2005 225 Merc Pro XS issue

[NorCa]

1. 1b117736
2. 2005 Pro XS
3. 25p Tempest

Hey everyone, I'm new to not only these forums but bass boats in general. I've recently purchased my first boat (2005 Ranger Z20). I've had the boat only a week and so far have experienced nothing but issues. I'll share everything that's happened just incase its pertinent. Boat ran great when I test drove it, I also requested a compression check and a read out of any history on the motor. Compression came back great so I went forward with the purchase, the motor has 160 hours on it and nothing out of the norm was found by the mechanic when checking it out. Once I got the boat home I've taken it out 2-3 times just to get comfortable with the boat an hour or two at a time, it took a little time to get the motor trim portion dialed for taking off but after that it was smooth sailing. Once I started fishing the trolling motor would die after about 20 minutes (happened twice) so I took it to a boat mechanic to get the batteries checked, the mechanic said all the batteries are good and told me he tightened some of the connections on the batteries and knocked some corrosion off and told me to try again. He also suggested I change the cranking battery as it was "the wrong type battery". He explained that the battery that was currently installed was not going to be able to handle the charging current that the pro XS was going to deliver so I bought and installed a new battery per his suggestion. So today I took the boat out to test the trolling motor and to my surprise 2 or 3 minutes after taking off it went from WOT to bogging down. It was as if I let off the gas to slow down, but I wasn't. No alarm happened at this point. I pulled the cowl to look for obvious signs of an issue, didn't see anything. The motor was pissing water like normal, I checked the oil reservoir and made sure all the clip connections were in place, all seemed fine. I try to get going again and the boat will not get up and go, its in some sort of limp mode (I read later "guardian mode"). I immediately turned back for the ramp and limped it in. I got to the ramp and by pure coincidence I have to wait my turn for the launch to clear up so I can get out of the water, I decide to reach down and hit the kill switch and right as I'm pushing the button an alarm beeps, I hit the kill at the same time so I have no Idea if it was a long beep or a multi beep. I cycled through the gauge options that I have and the only thing I saw was 174 degrees. Boat ran great every time I've taken it out the only thing that changed between those trips and today was the battery. Any suggestions? I plan to take it in to get looked at but nothing is open til Monday so thought I'd make sure there isn't something obvious I maybe missing.

thanks for taking the time to read my post and for any input you may have!

[apdriver]

On a new to you motor that you don’t know the history, you should do all the yearly maintenance suggested at the top of this board in a sticky. Sounds like a possible overheat. For the troller, if it cuts out again change the breaker. They can corrode internally, you may see some exterior rust, or just get weak over time and do as you described. Good luck with your new rig.....

[EuropeanAM]

Get him to print out the Run History and the Freeze Frame (Fault) History as information there may be useful in determining the problem.

Also... provide the specs and brand/model on the battery you purchased. In the FAQ section, there's a post "Batteries that Meet the Requirements" (good idea to reference it for what you need and connection checks).

[NorCa]

Thanks for the responses I’ll definitely be getting it to the shop as soon as they’ll have me to get those read-outs ! I will also be printing out the yearly maintenance list and bring that down with me as well. The battery that was just installed is a Centennial deep cycle DC31MF with MCA:1000.

[SilverFox579]

Centennial is a decent brand, have a pair for my trolling bank, however, the DC31MF meets engine only minimums, something with 950+ COLD cranking amps and 200+mins RC would be much, much better.

[EuropeanAM]

Centennial is a decent brand, have a pair for my trolling bank, however, the DC31MF meets engine only minimums, something with 950+ COLD cranking amps and 200+mins RC would be much, much better.

+100

I would not recommend anything less than 950 COLD Cranking Amps (CCA) for a fishing application with this engine. That battery really is not going to cut it if you have ANY accessories or graphs in the boat.

[NorCa]

Well it’s worse case scenario for me, piston blew up. Thanks for all the responses I guess I’ll be back to kayak fishing.

[JOE54]

which cyl ?????? #6 bet

[NorCa]

Correct, #6... how’d you know ? The shop quoted me around 7k to fix. Not ideal since I’ve only had the boat a week and haven’t had a successful trip on the water yet haha.

[JOE54]

ohhhh just because i was born with special intergalactic reseptors that can see some failures on 3.0L MERCURY engines from a galaxy far far away ....... man really thats #1 cyl failures i see on these mtrs and i work on alot awhole lot of pxs engines , and im not trying to make lite of a bad situation i feel yo pain ,seen it most every day for over 35 years

[NorCa]

At 160 hours mine has to be some sort of record low amount of use for type of failure right? I’m pretty much stuck having to fix the thing I can’t do much else with it. Is a new power head the right move ?

[JOE54]

no sir seen many with less than 100 , lowest was 25 #6 failed jerked rod out wiped out block (hoe in it) cause thremostst stuck open -both with wood pieces/ well finances may dictate right move rebuild ,reman , or dressed , i do not rebuild optimaxs i do it the best i feel way with a dressed powerhead with a 2 year extended product protection plan from MERCURY cost lil more but its worth it , good luck sir JOE

[SilverFox579]

Cold seize most likely from a stuck thermostat as Joe mentioned or possibly from accelerating in cold water before coolant temp reached at least 120°.

[JOE54]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ exactly ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[NorCa]

Well I feel better that I’m not alone in this boat haha. I’m going with a new power head which is a couple weeks out and hope to be up and running in a month - minus 7k outa pocket. Im going to have PTSD once I’m back on the water feeling like this could just happen again but I’ll have a warranty this time so it is what it is at this point. Thanks everyone for the responses.

[apdriver]

I feel for you. Don’t go buy any lottery tickets cause you are mighty unlucky! Sorry for your misfortune. Since you indicated you are new to this bass boat and merc thing, you definitely need to read this before you go out with your rebuilt motor. There will be a break in too on that new rebuild.

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=25829