Help...Engine Problem..

2002 X-star, 310 HP TBI motor. 500 Hours.
Was out today. Filled ballast, pulled a rider, no problems. Sat for a while as a rain storm came through than went again. Pulled rider up, just as we were getting to speed. The engine made 3 or four popping sounds like it was missing or backfiring. Boat lost power engine light and alarm came on and I shut it down. Temp, volt and oil pressure was all good. Oil looks good and at normal level. Full tank of gas. Nothing in the engine got wet from the rain that I could see. No fluids in the bilge. Boat wouldn't start back up. Sat for 10 minutes, boat started up and idled normal. When I got over 5-7 mph it would start missing and popping again and have no power. Idled to the dock. Dropped riders off, boat wouldn't start again. Let it sit for 10 minutes, it started back up and I ran it at 5-7 mph for the mile or so ride to the launch. A couple more times I tried getting going a little faster and it had no power and sputtered, missed, popped. Any ideas? Thanks.

Distributor come loose?

I had an '05 X-2 with the MCX that did the exact same thing. I found that the bolt that clamps the distributor in place came loose and the distributor kept turning on it's own. Went to the store and got a stainless lock washer, re-timed the motor, and problem solved! Hope this helps

Will have to check the distributor. Like I said, it runs great in neutral at idle and as long as you aren't going over 5-7mph, but once you try to get up to speed it misses/hesitates/pops. I did put it in neutral and reved it up once and it didn't seem to miss then, just when in gear and tring to get underway.
One other thing, about 2 weeks ago while pulling up a rider the boat just seemed to not have power, but I didn't hear any of this missing/popping sound. No alarm or light came on. I just shut the boat down, checked engine over which seemed fine, then started it back up and it ran great for the next 10-15 hours up until yesterday when it died. Was hoping that was just a fluke due to weeds on the prop or something, but maybe it's linked to my current problem?

Thing is too much advance will cause an engine to pop, backfire ect...... It will also cause and engine not to start when its hot. The reason it didnt happen when it was in nuetral is prolly because you had no load on the motor. Thats pretty much what it sounds like to me. If your motor is carborated id also check your power valves when you do get it running again.

(Message edited by bkoz on July 27, 2009)

Distributor isn't loose. checked that tonight. Don't understand how the motor could go from running great (for 3 seasons) then the next instant lose power start backfiring and be out of time? How does that happen that fast. Like I said, the distributor is not loose. It was completely tight. There was also a red painted mark on the distributor and engine that lined up. Someone, maybe the manufacturer put that on there? I did pull all the plugs and 3 or 4 of them were soaked with gas and the others looked good. Thinking of changing plugs and wires and seeing if that makes a difference. Any other ideas?

quick update if anyone's interested. Took the boat to the dealer. No codes stored. They ran it for a bit and said it ran fine. Maybe bad gas or something? Took it home, went to the lake and after 10 minutes it lost power completely and shut down. Took it back to the dealer. They rode it for a half hour and it ran great. Then it backfired, they lost power, and it shut down. They were stalled for a while but got it started. Idled in. Changed the fuel pump and test rode it again with the same problem. They are still trouble shooting it now. Not sure where the problem is.

Limp mode
Check the ground

shouldn't it start when it is in limp mode? And wouldn't it throw a code too? They said no codes stored. Someone else mentioned a loose ground too though?

Dealer replaced the Distributor Cap and rotor and the Ignition Control Module replaced. Total of about $800 in parts and labor. Ran the boat. It ran great for a little over two hours, now the same problem. Sucks. Season is short enough the way it is.

That does suck!! Really sounds like ignition/distributor problem though. Did they check the coil?

I had a similar problem last week. apparently there's an oil somethingsensor that went bananaz.made the boat go in limp mode and it felt like stalling all the time

they said it isn't going in limp mode. No codes are thrown. He said when the boat wouldn't start, it had good fuel pressure but no spark AND the injectors weren't shooting fuel. Again, it's intermittent. Can run good for over an hour then bang, loses power and dies. Or it could run for 10-15 minutes great, then start missing and losing power. If it matters, the last time out it just lost power, no backfire this time. It didn't die. I just shut it down turned it on and it ran great back to the landing......

Just got my boat back for the fourth time. Haven't ran it yet but they said they did for two hours after replacing the COIL and it ran fine. I will run it hard this weekend and give it a good test. Good call Byron.

good luck, keep your fingers crossed. I know how it feels our season is short also!

I would have said Fuel Pump, but guess not. Thats a tough one...

SO??? Whats the deal, did you get out? Hope the coil was the problem and your good to go.

I ran it for only about 7 hours now and so far so good. I hate the feeling of wanting to stay close to the boat landing..just in case. But it seems to be running fine. Must have been the coil.

Glad to here that. Hope the rest of your season is trouble free.