I need some advice. I purchased a new Triton 220LTS w/ 225 optimax in mid June. During the initial break in, the engine went into guardian mode and limited the engine to 3500 rpm. H&W Marine (Tyler, TX), who also sold me the boat, found a bad sensor on the oil tank mounted on the engine. They replaced and cleared the code. I launched the boat two days later and had the same problem within 100 yds of the ramp. The next day the boat ran fine for about 15 minutes before the same problem occured. My fourth time on the water it took about 25 minutes of running before the problem reoccured. Today makes one week that the dealer has had the boat in the shop. When they checked the engine, no codes were found. The dealer took the boat to the lake and had the same problem I was experiencing. The boats been on the water five times and has had the same problem every time.

What can I do to have the dealer put emphasis on getting this fixed? Is there a procedure that others have used? Am I screwed or can I count on Mercury making this right?

Right now, I am getting nothing but a tap dance from the dealer. No commitment on a time frame on the repair. No commitment that a mechanic is even working on it. I was told yesterday that they had a lot of boats in getting tuned up for the 4th, so the mechanic may not be working on mine.

Call Merc. We had an issue with the very first Merc we owned, and they sent a regional rep to a nearby lake and we met them there at the ramp. He ran the boat, plugged it in, looked at my dad and said, "I'll get you a new one sent out". 10 days later it arrived, the dealer swapped, and I've been straight nuts ever since.

That was in 1997, and haven't had a lick of problems.

A draper,
you definately need to call mercury. That's BS in my opinion. If i had your problem i'd be on the phone with other mercury dealers and mercury till my motor was fixed.

i wish ya the best.

A draper...here is my suggestion, I know it might be a bit if a drive, but go to north texas marine in ft worth. ask for the head tech David Green. he is the best when it comes to mercury motors. if he cant figure it out, then it can not be done.

I contacted Mercury. They seemed helpfull. Mercury contacted the dealer and then called me back with a plan of action. Mercury was perplexed that the dealer had not contacted them to assist in figuring out what was wrong. The Mercury technician was not present at the lake test as I was lead to believe and for whatever reason the dealer did not connect the computer equipement necessary to diagnose the engine's problem. So, Mercury agreed to pay for another test. The dealer wants two weeks to complete the test because of rain. Mercury pushed for tomorrow. We will see what happens.

If my problems with the dealer persist, what is the ediquette for using a different dealer for additional repairs? I assume most companies would not be enthusiatic about performing warranty work (rumored to be low paying) on a motor they didn't sell.

work is work, whether it's warranty or not.
besides most dealers i know, will do the work and really take care of you so that your next purchase will come from them.

What is the guardian mode you refer too? I have a new 225 optimax and I can't get more than 5000 RPM's. It now has about 7-8 hours of run time.

Guardian mode is a term the dealer was using for when my motor seemed to limit to 3500 rpm. At 3500 rpm the engine would start to miss real bad and additional rpm's could not be achieved. They thought it was the engine's control logic trying to protect the engine. I haven't been able to run my engine enough to comment on the 5000 rpm. I've owned the motor 25 days and it's been in the shop 20 of those.

Where are you located, Draper?

Where are you located, Draper?

I'm located outside of Clawson, about 80 miles south of Tyler,Tx. I split my fishing time between Sam Rayburn and Matagorda Bay.

I had another round of phone calls to H&W Marine and Mercury yesterday. Mercury's plan of action developed on July 5th was not attempted. I contacted H&W expecting to at least hear the second on the water test had been attempted. They hadn't done a thing. The reason they gave was that there was a chance of rain each day. I commented that it was nice here on Monday. H&W said they had a shower or two. I asked about why they couldn't do it Tuesday. They actually responded that there were a few clouds floating around. Then H&W stated that they had asked thier service guy about my boat several times and he was started to get irratated about it so they were not going to ask him about it again. As you can imagine, I had some colorfully responses to that statement.

I then called Mercury and repeated the process. Mercury told me that if the dealer was not motivated to make the repair based on Mercury's phone call to the dealer last week then there was nothing Mercury to do. I then requested that Mercury replace my motor since obviously there is nothing Mercury can do to repair it. Mercury then suggested I take it to a different shop, which was fine by me. I told Mercury that I could pull the boat all over the state but if the Mercury service guys won't repair it, it does no good. Mercury said that I shouldn't judge all Mercury service centers based on H&W's performance. I requested that Mercury take ownership of this repair issue, find a service center that would make the repairs, and I would take it to them.

About two hours later Joe at Mercury calls back and says he talked to Larry at East Texas Marine and that my boat would be water tested today. I asked Joe if he was aware the H&W and East Texas Marine were the same place and the Larry he talked to was the same one we have been having the trouble with. Joe just sounded puzzled.

I was ready to throw up my hands in frustration and call my attorney. Instead I called a friend from Longview who happened to have experience with Larry before. While Larry was unable to repair my friends boat, my friend did think Larry was a decent repair guy. So based on that thin thread of hope, I'm back in waiting mode.

take that boat to Sartin Marine. 903-383-7726
or Rockwall Marine. both shops are great!!

Try swapping a trim relay with the main power relay.what battery do you have,must be at least a 800 cca battery.

I have had problems with main power relays on many boats this year,the relay if it just drops a small amount of voltage to the ECM then all kinds of problems can occur,when I see one with problems and it is not codeing anything in the ECM then I will try a new relay,I have been surprised at how many this repairs,for a motor to go into Gaurdian then there is a sensor that reads critical information telling the ECM there is a problem,with no codes then I would change the main power relay because it willnot show a code,a small amount of voltage drop will play havoc on the newer electronics.If you cant get it looked at soon then bring it to me,I am down the street 300 yards at DRM.