Cobaltchat.com

Hi All,

My V6/280 started running roughly a couple of weekends ago while accelerating slowly from a stop. It seemed like it was vibrating for short bit while coming up on plane and then smoothed out. The boat was out of the water last week for a power steering pump repair (which was done) and I mentioned it to the dealer, but I guess they didn't look into it. When I took the boat out Friday evening, I noticed the roughness was getting worse and is noticeable in neutral beyond 2,000 RPM.

My initial theory was water in the gas as the tank had dropped to 1/8, but I added some ISO Methyl Hydrate (safe for FI engines) and put 40L of fresh fuel in the tank and went for a ride, with no improvement.

The boat will come out of the water for the season after this coming weekend and will go back to the dealer, but I was just wondering whether anyone has had a similar problem and what it might be.

I was thinking, fuel, fouled plug, plugged injector or something ignition (computer?) related. It ran smoothly from new, until recently (with 23 hours now).

Thoughts?



PS What a short season here: June 15th - September (kids have lots of activities on the weekends starting mid-Sept.

Due to the firing order and engine layout balancing a V6 engine can be a pain in the ass. They are basically two inline 3 engines hooked together, and the odd number of cylinders on either side can lead to some undesirable engine harmonics at certain RPM's.

Inline 6 is a totally different story the M54 in my BMW is so smooth sometimes I am worried it stalled when at idle. Problem /w the I6 design is its a really long engine block. Here is a good read on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V6_engine ... smoothness

You should buy an R3 /w a V8. Four cylinders on either side of the V result in a much smoother engine.

NautiGirl wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:11 am Due to the firing order and engine layout balancing a V6 engine can be a pain in the ass. They are basically two inline 3 engines hooked together, and the odd number of cylinders on either side can lead to some undesirable engine harmonics at certain RPM's.

Inline 6 is a totally different story the M54 in my BMW is so smooth sometimes I am worried it stalled when at idle. Problem /w the I6 design is its a really long engine block. Here is a good read on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V6_engine ... smoothness

You should buy an R3 /w a V8. Four cylinders on either side of the V result in a much smoother engine.

I guess I'll see what the dealer says. It was running butter smooth when I first got it. As to the R3/V8, we'll see how things play out over the next few months. I'm pretty happy with the 210 and the power it has, but one of the criticisms I've read of the nonEVC control motors is the difficulty in modulating the throttle and the bang the drive makes shifting into gear. I'm not sure if the EVC transmission shifts are smoother (something I'd welcome), but I'm definitely not a fan of the non-EVC throttle. I find it hard to adjust the speed while pulling a skier. I either add too much throttle or slow down too much when trying to add 2 mph or drop 2 mph. I find pushing on the lever close to the bottom, helps not overshoot when I am trying to add. If I press forward on the handle, I'm more likely to add too much throttle.

BobRae99 wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:25 am

NautiGirl wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:11 am Due to the firing order and engine layout balancing a V6 engine can be a pain in the ass. They are basically two inline 3 engines hooked together, and the odd number of cylinders on either side can lead to some undesirable engine harmonics at certain RPM's.

Inline 6 is a totally different story the M54 in my BMW is so smooth sometimes I am worried it stalled when at idle. Problem /w the I6 design is its a really long engine block. Here is a good read on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V6_engine ... smoothness

You should buy an R3 /w a V8. Four cylinders on either side of the V result in a much smoother engine.

I guess I'll see what the dealer says. It was running butter smooth when I first got it. As to the R3/V8, we'll see how things play out over the next few months. I'm pretty happy with the 210 and the power it has, but one of the criticisms I've read of the nonEVC control motors is the difficulty in modulating the throttle

I have the same issue /w the throttle on our boat. Last weekend it resulted in Katie being thrown off a tube. Damn that sticky throttle lever.

Seriously tho, if you are good enough at skiing that you need to make 1 or 2mph adjustments in the boats speed you may want to look at a GPS cruise control system like perfect pass or zero off. That or start shopping for a R3 surf series, they come /w zero off speed control standard.

Just trade it in and get a r3 with a 380 or better yet a 430 with CC. It's easier to control the 1 or 2 mph because it's now 4 or 5.lol
Plus by the end of next year it will be a great boat for me to buy because you will want a r5. Every time someone farts the speed Changes that's the nature of the beast. Get perfect pass then. I'm ok with that on my next boat too. Between you and sailor I'll be set for awhile.

Does the Cobalt Volvo EVC system have Cruise Control and Tow mode? I have seen reports that it does, then I have seen others that say its just electric control of the throttle. I am stuck in the analog age of having to move cables to modulate my throttle correctly. Horrible.

BobRae99 wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:39 am My initial theory was water in the gas as the tank had dropped to 1/8, but I added some ISO Methyl Hydrate (safe for FI engines) and put 40L of fresh fuel in the tank and went for a ride, with no improvement.

I think the problem is you put liters in instead of gallons. That'll make it run ruff every time!

BobRae99 wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:25 am

NautiGirl wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:11 am Due to the firing order and engine layout balancing a V6 engine can be a pain in the ass. They are basically two inline 3 engines hooked together, and the odd number of cylinders on either side can lead to some undesirable engine harmonics at certain RPM's.

Inline 6 is a totally different story the M54 in my BMW is so smooth sometimes I am worried it stalled when at idle. Problem /w the I6 design is its a really long engine block. Here is a good read on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V6_engine ... smoothness

You should buy an R3 /w a V8. Four cylinders on either side of the V result in a much smoother engine.

I guess I'll see what the dealer says. It was running butter smooth when I first got it.

Ever hear anything back about this? Just curious what it was.

NautiGirl wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:10 am

BobRae99 wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:25 am

NautiGirl wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:11 am Due to the firing order and engine layout balancing a V6 engine can be a pain in the ass. They are basically two inline 3 engines hooked together, and the odd number of cylinders on either side can lead to some undesirable engine harmonics at certain RPM's.

Inline 6 is a totally different story the M54 in my BMW is so smooth sometimes I am worried it stalled when at idle. Problem /w the I6 design is its a really long engine block. Here is a good read on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V6_engine ... smoothness

You should buy an R3 /w a V8. Four cylinders on either side of the V result in a much smoother engine.

I guess I'll see what the dealer says. It was running butter smooth when I first got it.

Ever hear anything back about this? Just curious what it was.

I haven’t had the boat back to the dealer yet. We are done for the season though and I plan to haul the boat out in the next week or so and drop it at the dealer. I’ll post the results, however what everythey say they find (and hopefully fix), I won’t be able to confirm that was the fix until the boat is back in the water next spring. I know for certain it isn’t prop or drive related though. If I run it up in neutral, I can feel the vibration through the hull until about 2,000 RPM.

You won't be able to tell us next spring either. Your going to be in a fancy R series with a big v8
And you will be backing that baby in your stall while pulling skiers from the bow like Aj

Big Block Power wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:08 pm You won't be able to tell us next spring either. Your going to be in a fancy R series with a big v8
And you will be backing that baby in your stall while pulling skiers from the bow like Aj

It will have to be the right deal or I'll be right back in my 210, which I've really enjoyed this season. I have 3 possible boats to choose from in dealer stock across Canada and not subject to the import tariff of 10%. I think all of them have Volvo 350-DP, so a 380 or 430 is out of the question for me. I'm hoping that the NAFTA agreement gets worked out and the tariff comes off boats imported into Canada from the USA. I'd then consider a very lightly equipped 2019 model with a V8/380.

There is also a possibility of trading my boat in on a 2 year old R3. The problem with that route is that many of the R3s are sold onto Lake of The Woods (Ontario/MN) to wealthy people who load them up beyond what I'd equip a new boat with and the used values are almost as high as a non tariff new boat. One such example is owned by the owner of a Canadian NHL team, but there are many others that are equipped similarly. So, it might be a waiting game on the tariff. A lightly equipped R3 would attract a $10,000CAD tariff, on top of the 30% exchange rate, making the cost a bit crushing for some (me included).

Well Bob...The ol 5 cylinder 210 is looking good after reading this. Sorry to hear but as BB said you know what you truly want now that you have a season under your belt.

So in short “The ballpark hot dog is already $10.00... so put sour kraut on it and enjoy”

Go get your R!

cmattj wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:23 pm Well Bob...The ol 5 cylinder 210 is looking good after reading this. Sorry to hear but as BB said you know what you truly want now that you have a season under your belt.

Maybe if we made it a 4cyl it would smooth out the engine some, pull a plug from the middle cylinder on each side and you would have a V4....hmmmm

NautiGirl wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 8:45 am

cmattj wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:23 pm Well Bob...The ol 5 cylinder 210 is looking good after reading this. Sorry to hear but as BB said you know what you truly want now that you have a season under your belt.

Maybe if we made it a 4cyl it would smooth out the engine some, pull a plug from the middle cylinder on each side and you would have a V4....hmmmm

Thanks for the humour guys. The engine ran silky smooth when I first got the boat and I'm sure it will again. Bad fuel, plugged injector, bad plug, etc. are all possibilities. Given that no one here has responded with direct experience with such a problem (which is why I posted the question), I'll just wait for the dealer to fix it.

I appreciate the preference of many is to get the biggest engine available and burn through as much gas as possible going as fast as you can, but if this season is any guide, that just isn't the way I use my boat. I boat on a very large (and sometimes rough) inland lake. There are no real "destinations" to boat to, so our days are spent motoring along the shoreline about a to a partially protected bay to either float and listen to music and visit, or to water ski or pull the kids in a tube.

Friends of mine on Lake of the Woods (LOW), Ontario use their boats a bit differently. They travel from bay to bay visiting friends or into the closest town (Kenora) to get groceries, etc. I can see the need for a quicker boat in these circumstances. I see bass boats on LOW blowing along at a high rate of speed taking tourist fishermen to various fishing spots around the area throughout the day. Moving to 3 spots 10 miles apart in a day, I can see the need for a fast boat.

For me, the V6/280 is perfect. In 24 engine hours of use this summer, I used about 1.5 tanks of fuel, carried 8 people (including kids) comfortably and was able to pull an adult out of the water on a slalom ski (or wakeboard) without difficulty.

In fact, my only comment about the boat is that I could use more entertaining (seating) space and that the non-EVC throttle control is difficult to modulate in small increments when pulling a skier. I'd go up an engine size just to get an EVC engine that apparently doesn't suffer from that problem.

Interesting about the throttle. I wonder if they should check that also. It may be related to the miss and it’s surging.?

In a sence your boating style may be fine with the size. Get her fixed up and leave the speed for the ranger bass boats.

I have friends in Tahoe with 25 foot boats that always cruise the shoreline so no biggie as it’s smoother regardless of the size.

Keep us posted and don’t shop without us