supercharged 502 won't get on plane
 

I'm starting to think this supercharger is more problems than benefit. Here's the latest: I bought a 280 Powerquest with a supercharged 502. Minimal hours on the engine and supercharger (Procharger M1).

When first getting her out she ran fine but an alarm kept going off. I couldn't find out the cause of the alarm, but it was determined to be the ignition shutting down because of a failure in the spark driver in the ECM. I had to purchase a new ECM. Big ticket item but she ran great...............for a few hours.

Now, she won't get on plane. With the throttle wide open she spits and sputters, the boost gauge goes into boost and she struggles. All of the suddend.......poof it will kick in and take off. Runs a little rough

Come off plane and it's the same deal all over. Idles fine, no smoke, no change in oil color, oil temp, oil pressure, fuel pressure readings are all normal.

A friend of mine thought it might be a fouled plug, so we changed them all. Didn't make a difference. Now, we're going to try and change wires, and if that doesn't work change the coil.

Now, the common denominator here is this started happening about 10 gallons of fuel into a a new fill up. I had been running either Sunoco 94 or Valero 93 (off of the street). I filled up at a local marina with their no ethanol 91, and 15 gallons later I started having the problem.

Now, I'm thinking maybe bad fuel. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Change the filter/separator.

Yes What He Said Try The Fuel Water Filter.

I agree with the above and also have been told marina fuel is known to have excess water in it.... I was told to stay away from it. Just what I have been told.

if fuel filter does not fix problem try dist. cap.

I had the same problem in my boat. What I had to do was lock the timing at 32, but I have a carb. You might try a v6 ignition so it advances faster.

Thanks for the input. Still struggling. As of now I've: pumped out all of the fuel I thought might be bad. Added 90 gallons of Sunoco 94, added a can of dry gas/injector cleaner (I forgot the name, but my mechanic gave it to me.......good stuff), changed the water separator, changed the plugs, changed the cap and rotar, changed the wiring, put tighter fittings on the vacuum line (from the fuel regulator), tried a different ECM, tried a different MAP sensor. Each change was done one step at a time and taken out for a trial immediately after. UGHHHH, no change.....she still won't get on plane.

To review: starts up great, idles great, no smoke, oil clean, throttle up and she won't get on plane ....starts struggling at about 1500/2000 RPM, goes into boost but doesn't have any power. Once in a while (about once out of every 5 times) something will seem like it catches and she'll take off, get her up to about 2500 RPM and climbing and comes out of boost and runs normal. Runs strong until you back off........and then won't get on plane again.

It's my understanding you can't change any of the ECM settings without the GM software. True? Does that also apply to the timing? Are there issues in the blower I should be checking? HELP !!!!

Please any other suggestions?

Call Tyler Crockett. He has a lot of experience with prochargers and computer programming.

It is of course the EFI out of wack and it may take weeks to hunt it down.

Patri: Actually I had a problem with a alarm going off and couldn't figure out what it was, so I took the boat to Tyler. He is the one who put a new ECM on which took care of the alarm issue (turned out it was the spark driver). So, I thought the new ECM might be the problem. I called Tyler who said it wasn't the ECM and suggested I put the old one back on and see if anything changes. If not, then obviously it's not the ECM. I did that and the problem was the same. Tyler then suggested the Map Sensor, so I switched that. That wasn't it either.

Tyler is a great guy, but I can't get the boat to him, and he's so jammed he can't get to me.

can you run the boat with a scan tool on it?

Curious to see what the timing is doing.

and to see if your getting a knock sensor timing reduction

It sounds like your boost reference regulator is hanging or someone has put in the wrong diaphram

Pay VERY close attention to how your fuel pressure steps up as the boost comes on. You may be running on the lean side as it hangs and then as it steps up.....voila.

Another thing to check is to make sure that the Procharger is not leaking oil around the seal. That will make it stumble like it is rich as air velocity increases. Once it goes into boost it can handle that little mist in the mixture.

I dunno the answer on the alarm. You should probably talk to someone that actually programs ECU's. If Tyler is too busy give Eddie Young or Mark Boos a call. Sounds like you need to reprogram it anyway and pay some attention to your fuel pressure step up anyway.

Thanks for the responses. I spoke with Tyler again and he's going to squeeze me in. I'm going to get the boat to him this afternoon.

If he cant fit you in, call Greg at Kustom Marine, he is my mechanic and good friend and really knows is stuff.

I had a procharged 454. I chased a similar problem for 2 years. Mine would run great sometimes then act up. It finally was the secondary fuel pump relay for the procharger fuel pump. It would cut off interminently. The factory stuff was working fine. The fuel pressure looked ok on gauge but putting a test gauge at the fuel rail revealed a different reading. It wasn't getting enough fuel. Fixed the relay and ran perfect until intercooler busted. No more Prochargers for me. Carbed now.

I might be leaning the same way. I've only had this boat for a couple months, so I'm willing to give it a little more time (and money) but for my needs I don't think I need the procharger. I doubt I'll ever get into the serious speed the charger is meant to provide. 60 MPH is way good enough for anything I ever want to do. Anything other than that is basically just talking points about what the boat is capable of doing. So, stay tuned..............there may be a used procharger for sale real soon!

Get with me if you decide to sell it...I tend to be crazy that way with my boat...and I'm considering buying one anyway. Thanks Bill

Ok, no problem. If I decide to sell, I'll have to get a feel for what it's valued at and I'll PM you first. If this current problem is charger related........good chance I'll be willing to move on.

I got a procharger on my boat and it lost power on take off last weekend and it has 2 burnt exhaust valves. it ran good on top end but it had no power on take off , sounds just like what you are describing. hope its not but thats what mine was.

One other simple thing to check..make sure your ball check valve at the fuel tank is not clogged up with debris. I have seen it happen before, boat will idle and run ok to about 2500 rpms, but getting on plane is a no go because it just can't suck the fuel from the tank. Their should be a barb type fitting at the tank, inside that barbed fitting is a ball check valve. pull it apart and look inside to make sure it is not clogged. The ball can be knocked out to make cleaning easier, then tap it back in. Good luck!

Ok, mystery solved. It was my distributor. Tyler Crockett replaced and I'm going to splash later today. Thanks to Tyler, Sleepy Pirate, and others from the forum for your help and suggestions..