So, every year we have quite a few posts about rough running, coughing, spluttering boats. Inevitably, the answer comes back to "change the plugs and check the fuel pump." Well, I have a bizarre, but alternate solution for people as mechanically incompetent as I am. This just ruined my day, and it could conceivably happen (although I doubt it) to someone else, so I'm a passin' it along. Yes, it is a serious post from Bitzco. Don't get used to it.
Last week, we were on the lake draggin' a kid around on the board. All of a sudden, my baby started coughin' and splutterin'. One of my wives took care of the baby, but coincidentally, the boat was coughin' and splutterin' too. She lost power but kept running. Cough, cough, splutter, splutter. I reset the electrical with the battery switch, but that made no difference. Then, I remembered that like an idiot, I had gotten gas at Sam's Club. I though, "great, bad gas, fouled plugs, stupid!" I headed back to shore with declining performance all the way. By the time I got back to the marina, the wives were all embarrassed by the onlookers watchin' us splutterin,' and the boat would only go 10 mph. The rpms were flutterin' between 3 and 4K and there was a rich gas smell waftin' through the air. The dog and my 10 year old son were sittin' in the back near the exhaust and started actin' kinda funny.
Anyway, I decided that work demands prohibited my changin the plugs, so I dragged my Toy in to Jimmy (the service dude) at Marine Products. When I described the symptoms, he said, "sounds like you need plugs or the fuel pump is bad. Nothing else ever goes wrong with these Toyotas." I left my baby with him, but then remembered she was in the boat and went back to MP to pick her up. Man were my wives mad.
It took a few days of 90 degree sunny weather (torture for me without the Toy) for Jimmy to get to the boat, but he fixed her and I got her back yesterday. You will never guess what the problem was. It wasn't plugs, it wasn't bad gas, it wasn't even a bad fuel pump. One of the ignition wires had come off the ignition switch. It was still in the general area where it belonged and was jiggling around with the vibration of the boat. It was making and losing contact with the switch constantly. Essentially, my boat was turning on and off every milisecond or so. This apparently will cause even a sophisticated Lexus motor to run rough. What were those Toyota engineers thinking when they didn't plan for this problem. There should have been quadruple redundancy to avoid it. In the end, Jimmy (he's the man!) took two seconds to crimp the contact on the wire tighter and reattached it to the ignition. Vroom, Vroom, she purrs like a kitten when I turn her key, and the boat runs perfectly too.
Ain't it bizarre that the boat was running at all. It smelled rich cuz the gas wasn't getting burned and running rough cuz there was only spark on some random basis. It is also bizarre that none of the gauges or PP or anything was freaking out. There was no sign other than the motor freaking out that power was going on and off. Hopefully, this didn't hurt my Toy in some unknown way, but it is currently running just like it always has.
So, if yer boat starts a runnin' rough, check the ignition switch. It might be just that easy. This is the second Toyota I have had which had connection issues at the ignition switch. On My first SX, a wire jiggled loose back there, but it came all the way out of there, so the boat just shut off completely. I was able to track that problem and fix it because it was obvious there was no electical. Watch your switch man! You may not have to embarrass the wives with a rough runnin' boat. You may also not have to take it in to your local Jimmy and pay big service fees while they fix, break and/or replace things that don't need to be fixed, broken and/or replaced.
Also, I've gotta say that, even though you have to pay for his help, Jimmy rules. He knows these Toyotas.
