Vessel View Engine Reading

TonyA

Is the bottom reading the pressure of the water going past the impeller and if so with the port engine reading at 4.3 I assume it should be replaced.

YYZRC

If it’s the same as mine it is the pressure sensor in the power steering cooler. Apparently they are notorious for failing and expensive for OEM replacements. 

Not sure they add any value and from what I read on other forums the motor won’t limp unless it doesn’t read at all. 

LaRea

Yes, I'd take a look at that impeller.  

YYZRC

What are the readings at idle?

If your impellers were replaced recently, it is much easier to swap sensors port to starboard before tackling the impeller. 

Dream_Inn

yes, that is a little low for those RPMs.  I would definitely replace the impeller first.

TonyA

So that is the water pressure reading of the water running through the risers?

Dream_Inn

It is the pressure of the raw water going thru your engine.  I'm not exactly sure where it is taken, but it is the same water that goes thru your risers.  If it is low, then the first place to start is your raw water impeller.

davidbrooks

I agree with you guys that the pressure is indicative of a bad impeller but i am curious why the temp is exactly the same as the other engine.  It would seem to me that low water flow would also equate to higher temps unless the water flow was fine and the sensor was bad.  Personally i would start out by swapping port and starboard engine water sensors to see if the reading follows the sensor.  It is a whole lot easier to do than an impeller replacement.

aero3113

It could definitely just be the sensor since the temps are the same.

Spyderweb

I discovered similar problem to @TonyA just last night.  Added water pressure reading to my VVM display during the day.  Started motor to head back to marina and port was 10 and starboard was 0.5 at 600 rpm.  Idling out of anchorage at 1200 starboard rose to 3.0.  On plane around 3800 port was ~20 and starboard ~9-10.  Temps were 154 port and 156 starboard as it’s always been since hooking up VVM last fall.  Both impellers were replaced beginning of 2018 season, and pump was replaced on starboard at same time.

What does sensor look like, where is it, and how easy is it to change?

YYZRC

The sensor is in the starboard end of the power steering cooler which is at the very back of the engine. You need to lay on the engine to get at it. You might need to push some of the wire loom out of the way. 5 minute job to swap. You need an open ended wrench (I think I used an adjustable as it’s a large hex). Don’t overtighten. 

YYZRC

Spyderweb said:

I discovered similar problem to @TonyA just last night.  Added water pressure reading to my VVM display during the day.  Started motor to head back to marina and port was 10 and starboard was 0.5 at 600 rpm.  Idling out of anchorage at 1200 starboard rose to 3.0.  On plane around 3800 port was ~20 and starboard ~9-10.  Temps were 154 port and 156 starboard as it’s always been since hooking up VVM last fall.

I had very similar readings. Swapped sensors and the readings followed. Barfed at the price of an OEM sensor so I bought two aftermarket sensors on Amazon. Installed them and they didn’t work. Then I used compressed air and blew out the original sensors and reinstalled them - now they seem to work ok!

Ian

I'll try that @YYZRC, maybe that's my issue also.

LaRea

@TonyA in that photo, were you just getting on plane from idle?  That might explain why there's no difference between the engine temps.  

TonyA

No just cruising. Both engines are always the same temp no mater what but the port engine pressure is always lower. If anyone has a pic of what the sensor looks like can you post it. I’ll try changing it over.

YYZRC

TonyA

thank you

Spyderweb

Checked out water pressure sensor this weekend.  Tried to blow out “bad” sensor and it still gave low readings.  Swapped sides with them and low reading followed the sensor.  Bad sensor.

Now here’s the thing.  Stamped on the bad sensor is J1207 881879-10 and on the good sensor is J1107 881879-10.  Why the difference?  Which part # should I order?  And where’s a good place to order the OEM part from?

Spyderweb

Got new water pressure sensor (OEM) and installed this morning.  Still get a low reading.  This is after I had swapped sensors earlier and the low reading followed the sensor.  Now what?

YYZRC

I would return the sensor and live with it. It doesn’t impact drivability. 

aero3113

Bad sensor from stock? Maybe swap again and see what happens.

Spyderweb

@aero3113, yes I’ll probably swap again, but pretty sure I’ll get same result.  It’s things like this that I find so frustrating about boats in my 34 years of experience.  So much of them are so complicated (and expensive) even trained mechanics can struggle with diagnosing and fixing certain issues.  And then you get a problem your able to diagnose yourself, able to actually access and replace the faulty part yourself (great satisfaction in that), and then that new part (even OEM) is faulty.  Just ranting.  I’m out of commission for another issue right now.

Ian

icoultha said:

I'll try that @YYZRC, maybe that's my issue also.

So finally remembered to blow out old sensor with air and then got around to testing. Confirmed zero on new sensor, dropped in old one now blown out and lo and behold - I have readings.  Tossed the new one as its useless it seems.

Spyderweb

@icoultha so by "blow out old sensor", are you just taking compressed air and blowing several quick bursts, or 1 big solid blast for a minute, or what? 

Ian

Just a few burst. It’s a very small orifice so anything small in there will affect it. Didn’t see anything come out but now I have readings other than 0. 

Spyderweb

Ok.  Are they accurate readings?  My bad one reads 0.5 while the good one reads 10 at startup.  At ~3800 my bad is ~10 and my good is ~20.  And that’s pretty much for old bad and brand new bad.

Ian

Yeah, my corrective action was short lived, it seemed to degrade again and is all over the place. I don’t have that high on my good port, at idle it was around high 1’s, if I recall 10’s or so at higher revs, initially starboard was similar but now is very different. I will have to get another sensor I think for the starboard

Spyderweb

Does anyone know what “normal” readings are for various rpm’s on 350 mag?

YYZRC

I believe mine read around 19psi at 4000 RPMs and single digits at idle.

I'm curious why you guys are throwing money at this notoriously unreliable sensor, especially when prior to VV mobile you wouldn't have had the data anyway.

Ian

No one is throwing money at it - maybe in C$ it appears so. The sensor I bought was $15, no wallet buster. I just like to have working right what I can see and that’s available to see. Was handy when we sucked some mud and temps went up then back, at least on the good side I cold see decent pressure.

YYZRC

The non-OEM is cheap but for me it didn't work.  Pretty sure OEM is $100 USD.