DESS works out of water, not in

[chaseandme]

Hello,

My apologies for this long post. I'm new to posting, and have spent a lot of time searching the threads and have not found this same issue.

For a year now we've been having trouble getting our Seadoo to beep when the DESS key is engaged. We would have it in the water (kept on a Roll-n-Go shore ramp), and nothing. We'd take it out of the water to be serviced, and the problem could never be replicated: it always beeped for the service guys.

After bringing it home and putting it back in the water, it would immediately work. The next day it would not. We took it out of winter storage a few weeks ago and it worked. a week later it didn't.

This weekend we decided to take it out of the water and let it sit for 24 hours on the trailer to see if it would start (an attempt to mimic what happens when we take it into the shop). No sooner did we have it out and parked that we decided to give it a try. And it beeped!

So, to sum this up: I have a jetski that will start (beep) OUT of the water, but not once it has been in the water for an extended period of time.

I am the original owner. For the first two years it ran perfectly. It has never cut out when riding. The first year we owned it, we did suck in the line tied to the front, but we flipped it, cut it out, and never had a problem with it...until now. It has only run on a fresh-water lake in New England.

It is in the shop once again, with an equally long note explaining the history. But I thought I'd ask this forum as well in case anyone has any advice that might help the service guys.

Thanks!
Barbara

 

[Michael211_2000]

So, to sum this up: I have a jetski that will start (beep) OUT of the water, but not once it has been in the water for an extended period of time.

Barbara, something else to think about... when it's out in the water it's also out in the sunlight and therefore everything heats up (including the DESS post and start/stop button)... when it's not in the water do you keep it in the sunlight also? Most people store their watercraft out of the water under cover (ie. in the shade).

This could be a case where being in direct sunlight vs. being in the shade (of a tree or carport or garage) has an effect. Yesterday when I took my RXT out to the lake I had a problem at 1st with a single long beep and then would not start... the start/stop button had heated up in the sunlight and was stuck down/depressed! In the shade it doesn't have this problem it pops right back up when pushed and released. Direct sunlight expands the plastic a little bit though and makes it stick (I got it to come up just enough that cycling the lanyard corrected the problem and I was able to start... then water spray while driving it lubed it a little and cooled it probably and was no longer and issue it popped up completely on it's own).

So my point is being in/out of the water almost certainly has no effect on this problem, it's more likely being in/out of direct sunlight.

- Michael

 

[chaseandme]

This could be a case where being in direct sunlight vs. being in the shade (of a tree or carport or garage) has an effect.

Hi Michael,

This has happened in the direct sunlight as well as soon after the cover was removed. And we can't even move on to using the start/stop button without hearing the two beeps.

A friend suggested the possibility that one of the sensors in the back of the jetski is malfunctioning and not allowing the DESS key to connect.

Thanks for your reply,
Barbara

 

[Michael211_2000]

So did the previous service shop guys try putting it in the water to test it? It always works on the trailer but not in the water, or intermittently works in the water? Even if a sensor is bad you should get some fault code on the display.

For the life of me I cannot think of anything that would "sense" being in the water vs. being on the trailer. Before starting but with the lanyard on the post, it should not know the difference the display should activate and the system should beep (1 beep, followed by repeating 2 short beeps until the starter is engaged). From what you say it sounds easily reproducable though....

- Michael

 

[chaseandme]

So did the previous service shop guys try putting it in the water to test it? It always works on the trailer but not in the water, or intermittently works in the water?

It never occurred to anyone to put it in the water. And to be honest, I'm not sure if they even ran it through diagnostics. I think since they never had a problem starting it they never bothered.

I've asked them this time to put it in the water. We'll see what they find out. They may have to leave it in over night to replicate the problem.

Right now they just think we're bonkers.

 

[Michael211_2000]

Right now they just think we're bonkers.

LMAO! ROF! If it helps any I just think you're funny.... in the good way. ;-)

Hopefully they'll be able to reproduce the problem and then find out what's causing it. I haven't any other ideas. Be sure and come back and post what they find out! Thanks!

- Michael

 

[qsilver23t]

When I was having a similar problem, my shop told me that you will get better connection between the key and post if you energize the system (press the start button) before attaching the key. Don't know if you've tried this yet, but it's all I can think of. The only times I would have problems was after it had been on the water for a bit, but since using this method I have had no issues.

 

[Michael211_2000]

If you don't think you're getting a good connection between the lanyard and DESS post, spritz them both with a shot of WD40.

WD40 never fails to improve electrical connections in my experience. Works great on laptop power sockets too btw. When a laptop computer keeps flipping over to battery even though it's plugged in to A/c, a shot of WD40 to the power socket clears that right up! Just saying... ;-)

Regards!

- Michael