Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Couple weeks back I decided to haul my boat rather than growing more lake scum on the toons. It was a (spring-feeling) nice day and there was time for a spin up the lake before trailering home. Pushing the throttle to full speed, the engine sputtered about 5000 rpm. Back off to 4000 or less, it ran fine.Give it throttle and same issue.

Another problem too and actually it bothered me more than the engine. The power assisted steering wasn't so power assisted any more. When this happened with my former boat, I'd feed it some power steering fluid and go about my way, but I didn't see a fill point and already knew I was going to the shop for the engine, so I called it a day.

Turned out, power steering issue was a fuse. Whew! Just knew it was going to be an expensive leak or pump but it wasn't. I'll know next time to check the fuse if this ever happens again.

The mechanic also reset the engine codes on the Verado 150. So, here is the actual question is ... Can someone shed light on what causes engine codes to "get out of whack"? I can't imagine it was something I did. Granted, the boat had been sitting unused since Thanksgiving. This was not something I could have fixed on the water like the steering fuse.

Boat is now clean, trailered in the back yard and impatiently waiting for Spring! I had to hustle on getting it covered and secured against the barn since we've got the windy storms and rain scheduled for the next week.

Do you trust the mechanics word? Not trying to bash but I have not heard of engine codes getting out of whack.
I am no mechanic by ANY means, but my understanding is that engine codes tell you something is or went wrong and that simply re-setting the code does not fix the problem just turns off the warning light until it does it again??

In almost all my years of boats, injectors have caused some power issues, usually dirty. Or something electronic, which I have had fixed easily by a mechanic.
I did have an engine years ago that they NEVER could fix and it was an electronic thing, but I think those days are long gone with all the diagnostic stuff these days.

Good luck. Hope all runs well as planned and your mechanic was right.

riplipper wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:08 am

Do you trust the mechanics word? Not trying to bash but I have not heard of engine codes getting out of whack.

Nor have I, that's why I posted it. I referred back to the invoice which read: "checked engine on computer, removed some old codes. Everything is operating correct. Engine has 100% power."

I probably won't wait until spring to launch and do a test run up the lake. With the way our days are looking, it's soon going to be short sleeve weather soon.

When your boat was sitting did you have a charger or anything hooked up to the battery?

zoom650 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:40 am

Nor have I, that's why I posted it. I referred back to the invoice which read: "checked engine on computer, removed some old codes. Everything is operating correct. Engine has 100% power."

You can Google Verado Engine/Fault Codes and over the 200+ listed, at least half are "non-critical". There is a code for engine overspeed which is when you trim up too high. There are multiple codes for shift pressure (non-critical), etc. You mentioned the cleaning of injectors. There are at least 10 "non-critical" codes for air injectors and another 10 for "non-critical" fuel injector issues.

Long story short, the engine may throw codes for minor things and these are stored by the computer. It is not uncommon clear old codes.