'11 LSV, center ballast pump only working intermittantly
 

boat has seperate jabsco reversable pumps for each sack.
started almost two weeks ago, the center/ski locker pump after a day of riding id go to drain, and it would drain part then stop. or not start at all. or run for 2-10 seconds then stop. but if you would wait 2-10 minutes it would work fine and drain.

following trips it got more frequent. again end of the day draining. wouldnt work at all (light on switch would be on though), but if youd wait a bit it would work. last time out it wouldnt drain even after waiting. well i gave up and headed back to dock, then while waiting on the trailer, hit the drain switch and it worked.

well today, go out and at the begining this time, tryed to fill. it wouldnt come on. tried several times threwout the night never would come on. once maybe for 1 second, then quit.

any ideas? without it going out completely its gonna be really hard to diagnose.

Check all your connections? Loose fuse? Sounds like an intermittent short going on.... I would look for a loose wire or a fuse that is not fully seated into the block. You can also use a 12v wire tester to see if you are getting constant power when you turn on pump. If you get constant power then I would say its a faulty pump and switch it out. If it still reads intermittent power then I am betting on a faulty connection.

You might want to open up and check your impeller as maybe it has some sand or dirt in it. Also make sure all the vanes are ok.

^^^ I second packrat - If you have the standard black or yellow impellers, this is common with the Jabscos. They can stick in place while your pump makes no sound, and I found you could get the pump to work intermittently by quickly switching it back and forth between fill and empty when you were in a jam with a full tank/sack.

I recommend upgrading to the green impellers, as they get the best reviews and fixed similar issues you mentioned above with my old boat.

2010 should have come with the green impeller but do check it out first. Might also be the timer. I have had them go bad which created issues similar to what you are having. I am banking on the impeller though.

hmm ill be. ok i assumed mine was electrical problem. ill look into that. i did some googling and couldnt find out if they came stock with green impellers or not.
any other ideas/suggestions?

ok a little update. followed the hose and figured out where the pumps were, then after forever FINALLY figured out how to remove the screwless cover panel and found the pumps.
unfortunatly of course the system was working perfectly while i was trying to diagnose. pump coming on every time.
checked voltage and of course it was getting voltage at the pump, because everythign was fine.
so while i was there i checked the impeller, it was one of the good green impellers and was in perfect condition. no wear at all.
i did notice the center/front pump was slightly louder than the rear pumps when running, but my face was right there so they all seemed pretty damn loud.

so my origonal hunch was right, its an electrical issue not a impeller issue.
im going to take my voltmeter and a jumper wire with me to the lake today. to try and diagnose if the pump quits again.

ok so we get the lake last night and the center pump wont come on, i imidiatly take the switch panel off and grab the volt meter. they have a common power and ground to all 3 switches so its real easy to see where the power comes to the panel. the weird part is the top and bottom spade tab were powered up even when the switches were off.....so i couldnt figure out how to test the switch. anyone have a wireing diagram for these ballast switches?

so i decided to check to see if the pump was getting voltage. by the time we opened the rear hatch were the pumps are and got stuff out of the way to pull the cover panel, its started working again perfectly. so didnt get to diagnose anything yet again

found this. yikes, being reversable looks like the wire is a lot more complicated. havent figured out why the toggle tabs of the switch were always powered though.
http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=7670