2014 GTI 130 IBR Issue

[Bren989]

When I left my dock yesterday on my gti, I could not get the ski to shift into forward. The IBR icon flashed on the screen and the loud beep sounded. Neutral and reverse work as normal, but when I try to go forward, the IBR bucket never raises so I just creep forward even at 5000 RPM. I read around on this forum and found two thoughts but I do not think either are the issue. Does anybody have any other potential culprits that come to mind.

1. The plastic locking nut near the pump could have failed.

While I have not visually inspected it yet (I will tomorrow), I do not believe this is the issue becasue the ski sat in the water for over 24 hours after the problem appeared and did not take on water. Is this idea correct, or is there some sort of fail safe that prevents water infiltration if failure occurs?

2. The battery voltage could be too low for IBR operation.

I do not believe this is the issue as I switched the battery with the battery on my other gti, in which the IBR works perfectly, and encountered the same issue with the different battery.

I will look at the locking nut tomorrow afternoon, but besides that, does anybody else have any suggestions before I take it in for service?

 

[skiasylum]

Make sure your gate has free and full movement, very important that it moves freely at all positions. Sand, pebbles, rocks, etc. Hose it down with water. It should the same up and down play in all positions.

 

[ravens9273]

Check battery. Battery going bad is cause of most IBR problems. While battery may seem good and start ski with no problems it could be loosing power to mess up the IBR.

 

[Bren989]

Thanks for the suggestions. After trying these and a few others the issue persisted. I took the ski to the dealer and it ended up being the IBR actuator.

 

[mitchyma]

Thanks for the suggestions. After trying these and a few others the issue persisted. I took the ski to the dealer and it ended up being the IBR actuator.

How could you be certain it was the actuator? Do you trust the dealership mechanics? I have a similar problem right now, the IBR light is on. It’s working perfectly fine, but the dealership said straight away before looking at it ‘you’ll need to replace it’. After actually looking at it with me hanging around to make sure they said it’s working fine and can’t explain why the fault light is on the dash.

 

[Bren989]

I trust the dealership mechanics. I never updated this post, but it turned out that upon replacing the exterior hardware (bushings, bolts, etc.) , the actuator was in fact not the issue. The dealer had originally quoted $2100 for the actuator repair but called me and said the actuator is fine after all and just replaced the hardware for $450. The mechanic was not trying to replace things that weren't broken even after I approved the expensive repair, which was a nice surprise to me and why I now trust him with all my issues.

 

[mitchyma]

Thanks for the update. It’s good to find out other people’s experiences. What was the hardware he replaced? I’m slightly sceptical as my IBR works fine. Perhaps it could be a similar problem

 

[Bren989]

He replaced all the hardware on the exterior of the ski. It sits in the water 6 months a year so he replaced everything to prevent further issues as it was all looking pretty questionable.