Newbie Here with a 2001 X-22 in Lake Weir, FL

[Bartow]

Greetings from Lake Weir, FL!  We have a 2001 X-22 and I'm so glad to find some folks to talk to about this boat.  Best I can tell, there are not too many of these things around this neck of the woods.

The first thing I did was search the forum under overheating.  The gauges are still reading 180-200 degrees  after we replaced the impeller and thermostat.  Looks like this is "normal." 

I'm not a mechanic, but it looks like I'm going to need to pick up some skills pretty quickly if we want to enjoy this beautiful boat:)

[cyclone]

Hey Bartow, glad to have you on the site. You don't need much in the way of skills to keep these boats running, there's just a couple of quirks.

My boat ran at 171 deg when brand new, and at 167 since I changed the impeller (once in 601.7 hours )

Temperature is a big issue on an aluminum engine, you have covered the basics with a new thermostat and impeller. You could also replace the temp sensor on the block, I'm not sure where it is but I'll check. It is probably the same as an LS 400 part, probably pretty cheap. I'll look in my 1UZ engine manual and get back to you.

I would definitely look at the sea strainer and make sure that it is not full (easy to do yourself) and that there are no obstructions in the cooling system. With the engine running and a Fake A Lake (or hose jammed in your water inlet) you should have water flowing out both sides of your exhaust flappers at the back of the boat. It kind of comes out in surges, but there should be good flow.

If you don't have good flow or want to check it, I would remove your impeller, put the cover back on the water pump and hook it up, and put a hose in the water inlet and turn it on full blast. That should flush any crap out of your water jacket. It is easier than it sounds, there are pics on the HOw TO page.

It is quite possible that your gauge is not accurate. The gauges are driven off a Borg Warner computer box that is a common ski boat part. They suck on a Malibu too!
You might find someone with an infrared temperature gun, shoot the thermostat housing or intake when the engine is good and warmed up to verify the dash gauge. If you have the Multigauge digital display, check to see if the temp is the same on the needle gauge and the digital gauge, it is displayed on both. Both readings are coming from the BW MDDC box, so they always read the same in my experience.

Anyway, glad to have you on the site, there is a lot of info here.

Pete

[lesman01]

Hey Bartow. welcome. Post some picks of your boat in the photos section., and register your boat with our newly created boat registry.

And, yes, I , too have the same gauge reading problem as everyone. I was running at about 200 temp at idle. Cleaned the sea strainer (not that much stuff in there either) and high temp went away. Seems like I had a low oil pressure reading once. I was so worried I took it to Atlanta Marine and they ran it on a fake a lake for 45 minutes and Tony could not replicate the problem.

Anyway, the collective knowledge on this site is awesome! By collective, i mainly mean Pete...

[cyclone]

hey, I just read all the posts. That doesn't make me smart!

[shawn]

i had a problem with low oil presure and i got a new oil sending unit from overtons for $20.00.  No problems since.

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/overtons/detail/pdetail2.cgi?r=detail_view&item_num=20137

[cyclone]

That's a good price. What does your oil pressure read now? There are basically two sending units, one for 0-80psi (wrong for our boats) and one for 0-120 psi (The right one) I have only been able to find the 0-80 psi ones locally, and the 120 psi one is 40$. If you have oil pressure readings around 45 psi when idling and 70-90 when cruising, it's the right part for us. I now have a high oil pressure alarms instead of low!

[phenom_1819]

Might that fix mine? It goes off and says I have 3-5 psi.  I get up around 80ish when running WOT, I think.

[shawn]

at idle, i am between 30 and 40 and while cruzing, i think it's about 80.  my alarm would always go off, no matter what.  It would go down as low as 1psi, now it has not dropped under 30 and no more alarms.  For $20.00 what do you have to loose?  I hated having to explain to whom  ever was driving that it is normal and i hated it even more to look at that alarm going off.

[phenom_1819]

Sweet, I'm all over it, thanks Shawn. I think you and I are about the only people that have had the alarm go off on the low side... everybody else's alarm goes when pressure gets too high.  I'm all over it.

[cyclone]

Actually, I'm on my third or forth sending unit for that same problem. It sounds like Overtons has the right part for us, and the price is right. Thanks, Shawn.

[Bartow]

Thanks so much for the info.  And now for your humor...

I've got a Fake A Lake, but I have no clue where the sea strainer is!   Would this info be hiding somewhere on our site?

[phenom_1819]

Hey Bartow, if you go to the preliminary winterizing procedure in the "How To" section of the site, it discusses how to find and clean out the sea strainer.  It is really easy to find, it is a clear canister about 4" in diameter towards the rear of your engine, with some mesh-looking stuff inside.  If you've been out yet this season, it will be full of water.  All you do is unscrew it, pour it out, clean the screen, screw it back on, and you're good to go.

Welcome to the site, I think you'll appreciate the amount of information and support here.  A year ago, I had no clue what a sea strainer was.  Now I can complete an entire winterization procedure, including impeller replacement, from start to finish.  And now when something isn't running correctly on my boat, I have an idea where to start looking (spark plugs first).

An epicmarine.com success story?  I like to think so.

[lesman01]

So does everybody think the $20 sending unit is the way to fix the low oil pressure reading? Is that the right one?

I'm with Cal. when I first got my Epic it was my first ski boat. We went out on the lake and parked, just basking in the newness of a used boat and listening to tunes. We must have sat there for an hour. Every so often the bilge pump wold go off and squirt water out the side. The good thing is that the bilge actually worked and was set on the automatic setting(3 settings on mine - on-off-auto).

I thought it was a little strange that it was pretty much running the whole time. I finally had the thought to check the shaft log because at least I knew that it's "normal" for inboards to drip a bit of water through the packing.

When I checked it, water was gushing in and the shaft log locking nut was laying in the bilge. oops! I manages to get it screwed back on and the pin in place. It's tricky to get at that on a vdrive since it's tight underneath the tranny. Lesson learned.

Anyway, sorry to ramble, but half the fun for me now is to do maintenance on my Epic. All of whick i learned on this site.

[Bartow]

Thanks Cal.  I'm looking forward to Sea Strainer 101:)