Never-ending Verado Issues...

[flatwater]

This is going to be a longer post but please bear with me, I want to describe in detail everything that the engine is doing in case anyone can help me… I have already been to 3 different shops and spent a few thousand and the issue hasn’t been fixed, everyone wants to charge me over 5k to fix with no guarantee of it working.

If anyone is in the Tampa Bay area and thinks they can help out I wouldn't be opposed to buying a case of your drink of choice and offering a cash reward haha 

Engine: 2006 Mercury Verado 250 with 400 hrs
Bay Boat with 2 stations (DTS - upper and lower)

Symptoms:

1. Sometimes when I get ready to turn the key to start the boat I get long beeps and it wont turn over and “CHECK ENGINE - FAULT THROTTLE” appears on the smart craft gauges. Turn the key off wait a minute or two and then it fires up. 
Video below of it showing this error.

2. At any time while accelerating or running my RPMs cut out causing your head to get jerked forward and “CHECK ENGINE - FAULT LEVER 1” appears

3. While running the RPMs drop sporadically for a split second and my gauges beep and the tilt trim show . This error occurs ALL THE TIME and its driving me nuts.  

Video below showing this error.. I know it’s a bad video but you can see the rpms drop and I tried to show the screen its showing when it beeps:

4. After making a short (under  5 min) I bring the boat back to idle and put it in Neutral and the engine just shuts off. 

5. Smartcraft Gauges randomly shut off or the text is distorted and pixilated.

As I said before I have had the boat in 3 different shops and no one can seem to figure it out. They have tried fixing some DTS connections, plugged it into their computers and nothing.. The last shop quoted me over 5k to replace the upper and lower controls and DTS harness. Im sick and tired of pouring money into this engine and still have the same problem. 

[Capt. Troy]

Just a guess but the Verados I have been around are very sensitive to voltage issues. I would suspect the harness. Just delivered a Mako Bay boat about the age of yours 2 days ago. Had some chezzy wiring to say the least. Some crazy things like the trim not working unless the key is on and once when I hit the trim button it felt like I hit the key switch to off and then all normal. Every time any device with a load was used the engine would do crazy stuff. Could have well been a bad ground and that will mess any motor up but voltage showed perfect.. I was not gonna look as I just wanted my butt off of this rig ASAP and not floating around in 95 degree heat.

Wait for it now.

 

 

Should have bought a Yamaha.

[flatwater]

5 minutes ago, Capt. Troy said:

Just a guess but the Verados I have been around are very sensitive to voltage issues. I would suspect the harness. Just delivered a Mako Bay boat about the age of yours 2 days ago. Had some chezzy wiring to say the least. Some crazy things like the trim not working unless the key is on and once when I hit the trim button it felt like I hit the key switch to off and then all normal. Every time any device with a load was used the engine would do crazy stuff. Could have well been a bad ground and that will mess any motor up but voltage showed perfect.. I was not gonna look as I just wanted my butt off of this rig ASAP and not floating around in 95 degree heat.

Wait for it now.

 

 

Should have bought a Yamaha.

Sounds like my Verado 

 

Putting a new Tilt/Trim Sending unit on it right now and then going to clean all connections on the battery and run again tonight. 

Was pricing out putting a 250 Yamaha on it last night.. Either direction I go its going to hurt the old wallet lol

[redzone1]

Get rid of it and move on to a grey motor as soon as possible!  I've been down the mercury road a few times......bought 2 powerheads, countless injectors, electrical gremlins....it was never ending.  Maybe you and I had the only lemons, but I doubt it.  Go over to BBCBoards.com for the bass guys and read for hours on all the merc problems.  Sometimes misery needs a little company.  Sorry about your troubles.  Our time on the water is limited and we shouldn't have to deal with problems when we finally get there.  GO YAMAHA!!!!!!!

[hurricane]

My first thought would be to disconnect one throttle at a time from the system,run and it and see what happens. Might need a shorting plug or something to terminate the buss, when one throttle is disconnected.  I don't have any Merc knowledge, but if I come across anything I'll pass it along. 

Have you googled it, seems like it might be pretty common.

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/850893-mercury-fault-lever-1-error-update-still-having-issues.html#b

http://www.veradoclub.com/index.php?topic=8308.0

I like Yuengling, good luck doesn't sound fun!

 

[HewesYourDaddy]

Once you get it figured out, I suggest staying with the Vrod.  Sounds like an voltage or connection issue to me.   We all know that engine is bullet proof. Merc haters will always be Merc haters, but there's a reason why people are getting rid of their Yamacrap on bigger boats and repowering with the Verados or Suzuki. Don't get me wrong.... I'll take a Yamaha 2 stroke all day. I shake my head and laugh at all of the problems the 4 stroke owners have, yet they can't seem to get over their Yamaha pride.  Two of my very good friends have had issues with their 150hp Yamaha princesses, and then there's the big block fly wheel issues that Yamaha has no fix for.  Let the arguing begin......:)

[ififish]

Highly recommend Tom Reitan at Marine Supply and his team of mechanics. They are merc and yam certified, plus mechanics not parts changers. Sounds like a harness/ground issue. Could take a long tedious time to diagnose wiring.

[mustang190]

X2 with Hurricane. Isolate the different stations and controls. I would even isolate the gauges(may have to put a jumper wire in the harness) and look at the wiring schematic for grounds. My money is on a grounding issue or a faulty sensor. By the way, a good mechanic should know this. I'm tired of hearing them say "well we hooked the computer up and found nothing", thats BS most troubleshooting requires old fashioned meters and jumper wires.

[johnd]

I'm not an expert, however my neighbor is.  General comment: 05 & 06 had numerous recalls and recommended upgrades.  Specifically replacing the wiring harness to start with.  There's a handful of other electrical components that changed as well.  There was also recall on lower unit parts.  Good Merc shop should have the list of items & recommendations.

[mminassian]

Give Mike Culhane at First Choice Marine down in St Petersburg a call. These guys practically only work on Mercury's with a few yamahas thrown in the mix. They have two locations, a satellite location at logger head marina and their main location at 2509 24th Ave N. phone number 727-322-6003. Tell him Matt M sent you but fair warning I was just there today and he's got boats stacked in every which way in his yard. He barely had room to store my trailer over night for me, so I am not sure how far out in advance he is scheduled but he's totally worth the wait. They charge a fair price and they do excellent work and both the owners Mike and Dan know Mercury's like crazy. Worth a shot if you don't feel like tracing it yourself. That electrical stuff I don't even attempt to touch anymore so wish I could be more help!!

[flatwater]

On 8/15/2017 at 1:08 AM, mminassian said:

Give Mike Culhane at First Choice Marine down in St Petersburg a call. These guys practically only work on Mercury's with a few yamahas thrown in the mix. They have two locations, a satellite location at logger head marina and their main location at 2509 24th Ave N. phone number 727-322-6003. Tell him Matt M sent you but fair warning I was just there today and he's got boats stacked in every which way in his yard. He barely had room to store my trailer over night for me, so I am not sure how far out in advance he is scheduled but he's totally worth the wait. They charge a fair price and they do excellent work and both the owners Mike and Dan know Mercury's like crazy. Worth a shot if you don't feel like tracing it yourself. That electrical stuff I don't even attempt to touch anymore so wish I could be more help!!

Taking it in there today!

[Jaksparrow]

Hey flatwater, it’s a long time ago but did you get this issue sorted? I just bought a boat same engine and it’s doing the same thing! 

[J.N]

Sounds like bad wiring. I thought the Verado's were considered gems from all the positive feed back I've seen?

[flatwater]

On 6/8/2019 at 9:34 AM, Jaksparrow said:

Hey flatwater, it’s a long time ago but did you get this issue sorted? I just bought a boat same engine and it’s doing the same thing! 

Yep I replaced the wiring harness for the DTS and ignition switch. I’m pretty sure it was a bad ground wire. Ended up only being a few hundred bucks. 

Since then this verado has been absolutely flawless!! 

[Wanaflatsfish]

On 8/11/2017 at 2:32 PM, flatwater said:

As I said before I have had the boat in 3 different shops and no one can seem to figure it out. They have tried fixing some DTS connections, plugged it into their computers and nothing.. The last shop quoted me over 5k to replace the upper and lower controls and DTS harness. Im sick and tired of pouring money into this engine and still have the same problem. 

HAVE YOU CALLED BRUNSWICK, THE OWNERS OF MERCURY / VERADO?

This would now be my first call...as stated, you've had numerous $$$ spent on this and they should be able to provide direction and or a reasonable solution.

Sounds like the quote was to just make the situation "go away" with new....but, not without understanding the underlying issues that are causing it?

DC

[flatwater]

3 hours ago, Wanaflatsfish said:

HAVE YOU CALLED BRUNSWICK, THE OWNERS OF MERCURY / VERADO?

This would now be my first call...as stated, you've had numerous $$$ spent on this and they should be able to provide direction and or a reasonable solution.

Sounds like the quote was to just make the situation "go away" with new....but, not without understanding the underlying issues that are causing it?

DC

Check out my previous post. The issue was resolved 2 years ago by First Choice Marine in st Pete 

[Wanaflatsfish]

3 hours ago, flatwater said:

Check out my previous post. The issue was resolved 2 years ago by First Choice Marine in st Pete 

completely missed the date....glad things worked out for you....didn't realize it was a two year old post.

 

dc

[jbonfils]

On 6/9/2019 at 8:15 PM, flatwater said:

Check out my previous post. The issue was resolved 2 years ago by First Choice Marine in st Pete 

Did they just replace the DTS harness under the console? Or did they also replace the control cables back to the motors?

[strictly marine]

On 8/12/2017 at 9:10 AM, mustang190 said:

X2 with Hurricane. Isolate the different stations and controls. I would even isolate the gauges(may have to put a jumper wire in the harness) and look at the wiring schematic for grounds. My money is on a grounding issue or a faulty sensor. By the way, a good mechanic should know this. I'm tired of hearing them say "well we hooked the computer up and found nothing", thats BS most troubleshooting requires old fashioned meters and jumper wires.

That's the best answer I've heard here