Malibu drive-by-wire throttle issue
 

A friend of mine has a 08 Malibu, there does not appear to be any way to rev the motor while in neutral? This is a drive-by-wire boat. There is a black button on the pivot of the throttle lever. I expected I could just push it in and it would rev up in neutral. The black button didn't move. Is his throttle button jammed or is there no way to rev a drive-by-wire Malibu in neutral?

sounds like it's jammed. That would be the button to put it into neutral

That is how it works on my SAN

The original 2008 drive by wire throttle had a neutral lock out button, but there was a recall on those throttles. The replacement throttle does not have a neutral lock out button at all. It sounds like your friend has the replacement. Sucks. File this one under it is what it is.

Wow, I can't believe Malibu blew that one that bad. No way to get more than 40 amps out of the charging system without the boat being in gear, that is a really poor. No way to rev the motor without being in gear for motor diagnostic purposes... There has got to be a workaround for this poor design.

you can disconnect it, a special way :) im an Australian dealer for malibu and we disconnect it for every 08 that comes in for a service. takes 5 seconds