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Old     (TC_Mastercraf_X5)      Join Date: Feb 2013       04-17-2019, 6:54 AM Reply   
To preface this story/question I am not dealer bashing as my dealer has been nothing short of fantastic on communication/working with.

So we have a 2014 Malibu MXZ that was having electronic issues last year which they initially started attempting to fix in July. This was all fine as it was covered under warranty. They tried replacing the computer units which were on back order and took forever to get. Boat has been at the dealership all winter and they have continued to work with Malibu corporate on what the issues are and how to fix them. Long story short one of the seals on the surf gate failed resulting in the hydraulic ram forcing water through a great deal of the cables/connectors in the boat. Again, they have been working with Malibu to get a solution/resolution to fix this under warranty. So I found out 2 weeks ago that the boat is going to need an entire new wiring harness; however, Malibu had discontinued the relationship with the company that makes them and had none in stock. My dealer called yesterday to give me an update that Malibu was able to agree get the company to make another wiring harness, but it would be 8-10 weeks best case. That would get me out until mid June and we don’t even know if this wiring harness will fix all of the issues. To further the frustration being the boat is torn apart for the work it can be used at all in the time period. Here in the upper Midwest waiting until Mid June eats up a good chunk of my season. Malibu has no agreement/plans on doing a loaner while I am stranded due to a warranty repair on their end. Is it normal for the boat companys to stick it to their clients like this? Blows my mind that I can buy an F150 and if it has a warranty issue I get a loaner vehicle for as long as its being worked on, but you buy some that is 3x as much and you are left out in the cold.

Again, my dealer has been very understanding and great to work with. They are stuck in a bad spot on this deal too and are equally frustrated.
Old     (Koolaid)      Join Date: Feb 2018       04-17-2019, 9:18 AM Reply   
It's a tough one, I understand it. It's always tough when people compare boats to vehicles. Its all about economies of scale. Malibu i bet sold about 4,000 boats last year. Ford sold 909,000 trucks last year. There is a reason the boat is three times the price. Plus its built by humans and not robots.

With that said, talk to Malibu about making you an offer on your boat and getting you into a 2019. Try to make it a win win situation for both sides. They can give you a heck of a deal or high trade in and can fix your boat at a later date without an upset customer. Gets you into a boat faster, they sell another boat, everyone is happy. Just a thought.
Old     (Xbigpun66)      Join Date: Aug 2016       04-17-2019, 2:50 PM Reply   
Can you get a used harness from a salvage boat?
Old     (scottb7)      Join Date: Oct 2012       04-17-2019, 5:46 PM Reply   
Great idea, just trade up for a 2019.
Old     (tre)      Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: WI       04-18-2019, 6:17 AM Reply   
All Great ideas above. Go those routes. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if they said 8-10 weeks "best case", I'd figure 12 to 14 weeks. that puts you in mid July before the harness arrives. However, you dealer is going to need weeks to fix it which puts you into August. At that point, you hope they fixed the problems. You are pretty much looking at missing the whole season. Heck, even if they make 10 weeks, that will put you into July by the time the harness arrives and mid to late July by the time the dealer fixes it. Why did it take all winter to figure out the wiring harness needed to be replaced? Seems like this should have been taken care of a while ago.
Old     (TC_Mastercraf_X5)      Join Date: Feb 2013       04-18-2019, 7:54 AM Reply   
Originally they though ti was the two computer monitor/systems that were causing the issues and those were back ordered. Then from there apparently they were testing connectors and kept finding more and more issues... I agree hypothetically it should have been diagnosis and figured out in the last 4 months, but to the dealers credit they have been moving/tinkering on it since they started tearing it apart back in December.

If you guys can sell my wife on a 2019 I am fully on board!
Old     (antoddio)      Join Date: Dec 2006       04-19-2019, 7:29 AM Reply   
How does being exposed to water completely destroy a wiring harness? The wires themselves are not exposed and maybe the connectors at the end would just need to be cleaned up. And even if the connector at the end was totally destroyed, a replacement could prob be found from Molex or somewhere via a little bit of googling. Cripe, if you pull the old one, lay it out, it wouldn't be that bad for someone to just copy it.
Old     (CALIV210)      Join Date: Jun 2015       04-19-2019, 8:48 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by antoddio View Post
How does being exposed to water completely destroy a wiring harness? The wires themselves are not exposed and maybe the connectors at the end would just need to be cleaned up. And even if the connector at the end was totally destroyed, a replacement could prob be found from Molex or somewhere via a little bit of googling. Cripe, if you pull the old one, lay it out, it wouldn't be that bad for someone to just copy it.
100 percent agree !!! No way the whole harness is shot unless they fried it some how and arent being honest . Seems more like they are chasing their tail. I don't know if its the dealer or Malibu . I know the dealer has been nice . But so is a guy bangin your wife while your at work .
Old     (buffalow)      Join Date: Apr 2002       04-19-2019, 9:26 AM Reply   
I would bet the 2016-2019 wiring harnesses are very similar. Wonder if a newer one could be used in the mean time and handle the important things or be modified. I agree with the boys, unless there was a fire I find it hard to believe the whole harness is shot on a 4 year old boat. I think I would ask for the harness, go home and clean out each connection and then ohm each wire out yourself and see what happens. Worst case you lose a saturday and best case you find a bad wire or no bad wires and can PROVE that there is not an issue with the harness.I had lots of issues with a 1996 Tige when i bought it new, they eventually got lemon lawed, but the dealer did everything they could. Ultimately I pulled the harness, went through wires and found two wires crossed at the factory in the harness that made everything go nuts. Fixed it, put it in and was back on the water in two weeks once it was all back togther. Since your dealer is awesome they may have you upgrade to an '18 or '19, but they have minimal upside to help in this situation since it will likely just cost them money.

Good luck!
Old     (gregtay)      Join Date: Aug 2008       04-19-2019, 11:06 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by TC_Mastercraf_X5 View Post
To preface this story/question I am not dealer bashing as my dealer has been nothing short of fantastic on communication/working with.

So we have a 2014 Malibu MXZ that was having electronic issues last year which they initially started attempting to fix in July. This was all fine as it was covered under warranty. They tried replacing the computer units which were on back order and took forever to get. Boat has been at the dealership all winter and they have continued to work with Malibu corporate on what the issues are and how to fix them. Long story short one of the seals on the surf gate failed resulting in the hydraulic ram forcing water through a great deal of the cables/connectors in the boat. Again, they have been working with Malibu to get a solution/resolution to fix this under warranty. So I found out 2 weeks ago that the boat is going to need an entire new wiring harness; however, Malibu had discontinued the relationship with the company that makes them and had none in stock. My dealer called yesterday to give me an update that Malibu was able to agree get the company to make another wiring harness, but it would be 8-10 weeks best case. That would get me out until mid June and we don’t even know if this wiring harness will fix all of the issues. To further the frustration being the boat is torn apart for the work it can be used at all in the time period. Here in the upper Midwest waiting until Mid June eats up a good chunk of my season. Malibu has no agreement/plans on doing a loaner while I am stranded due to a warranty repair on their end. Is it normal for the boat companys to stick it to their clients like this? Blows my mind that I can buy an F150 and if it has a warranty issue I get a loaner vehicle for as long as its being worked on, but you buy some that is 3x as much and you are left out in the cold.

Again, my dealer has been very understanding and great to work with. They are stuck in a bad spot on this deal too and are equally frustrated.
I get that you are bummed about the downtime but it sounds like you are actually winning in this case. Im not sure what more you want Malibu to do, they somehow managed (I am sure it wasn't cheap for them) to convince a previous vendor to manufacture a 1-off wiring harness for you so that your boat can once again be perfect. If Malibu said "sorry, can't help ya" then you would be able to state "warranty disaster." In your case the dealer has done their work to troubleshoot the issue and Malibu stepped up to solve the issue for you. Seems like pretty good customer service all the way around on your dealers part and on Malibu's part.
Old     (CALIV210)      Join Date: Jun 2015       04-19-2019, 12:55 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregtay View Post
I get that you are bummed about the downtime but it sounds like you are actually winning in this case. Im not sure what more you want Malibu to do, they somehow managed (I am sure it wasn't cheap for them) to convince a previous vendor to manufacture a 1-off wiring harness for you so that your boat can once again be perfect. If Malibu said "sorry, can't help ya" then you would be able to state "warranty disaster." In your case the dealer has done their work to troubleshoot the issue and Malibu stepped up to solve the issue for you. Seems like pretty good customer service all the way around on your dealers part and on Malibu's part.
I disagree I think when a company sells a 100k boat they should keep a decent amount of replacement parts for said boat especially factory only replacement parts parts for a minimum of 10 years .
Old     (antoddio)      Join Date: Dec 2006       04-19-2019, 1:46 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by CALIV210 View Post
I disagree I think when a company sells a 100k boat they should keep a decent amount of replacement parts for said boat especially factory only replacement parts parts for a minimum of 10 years .
Right this is a expensive boat with a company concerned about reputation, not a lawnmower off of amazon. You might need to get your hands dirty a little and test out those harnesses. A novice mechanic with a multimeter should be able to pinpoint the issue in a few hours. However no one seems to really diagnose problems anymore, they just throw parts at it until it starts working.
Old     (gregtay)      Join Date: Aug 2008       04-19-2019, 4:31 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by CALIV210 View Post
I disagree I think when a company sells a 100k boat they should keep a decent amount of replacement parts for said boat especially factory only replacement parts parts for a minimum of 10 years .
If I had to guess they did have harnesses on hand (enough that would have covered the normal warentty requests) when they terminated the relationship with the vendor. Then they had far more issues related to harnesses (maybe because of defective actuators from another vendor or they just had a high rate of failure (which woudl explain why the terminated the relationship.) Malibu ended up giving out all the extras they had in stock and now they need to get one made. The whole thing sucks.. no question (and lack of speciality parts availability is why I finally sold my 11 year old boat this year and purchased a new one.) I certtainly wouldn't be happy if I were in the OPs position.

The point of my post is... what does the OP want? He posted here and on TMC on the issue. The situation is what it is and Malibu agreed to get him a new cable as fast as the can make it happen (which is going to take some time.) Does he expect them to give him a new boat instead? He clearly posted because he "wants Malibu to read it and he wants something from Malibu", I am just not sure what he wants them to do. They didn't deny his warrenty claim and they seem to have been helping his dealer get to the bottom of the issue.
Old     (nick213)      Join Date: Jul 2013       04-19-2019, 4:33 PM Reply   
I have my opinions on Malibu boats some good some bad. In this situation with any brand, a 100k+ boat STILL under its warranty the manufacturer should have every part for that boat readily available and shipped in a timely fashion.
Old     (gregtay)      Join Date: Aug 2008       04-19-2019, 5:26 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by nick213 View Post
I have my opinions on Malibu boats some good some bad. In this situation with any brand, a 100k+ boat STILL under its warranty the manufacturer should have every part for that boat readily available and shipped in a timely fashion.
To be clear I completely agree with you.. especially when malibu makes and ships so many boats they should have the parts(maybe they have gotten too big for their own good.) But I have been in the same situation with $100+ cars that were parked for 6+ weeks waiting for someone in Europe to make more of the part I needed (and I couldn’t believe there wasn’t one in stock somewhere in the world.). Malibu should have had the part in stock, but they didn’t. They can’t make one magically appear. Hopefully Malibu finds a way to make the OP happy.
Old     (mckeddie77)      Join Date: Nov 2018       04-20-2019, 7:08 AM Reply   
If I spent that much on a new boat under warranty, and it's been down this long, and still going to be down that much longer, I'd be hard pressed not to expect a loaner at some point. I wouldn't care if it's an older used model, as long as it got me on the water. Especially if you're still paying a boat
Payment and a mortgage and up keep on a lake house w no boat.

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