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Join Date: Nov 2008
04-16-2011, 10:43 PM
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Took out the VLX today, We had a great day on the water, really nice weather. The boat had .7 hours on it when I picked it up. Assuming this is from Malibu testing it.... we did have a couple of items I wanted to ask for some help on.
The first is in the Vdrive compartment/rear of boat, there is a faint whistling/annoying/high pitch sound at 30-35 mph. I dont recall what the RPM's were, but my wife and daughter noticed it immediately. Its harder to hear from the drivers seat, but you can definitely hear it from the rear seating area. I called the dealer on the water, they told me the last 10 boats they have demo'd have this noise, and people have mad a comment about it.... they sell both PCM and Indmar, and both engine makes are producing this whistling. My supra never had this, does anyone know what this might be? The motor ran strong, trans shifted perfect, no signs of trouble from an operating standpoint. The dealer said use it until the 20 hr service and if its still making the sound they will take a look at it.
Second, I had a lot of water in my bilge area, the auto bilge warning came on a few times throughout the day. After I pulled the boat there was about 2" of water in the front drain plug area, so I pulled it and drained the water. I cant believe this is normal, the only time my Supra started having water in the bilge was when the dripless shaft seal started leaking. But this was after 230 hours of use.... I was going to throw it on the fake-a-lake this week and see if I can see where it might be coming from. I am thinking maybe the dripless shaft seal could be defective or leaking? I doubt any of the thru-hulls or drain plugs would be allowing this much water to come through. I am hoping I dont have a cracked ballast tank/fitting. I was filling and draining the tanks all day. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks for any information you can pass my way
Last edited by fman; 04-16-2011 at 10:46 PM.
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Join Date: Apr 2006
04-16-2011, 11:12 PM
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The whistling noise is normal it's just the monsoon pulling horses. It's the flame arrestor (K&N filter) air intake pulling air into the engine. If it bugs you alot get the biggest air intake you can fit on there and it will minimize the whistle. Sounds kinda like a turbo, doesn' t bother me.
The water in the bilge is not normal, you should not have that kind of water in there. If you have a dripless water cooled shaft seal (which you should have ordered with the boat) you should have zero water in the bilge, if you have the regular packing gland you should have less than half that ammount of water. This is an issue for your dealer to fix for you.
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Join Date: Nov 2008
04-17-2011, 11:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 05mobiuslsv
The whistling noise is normal it's just the monsoon pulling horses. It's the flame arrestor (K&N filter) air intake pulling air into the engine. If it bugs you alot get the biggest air intake you can fit on there and it will minimize the whistle. Sounds kinda like a turbo, doesn' t bother me.
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This is exactly the noise, do you have any pics of a larger intake/filter? or where I might pick one up?
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Join Date: Nov 2008
04-17-2011, 1:08 AM
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First few times I put my Supra in the water I had a bunch of water in the bilge too. Turns out Skier's Choice bumped a PLASTIC fitting when it was rigged on the exhaust manifold and it was barely cracked. By the time I found it, it had gotten worse and finally broke. Start the boat on the trailer, in the water, on the ramp. Let it run for at least 10 minutes and start looking for leaks.
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Join Date: Dec 2009
04-17-2011, 10:36 AM
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you can shim or bend the air flame arrestor just a little while you are moving, i have had it on 2 of my boats and you can stop it. hope this helps
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Join Date: Nov 2008
04-17-2011, 11:41 AM
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First off, thanks for all the feedback....
I believe I have located the water leakage. Ran the fake-a-lake this morning, got the motor to normal operating temp, and put it in gear, everything was bone dry.... dripless shaft seal looked great, no leakage coming from anywhere on motor area. Then I noticed a steady stream of water coming from ski locker area.... Hot water shower head was left ON from factory. I never used it on the lake, but it was putting out quite a bit of water at idle... I can only imagine it would get worse the more RPMs the engine is turning.
So hopefully this was the problem, will confirm it next time out.... just glad I dont have to have the shaft seal replaced.
And the flame arrestor I will tackle this next. I did notice on the VLX there is a slight gap inbetween the center cushion and vdrive compartment area, which will allow engine noise to come through. I might add a strip of plastic to cover it up with some insulation on it. Also might insulate the bottom of the plastic tray to help absorb any engine compartment noises.
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Join Date: May 2009
04-17-2011, 3:18 PM
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Yep like Nu Bu said the whistling is from the air intake. I hear it all the time on our boat. I actually like the way it sounds.
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Join Date: Mar 2002
04-17-2011, 4:08 PM
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I love the whistle!
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Join Date: Nov 2008
04-17-2011, 4:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bruizza
Yep like Nu Bu said the whistling is from the air intake. I hear it all the time on our boat. I actually like the way it sounds.
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When it bothers my wife, then I have to take care of it. As I have told her before, all I ask is for 100+ hours a year on the boat.... anything that can take this away must be taken care of
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Join Date: Aug 2008
04-17-2011, 9:24 PM
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We love the sound too... everyone always asks if it's a turbo or something like that.
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Join Date: Oct 2007
04-18-2011, 4:42 AM
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Glad to hear the whistling sound is normal. Mine does it as well. I find it kind of annoying.
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Join Date: Apr 2005
04-18-2011, 7:42 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fman
When it bothers my wife, then I have to take care of it. As I have told her before, all I ask is for 100+ hours a year on the boat.... anything that can take this away must be taken care of
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I don't think you can really take care of it, it's just part of the engine noises. THat's about the loudest noise you'll hear from the VLX, most boats are louder.
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Santa Cruz County CA
04-18-2011, 11:29 AM
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My first outing with my 2006 Malibu. I had a short list of things that needed to be fixed. The power wedge did not work properly, part of the ballast system reading on one of the tanks showed wrong level, the bimini tops was not level when up, the board racks were not level and the tower was scratch and needed to be repainted from looks like the install of the racks. It is all fixed now and I have not problems with it now in any way.
If I had the money I would still by a new Malibu today. Maybe the LSV for more room.
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Join Date: Apr 2005
04-18-2011, 2:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fullspeed
My first outing with my 2006 Malibu. I had a short list of things that needed to be fixed. The power wedge did not work properly, part of the ballast system reading on one of the tanks showed wrong level, the bimini tops was not level when up, the board racks were not level and the tower was scratch and needed to be repainted from looks like the install of the racks. It is all fixed now and I have not problems with it now in any way.
If I had the money I would still by a new Malibu today. Maybe the LSV for more room.
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I agree my next boat is an LSV
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Join Date: Jul 2002
04-18-2011, 1:59 PM
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Sounds like you've got your problems pin-pointed. I've had that whistling before, too. Never really bothered me. I wasn't sure if it was the spark arrestor or if it was just the angle that the throttle plate was sitting at in the throttle body at that load/rpm. Sealing the gap in the seats may quiet it to the acceptable point. Otherwise, you could run it with the spark arrestor off and see if the noise is still there.
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Join Date: Apr 2006
04-18-2011, 2:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guido
Sounds like you've got your problems pin-pointed. I've had that whistling before, too. Never really bothered me. I wasn't sure if it was the spark arrestor or if it was just the angle that the throttle plate was sitting at in the throttle body at that load/rpm. Sealing the gap in the seats may quiet it to the acceptable point. Otherwise, you could run it with the spark arrestor off and see if the noise is still there.
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That would be one expensive lesson if something got sucked in the motor while running around with the air filter off the engine.
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