Low Voltage Warning - 2018 GTX 155

[allanjoburns]

Just purchased a 2018 Seadoo GTX 155 - 70 Hrs
Upon hose testing the low voltage displayed on dash. Put it on the trickle charger all night and the next day I took the battery to get load tested, Orielly's Auto Parts, they said it tested good. Put it back in the ski, pressed the start button to turn on the display (not to fire it up) and move the bucket up for some visual inspection of the pump & wear ring. Got the low voltage warning again. Took multimeter readings on the battery with power off, idling and at 3-4k rpm and all readings showed it was charging. The 3 yellow wires from the stator to the regulator all read .4 ohms when tested. The battery that came with the ski is 12v, 18ah interstate marine battery and fits properly. I also took the known good battery out of my Seadoo Spark Trixx and got the same low voltage warning after putting it in the GTX.

Additional Testing Since Original Post
Tested Voltage at the Battery with the stock voltage regulator & my Seadoo Spark voltage regulator (same part numbers) results where the same and listed below. The second number if displayed is the Seadoo Spark Voltage Regulator.
Battery Voltage
Off: 12.35 Volts
Display on: 12.1 - 12.2 Volts
Idle: 14.3 Volts
3k-4k RPM: 14.49 - 14.50 Volts

Do I have the proper battery and what should I try testing next?

 

[skiasylum]

Charging and battery numbers look all good. The ECM is detecting low voltage somewhere. Do you have any codes associated with the warning?If your in a salt water environment corrosion in wires and connectors causes resistance which causes low voltage. Pay close attention to all the grounds and bigger red wires and connectors. Peel back insulation on the wires to check for green crusties.

 

[allanjoburns]

Charging and battery numbers look all good. The ECM is detecting low voltage somewhere. Do you have any codes associated with the warning?If your in a salt water environment corrosion in wires and connectors causes resistance which causes low voltage. Pay close attention to all the grounds and bigger red wires and connectors. Peel back insulation on the wires to check for green crusties.

The ski is from Arizona and has never been in Salt water from what I was told. But the light corrosion on the pump makes me think otherwise. I'll check all the ground continuity later today and look for corrosion and report back. From my initial check the other day, no corrosion exists in the ski, it looks brand new! Anyone know how many grounding points there are? I recall seeing 3 on the block all right next to the battery and a 4th one on the grounding wire to the battery. Also, no codes that I can see. I only have the learner key but will be getting it programmed to be the master key soon

 

[allanjoburns]

Okay, so I checked the continuity of all 8 grounds that I found. 3 on the FWD part of the block, 3 on top of the block, 1 below the block by the starter (main negative cable) and the one that connects from the wiring harness on the fwd side of the battery to the negative terminal plate. No corrosion what so ever inside the ski, or any of the terminal and they all tested good.

Also, the Low Voltage warning didn't come on when I turned on the ski this time. Noticing this, I fired it up for 30 seconds and still no warning then or on the shutdown. I'm wondering if the load tested battery was just low after I got it load tested? It was on the trickle charger all night last night so I think if it happens again I will just replace the battery. Even though the load test was good, It could maybe be starting to drop a cell?
I did unplug some connecters to check, maybe one of them was not making solid contact until I plugged it back in?

It's cold here in the Vancouver, Washington area but I plan to take it out for a ride the weekend of the 17th to do some continued troubleshooting.

I'll report back after the ride here in a few weeks!

 

[skiasylum]

Great job, battery is super important in our jet skis. ECM is directly powered from the battery and if it’s fluky with voltage or amperage can effect ECM performance. Also in our service manuals BRP engineers do not want us charging the battery when it’s in the ski. Lots of discussions on that subject but at the very least disconnect a battery cable when charging the battery when it’s in the ski. OPs have fried ECMS with trickle chargers and jumping the battery from voltage spikes.

 

[allanjoburns]

Hey all, replaced the battery just for safe measure even though the old one load tested good. Took it out on the lake for the first time today and everything went really well! No low voltage warning! However, I did notice some oil that might be leaking from the PTO area where the drive shaft goes into the engine and about 2 oz of water came into the ski (yes, both plugs where in). Is this common? I cleaned everything up with some de-greaser and break clean to removed the oil residue. I will be taking it out again with the seat off soon to further investigate the oil and water leaks.

 

[Goochalone]

I have a GTX and I always get water in from the hood area, as for your situation, it could possibly be from the carbon seal. Its very possible you have a to align your engine with motor mount spacers. The shaft can be wearing out the carbon seal letting water in and the shaft boot seal an bearing could probably be changed ( pain in the ass for me to do). You'll need to remove the SC to get better access and you'll need a few special tools, so invest the money in the shaft tool and the crimper for the boot. DONT BUY AFTER MARKET PARTS.... NOT WHEN IT COMES TO THE BOTTOM PART OF THE MOTOR OR SGHAFT..
Good luck