeping alarm coming from the dash. Also on the RPM gauge I see BAD displayed when turning off the engine but nothing else displays after BAD, seems kind of strange

[88 PS190]

Another thought, did you check your transmission oil level lately? Trans oil overheat might cause the alarm as well. If low or maybe bad flow through the heat exchanger you might be getting a high temp on it under the higher load.

was it just an alarm or did the check engine light (if you have one)come on as well?

Here is the Indmar manual Assuming it's the indmar engine, fliping through it might give you an idea.
https://indmar.wpengine.com/wp-conte...ors-Manual.pdf

I'd wager trans cooler partly plugged at the strainer. Could be low fluid but if you're on plane so long as their is enough at the pick up you shouldn't have that issue - the left turn would be suspicious for it.

When loaded and not flowing as much water you are getting the alarm, when less loaded and or going faster you're flowing more water.

A partial obstruction will usually flow enough for the engine which is usually bypassing a lot of water through the manifolds.

[88 PS190]

Hey didn't see second page -

That might be your depth transducer going bad - telling you the depth is shallow.

[redac7]

i think we clicked submit reply at the same time

depth transducer going bad makes sense because it has just recently started to go in and out.

[CrashCourse316]

https://dealerlink.mastercraft.com/awweblive/awwebstore/OnLineDoc/Manuals/2008-2009ServiceSchoolManual/gauges.pdf

do a CTRL+F on "BAD" and you get this..I owe this find to my google search mastery over the years. Also see the page after that for the version with the gauge that has a lowrance GPS attached if you have that