2000 x-star problems

I recently bought a 2000 x-star with ~350 hours on it.

I've been having this very intermittent problem that seems electrical, but im at a loss as to what to try.

The symptoms are this:
- engine will rev without touching the throttle
- engine will cut out while accellerating
- volt/fuel guage will read 0 (even tho the voltage tests fine and the tank is full)
- rpm guage will bounce around even though the engine is staying at a constant rpm

I swapped the battery and the alternator, hoping that would fix these issues, but I still have the problems. Its quite frustrating since its a new boat to me and has not had 1 day of worry free running. Of course, the boat "never did this before" I bought it.

any suggestions?

You have mutiple problems. Revving engine is from ECM. Are all the vacuum lines attached? Are the grounds good to the gauges? Are the sending wires on the back of the gauges (including tach) tight? Is coil wiring/harness to the distributor tight? You may have to take it in to have it properly diagnosed.

Dave,

The dealer told me to check my main ground to the block, then check the wireing harness to the ecm.

I can check the grounds at all the gauges while im at it.

could you go into a little detail about the vacuum lines?

I am not a mechanic, but it sounds like an exhaust leak. I also think the gauges are unrelated to the other problems.

I doubt it's an exhausts leak. The one major symptom of exhaust leaks are that they make a ticking noise while the motor is running. That's not one of the symptoms listed. I highly doubt it's that.

I would still make sure all the sending unit wires on the back of the gauges (especially the tach) are tight. You can run a good ground from the battery with a jumper to the back of the fuel / volt gauge and see if that makes a difference. I assume it's MPI, so you should have some small vacuum hoses attach to it, so make sure they're all tight and secure.

DJ,
I like your dealers idea of a ground fault.
sounds like your gauges--engine is searching for a better ground, this can cause surging idle, flickering dash illumination lights and a whole host of other problems. disconnect your battery and remove the ground/s from the engine and clean them with a wire brush, bright clean metal makes for good grounds. don't forget simple battery connections, if you have a ton of ground wires at the battery remove and clean them. also battery + can cause same issues. fuel injected engines work with 5vdc for sensors, so you can see even a 1 volt loss/drop and you have problems
the best way to check them is with a DVOM while the boat is acting up, some simple voltage drop tests can pinpoint starting and charging / poor connections rather quickly.

hope this helps, cheers