hesitation and slipping upon start

Hoping someone with some experience can chime in..

I have a 02 V210 and I last week I had the V-drive oil and the Trans oil changed.. today I got in the boat and noticed when we went to go pull a rider that there was alot of hesitation hickup and loss of power.. got the rider up.. boat drove smooth.. but once we went to go pickup noticed it again...

lifted up the V drive cover and noticed that the dipstick was missing... stuffed a rag in to get it to a dock.. when I got it to the dock I found the dipstick in the V drive comp and stuck it in.. it WAS on the low side of the fill.. so we took it back home..

the funny thing is once you get it going it drives smooth.. but at starts it runs horrible..

Any insight??

The V-drive won't slip if low on fluid but the Trans will. Double check your trans fluid level.

Thanks Darren..Ill check it out.. and the trans is that red dipstick right by the Vdrive? thats stupid hot?? haha

Yes the one closest to the motor on the left. If my ATF level is a bit low my trans slips as it goes into gear. It only really shows up if its cold (around 50F air temp) but once the boat has warmed up it goes away. When servicing the boat you have to over fill the trans a little because you are supposed to check the fluids when in the water and the angle of the boat is pretty different when floating compared to when on the trailer. After topping it up it is sweet as.

Sounds like it was the transmission dipstick, not the v-drive.

Top it off, and you should be fine, hopefully you didn't damage anything while running it low on fluid.

This is another reason to do your own service, not some clown who leaves the dipstick sitting in the bilge.