Slipping issue or something?

[andrzej77ff]

Went out on the lake today and noticed a problem developing. As I pulled up my riders the engine would throttle up then seem to slip and the boat would hesitate then kick back in and would be fine. I thought maybe transmission? However it did this while perfect pass was on , so I tried it with it off and ran fine. Any ideas?

[wakeatx]

Man, I don't have any ideas for ya but hoping you don't have a tranny problem. I've had mine in the shop since the end of April trying to get mine rebuilt.

[MoneyPity]

Based on your isolation when you turn off PP and all became well then Perfect Pass is most likely the culprit. IF you engage Perfect Pass, give full throttle authority without a rider does it still surge with PP turned on?

When Perfect Pass is off and no surging occurs then it sounds like PerfectPass may be culprit

[andrzej77ff]

Based on your isolatinf PP and all became well then Perfect Pass is most likely the culprit. IF you engage Perfect Pass, give full throttle authority without a rider does it still surge with PP turned on?

When Perfect Pass is off and no suging occurs then it sounds like PerfectPass may be culprit

Yeah I guess I will have to do some more investigating underload because when PP was off the boat wasn't underload either.

[petrey10]

could be cativation too??

[andrzej77ff]

could be cativation too??

cavitation how? Please explain and I will look into it.

[Super B]

My guess is you are cavatating. How does your prop look?

[MoneyPity]

He needs to test underload with and without PP. Indication was motor slowed which would not be typical of cavitation when prop slips and looses bite. To test run with a Taps setting around 1 or 2 which will pull down bow and reduce any cavitation.

[petrey10]

well I am no expert but cavitation could be from the wrong prop on your boat... example you have too much ballast in boat for the prop's "pitch"... or your prop may have a ding or bend on it which would promote cavitation... but as above said the engine would speed up when cavitating not slow down... figure out if it speeds up (RPMs not MPH) or slows down.

[Joeprunc]

Is this the first time out this year? To me it sounds like bad gas, but the fact that without PP it did not happen...makes me not sure? Maybe you weren't accelerating as hard (due to lack of skier load) which is why the problem seemed to disappear...? I'm not completely sure, but I'd do a few easy things before I go to the lake again.

1) Check the tranny fluid, if it is low this could cause slipping.
2) Did you change your fuel/water separator? If not I would do that.
3) Check your air filter.
4) Fill up your tank with premium gas from a name brand station that gets a lot of traffic.
5) Possibly add an octane boost additive.

Most of my auto issues have been fairly simple, so that is why I'm focusing on the simple cheap possible issues. If these don't help then you can focus on Cavitation, or tranny issues.

I don't feel like it would be cavitation (I've never had the issue myself). I would think as a prop creates cavitation, it would continue to slip until the throttle is rolled back to allow water to replace the air pocket. With PP I would think the boat would continue to accelerate to try to meet the speed required, thus leaving the prop in the slipping state...? Just a thought.

Good Luck let us know what you find.

[andrzej77ff]

Is this the first time out this year? To me it sounds like bad gas, but the fact that without PP it did not happen...makes me not sure? Maybe you weren't accelerating as hard (due to lack of skier load) which is why the problem seemed to disappear...? I'm not completely sure, but I'd do a few easy things before I go to the lake again.

1) Check the tranny fluid, if it is low this could cause slipping.
2) Did you change your fuel/water separator? If not I would do that.
3) Check your air filter.
4) Fill up your tank with premium gas from a name brand station that gets a lot of traffic.
5) Possibly add an octane boost additive.

Most of my auto issues have been fairly simple, so that is why I'm focusing on the simple cheap possible issues. If these don't help then you can focus on Cavitation, or tranny issues.

I don't feel like it would be cavitation (I've never had the issue myself). I would think as a prop creates cavitation, it would continue to slip until the throttle is rolled back to allow water to replace the air pocket. With PP I would think the boat would continue to accelerate to try to meet the speed required, thus leaving the prop in the slipping state...? Just a thought.

Good Luck let us know what you find.

I will check into all these that you mentioned. I called my dealer and he mentioned many of the same, he also said to try switching the perfect pass from RPM mode to MPH mode which I didn't know I could do but I would prefer that anyway, just have to figure out how. Thanks for all the replies. I will keep you posted. Planning on being out on the lake Thursday and Friday so I will try many different options. Thanks again!

[dogbert]

I had that happen once and it was low on tranny fluid. Just top it off and you'll be fine.

[andrzej77ff]

I had that happen once and it was low on tranny fluid. Just top it off and you'll be fine.

Yup you were right! I checked the tranny fluid out of the water with boat level and it looked good but when I put it in the water with engine running it barely touched the dipstick. So it took about 2/3 of a quart to fill it up and it runs great now. Thanks guys.

Now, what really kind of gets me is that I had all my fluids and filters changed this year at the Ski Dock so they just didn't put enough tranny fluid back in. Other than that they did a great job on everything else. I guess I'll just give them a call and tell them what happened so they are aware.

[MoneyPity]

I am glad Dogberts suggestion got you going. Enjoy.

[talltigeguy]

Yup you were right! I checked the tranny fluid out of the water with boat level and it looked good but when I put it in the water with engine running it barely touched the dipstick. So it took about 2/3 of a quart to fill it up and it runs great now. Thanks guys.

Now, what really kind of gets me is that I had all my fluids and filters changed this year at the Ski Dock so they just didn't put enough tranny fluid back in. Other than that they did a great job on everything else. I guess I'll just give them a call and tell them what happened so they are aware.

Check it often. Make sure it did not leak out somewhere.