bimini run

PQ, I too have had my share of problems with new boats purchased from dealers (2). You MUST be vigilant. And as others have said, keep going up the food chain if you get no satisfaction. Also, does the dealer belong to the local BBB (Better Business Bureau)? Whether they do or not, contact them! Nothing worse for dealers than a bad rep. I had a bad experience with a dealer for a new Checkmate several years back. Plunked down about $3,000 deposit at NYC boatshow with the understanding that the money was refundable for a certain period if I changed my mind. Well, I did, but they would not refund the money. Luckily, they belonged to the BBB. Went through arbitration, and I won.
And, for those really tight filters, try getting your hands on the biggest channel locks you can find. I've used that to loosen oil filters on my truck (and boat) and it works.

One question - why did you buy a boat in PA when you live in VA?

Kentz

HP500EFI - absolutely the dealer has the right to do it. Its not your boat until you sign-off and hand over the money. I think your example is a little extreme however, it wouldn't be in the dealers best interest to do anything more than bring engines to temp, check for leaks, forward/reverse, getting on plane, etc..

My boat was ran @ the factory prior to shipment, why?, I don't know. The merc. installation manuals tell the installer how to get max. rpm's out of the motors (200 rpm increments at a time). My certificate tells all test conditions, temp, humidity, gas-on-board, prop(s) rotation, rpm and speed. My dealer then, took it out after prep to verify for himself that all systems were OK.

On my delivery day the boat had 3 hrs, we both went out for about an hour, I know he didn't "jump" on it during his time, because you should have seen his face when I pulled it over 4000.

New 340 guys, not to add any more issues, but when I changed my oil @ 20 hrs, the port filter came off so hard I stripped the threads. I'm talking about bending an oil filter strap wrench and needing both hands to twist it off . I got lucky, and ran a die back down with the new filter.

Turbojack

HP5
Had friend order new boat with special motors. Factory took out boat prior to shipping to verify everything was OK. Factory though everthing was OK & shipped to dealer. Dealer when he got boat put on water hose to make sure everything was OK. Dealer felt one motor did not sound right & went to have checked out. Turns out when factory had boat out they fried a piston. Dealers called my friend & told him story & that he was getting it fixed. Dealer said would have to wait another week to take delievery. Friend at time was upset but I told him I thought he was lucky since he had not paid for boat yet & dealer found problem before we took out. Make long story short. Boat has been run hard for 2 years now with no other problems.

Vyper340

Thanks to everyone for their replies! It seems that a failed sensor (the same one that was already replaced) appears to be the cuplrit again!!! The Merc tech that I spoke of found bent pins and a couple of other minor things during the trouble shooting efforts, which by the way took the better part of a day. End result, he took the sensor off the stbd engine and ran it on the port (problem) engine and guess what... NO PROBLEMS. The new sensor was ordered for overnight delivery (which I will pay so that I do not have to wait any longer) today so we'll see what happens.

I'll keep you posted

Vyper340

The failure part was the crank position indicator sensor. It was supposedly replaced but from what I saw it was NOT. After an exhaustive week+ of troubleshooting it was finally narrowed down and replaced.

Result: ran great! took her out and walked to 77 (GPS) with 9.5 hours port engine and 5.5 starboard engine. Didn't run it hard for more than a few seconds for obvious reasons but all is now well.

Bottom line: the engine had a failure out of the box and should never have been installed (words came right from the factory). It should have been returned as "defective" so that additional trouble shooting data could have been gathered.

Pass this on to anyone having any 496 HO problems or have them contact me if they need any help.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback and help.

Peace

Gary C

Man, I've been reading this post from the beginning. I'm glad you got everything worked out! I would hope that you will get some rembersment(need spell check) from the dealer or Powerquest for your time and money spent! I personally feel that the factory should pick up the tab, because that should have been caught at the factory. Good luck with the new boat! Hope you get many trouble free hours out of it! Also, I am a Happy Powerquest Owner!

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: Gary C ]

Guest

Sorry to hear about your problems...

My 2001 Sunsation288 and 496/HO have performed flawlessly.


- jeff

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: JeffreyBoy ]

Mr Gadgets

PQVyper340,

I hate to hear these kinds of stories. Nothing like this kind of mess to take the fun out of boating!!

I have had a similar nighmare that has lasted three years due to shops that don't care about what they give a customer.
You would think that a reputable shop or dealer would be concerned about customer satifaction and not let a product go out that is put together wrong or in my case machine work that was done wrong. Most in this case find a way to justify there actions and blame the mistake on the customer. They just move on to the next customers money..

I am glad your situation was resolved in short order!! I hope that all your troubles are in the past. I do agree that the industry is in need of realignment as to thinking! I have and still have reservations about continuing my life long hobby of performance boating due to the reputable shops in my area..

Good luck with your new toy!!

Dick

Mike Shaak

Sorry to hear about all the trouble with the dealer. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that you were talking about Ducky's, well make them take care of everything, make it right, then never go near those people again. I wouldn't buy a toaster from Ducky's.

ingveys

I am sorry anyone has to go through this and I agree the dealer is at fault but so is the tech that worked on it. the log showed the sensor was replaced so I would have started there . Bent pins you say?? sounds like someone reseated the original sensor and butchered the connection and or sensor. Had you just had the loose clamps and no gas the story would have been a lot less painful but I do have sorrow that anyone has to go through this. I troubleshoot for a living and every form of repair from toasters to 4 million dollar medical scanners have folks that have no place repairing anything !!!!!