99 X22 high idle

[calii311soca]

Glad to be a part of the Epic team! Just bought myself a '99 X22 yesterday, and I've got some issues that I wanted to run by the members of the board.

1. The idle is a little too high. In the no wake zones it travels faster than normal. Nothing crazy, it's just a little ungraceful when trying to park it in the slip or getting fuel. It's accompanied with an engine overtemp light. Can turn perco off and this gets the light to go off and it idles normal.

2. The gauges don't all work. I plan on pulling out the dash and checking for loose connections. Gas and temperature function properly. There is also no back lighting.

3. Bilge stays on in auto. Probably replaced a while ago and wired wrong.

4. Have a leak at the driveshaft coupling under the back seats. Almost 1 drop every second. Looks like I can get a monkey wrench on there to tighten it, however, it has a cotter pin installed right now. If I tighten, then it may no longer line up. Is anyone running without a pin through the coupling?

[jhardy3]

I am dealing with the high idle issue as well. Makes docking and loading on the trailer interesting! What is your idle at, and is your check engine light on?

From what i have found on here, the idle can be caused by:

1. Missing fuse in the small fuse box on the back of the motor
2. Throttle cable is out of adjustment
3. Throttle cable is hanging up and needs lubrication or be replaced
4. If you have perfect pass, the cable is hung up
5. Your throttle lever sensor is not working (should be throwing a code as well)

I believe mine is caused by the sensor going bad as I have a check engine light and the throttle lever does not go above idle speed until it is about in the last 30% of the lever throw.

[calii311soca]

Are you getting the engine overtemp light with the high idle as well? From my research that means the boat is in "limp mode"

With a little more troubleshooting last night, we isolated the problem down to a couple parts. We would turn the perco off to let the computer reset, and on startup, we had no light and normal idle. My RPM gauge doesn't work so I can't tell you what it was idling at. When we throttle up in neutral or drive we get the light, and when we throttle back down, the idle is high.


Fuses are all good on back of motor as well as the relays.

Checked range of motion with throttle while watching the cable on the motor and it travels normally.

You bring up a good point, when we have the light with high idle, the throttle doesn't respond in drive until it's almost parallel with the deck. WOT is pointing at the floor.  When we had no light, the throttle seemed to respond on a much shorter throw until it tripped the light.

[jhardy3]

It is interesting that yours goes back to normal after switching off the perko. Mine always has a high idle and light no matter what I do.

The high idle and red light point to the limp mode, but our boat runs normal at all other speeds, so I dont know if that still qualifies it to be in limp mode.

I ordered the OBDII wire to check why the check engine light is coming on as discussed in this thread: http://www.epicmarine.com/forum4/index.php?topic=2342.0 . It is being shipped from China, so I wont receive it for a few weeks. I may not get a chance to try it before the season is over as well. You can always order the computer/wire from Capt Rick if you want to figure it out in the next week or so.

Let me know if you find anything. Thanks!

[cyclone]

Guys,
Keep us posted. JHardy, when u get troubleshooting let me know, I will ride over there with my multimeter and the manual and would be glad to help you get your Epic straightened out.

[jhardy3]

I appreciate the offer Cyclone.

Come to find out, cali311soca lives in the same area as I do. He ordered the Toyota Techstream to figure out a few of his problems, so hopefully I can apply whatever he finds.

[jhardy3]

Update: Used the Toyota Techstream cable to find a code saying the ETCS was not working. I went ahead and bought a complete used throttle body from ebay for a 1999 LS400. I cleaned up the "new" TB and installed it in the boat over the weekend. I bolted it in with a new gasket, swapped the spring loaded pulley where the throttle cable attaches, made a couple of throttle adjustments, cleaned the MAF sensor, and Voila! It worked!

For the first time since we have owned our Epic(right at year now), it actually idles like it is supposed to, and the red light is not on! I never realized the noise that the ETCS makes and the amount of air the air filter is supposed to suck in. This boat is awesome now. I was impressed with the power before, but it is a different boat now. Tops out at almost 40mph instead of 33, and actually redlines. The throttle lever has power throughout the entire range of throw, and the correct idle makes everything so enjoyable. No more with the hard clunk into gear, difficult low speed maneuvering,and drivetrain noise at idle. Its just smooooth. After a year of struggling with numerous issues,  I can now say I am very happy with this boat.

[calii311soca]

Hell yeah dude! I was thinking about just getting a throttle body also since it has both of the sensors I wanted to replace. How were you able to get the techstream to work? We were never able to get the program to stop freezing every time we clicked "evaluate" PM me!

Update: Used the Toyota Techstream cable to find a code saying the ETCS was not working. I went ahead and bought a complete used throttle body from ebay for a 1999 LS400. I cleaned up the "new" TB and installed it in the boat over the weekend. I bolted it in with a new gasket, swapped the spring loaded pulley where the throttle cable attaches, made a couple of throttle adjustments, cleaned the MAF sensor, and Voila! It worked!

For the first time since we have owned our Epic(right at year now), it actually idles like it is supposed to, and the red light is not on! I never realized the noise that the ETCS makes and the amount of air the air filter is supposed to suck in. This boat is awesome now. I was impressed with the power before, but it is a different boat now. Tops out at almost 40mph instead of 33, and actually redlines. The throttle lever has power throughout the entire range of throw, and the correct idle makes everything so enjoyable. No more with the hard clunk into gear, difficult low speed maneuvering,and drivetrain noise at idle. Its just smooooth. After a year of struggling with numerous issues,  I can now say I am very happy with this boat.

[jhardy3]

Hell yeah dude! I was thinking about just getting a throttle body also since it has both of the sensors I wanted to replace. How were you able to get the techstream to work? We were never able to get the program to stop freezing every time we clicked "evaluate" PM me!

PM Sent! I bought a throttle body in good condition for $250 and it bolted right up other than the pulley where the throttle cable attaches. It was very easy to swap the pulley over from the Epic's throttle body once I took them apart and figured out how they work. Also, i had to make a couple of throttle cable adjustments as it would go to WOT as soon as the engine fired up. That made me jump the first time it happened!

[ATXChris]

Glad to hear that you were able get the diagnostic cable to work and get you boat running right !   The Epic V8 runs like a top when you get her all fixed up 

[calii311soca]

I'VE OFFICIALLY GOT HER FIXED! Thank you to JHardy and Cyclone for your advice. I ended up buying a used throttle body off Ebay (with the optional return policy) for a 99 LS400. The only difference between the two was where the throttle cable connects to the spring loaded actuator. They weren't complete matches, but it still ended up working. Cranked her up and ran her all last weekend with absolutely no issues. She accelerates quickly, rides more smoothly, and it seems like I am getting better gas mileage. Now I'm no longer the prick throwing wake at idle! I already can't wait for for next summer.

[cyclone]

Take some pix so we know what to look for, very interested in hearing what auto parts we can adapt to keep our boats on the water!!