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pulsare 2100 power problem

H

hoxsey

Member
End of last season I dug into some gravel on a hole shot with way too much weight in the boat. Put a few nice chunks and a wave in my tempest plus 25p. Engine (2004 Merc 225 EFI) got real shaky and I pulled the boat out. Prior to that I was getting about 63mph at 5400. holeshots were always somewhat slow so I figured this was a good time to go to a 4 blade. Went to Mercury propeller website, entered my specs and it recommended at 23p Rev 4. That sounded about right considering threads I had seen here so I ordered it. When I put the prop on this summer, I got a lot of shake at put-put and an even slower hole shot. Not enough power to pull up a tube. With a light load the boat will get up on plane and then perform pretty good, up into the 50's for sure but I haven't GPS'ed it for top end. I got the tempest rebuilt and put it back on. Low end is much better, but it's still not a good holeshot. Worse yet, When I get it out and run it my WOT rpm seems to be about 5100 now. Motor was tuned up this spring. Any ideas?
 
You have had a problem for a long time! That boat and motor combo should run 70+ without fine tuning the setup. My 2100/225efi turned a 27" Trophy+ at 5600 rpm's and 74mph on gps and still had some hole shot. boatman
 
that prop has a ton of bite, mine will shake more than a smaller 4 blade at idle/put-put. i would image it is from the extra load it is making at idle. she takes some power to turn it when taking off.


i would agree there might be other issues with your motor or setup.
 
Hoxsey, you've got something wrong. I had a 2100 Pulsare bow rider with a 225 that could spin a 23" worked Tempest to 6400 rpms at 74 mph. Your altitude can't be much different from mine, but you're quoting Denver Colorado speeds :(

First off, spin your propshaft and test it for 'true'. I hope you didn't bend it. This is VERY important.
Next, test your compression. Make sure it's within 10% for each cylinder, and still good and strong (120 lbs?)
Also make sure your throttle is opening fully like said above, AND check to make sure all of your spark plugs are firing! You may not be firing all cylinders!
 
Yup, Hoxsey, something is wrong...you may also want to get your TPS checked...make sure the throttle is opening all the way. As stated above, check compression, spark plugs, stator, etc. I have a 1995 Merc 3 liter 225 Xri on my Pulsare turning a Trophy 26 at 73+ mph...
 
Thanks a ton guys. I talked to the shop today and will get the boat in for a checkup on the items you've mentioned. They work mostly with pontoon and fishing boats (not competition fishing boats) so they don't see the big boys too often. They were telling me straight off the bat that I was overpropping with the 23p but that just didn't seem right. I'll keep you posted on the results. Thanks again!
 
hoxsey said:
Thanks a ton guys. I talked to the shop today and will get the boat in for a checkup on the items you've mentioned. They work mostly with pontoon and fishing boats (not competition fishing boats) so they don't see the big boys too often. They were telling me straight off the bat that I was overpropping with the 23p but that just didn't seem right. I'll keep you posted on the results. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

You are definitly not overpropped with a 23p. I run a Quicksilver Offshore 4 blade 23p on my Pulsare 2100/Merc 225 when I have a heavy load and the boat will still run 65+ mph...
 
Had the shop look at everything listed here, they found the tps slightly out of variance and replaced it. $150 part, $120 labor including the other checks. The boat is much better out of the hole, about 2 seconds to plane but the high end is still low 5k. Just got it back in the water yesterday evening, only a couple of short runs on a busy choppy lake but I did get it up to 5k and it was already in the creep up. Could they have just not got the throttle cable right? What else guys? Thanks.
 
Where are you with your propshaft in relation to the pad of boat ? Where are you with the trim ? I've found my best speeds with prop shaft about 1 1/4"-1 1/2" below pad and trim at just over half. This is with 13 1/2" of setback.
 
You say that top end stops at 5000rpm, my 225 efi did the same thing last year, it was a operater error. When you get out next time, run it up to WOT, trim it up, get it to 5000rpm, then pull up on the stick about an inch or so, I bet it jumps to 5400. Once that happens, you can lay back into it. I have heard of numerous 225efi motors doing this.
 
I have a hydraulic jack plate so I've moved the prop around a bit on a 12" setback. I will try the throttle adjustment technique the next time I have it out - probably tomorrow afternoon. Hope that's it. My home lake is kind of small - less than a mile long - so adjustments at speed are rare. I'll have it up on Torch Lake in August for a week so hopefully we'll have a few nice days in there to get her out and run.
 
So..... unfortunately the 5100 is a pretty hard top end right now. Up on plane at speed, trimmed out, dropped the throttle slightly and hit it again and still 5100. Any ideas? I'm going to talk to Robert's Marine (who I bought the boat from) and the boat shop again today but thought I'd look for some ideas here too. Thanks guys.
 
After a long run at 5100 rpms, shut the engine off immediately. Pull all six plugs, do they all look the same? I had an rpm problem once when I left a spark plug wire off. Ran good everywhere except I lost top end.
 
When you were at speed and it was 5100 and you started pulling back on the stick, did you start to lose RPM's? On mine I can't get back into it right away, I have to wait a bit for it to pick up RPM's. If I back out and get right back into it, it will be 5100 just like yours. Once you are trimmed out, pull back about a half inch at a time, and see if it picks up. If you start to lose RPM's, then this is not the problem.
 
hotbeek

hotbeek said:
Where are you with your propshaft in relation to the pad of boat ? Where are you with the trim ? I've found my best speeds with prop shaft about 1 1/4"-1 1/2" below pad and trim at just over half. This is with 13 1/2" of setback.
Click to expand...
Can you call me have a few questions on your set up mine is simular. 989-737-4952 Joe
 
ok- so I'm starting to feel a little sick now. I just got off the phone with the boat shop manager, he said all they were going to do was run the same tests they had run before. He said it was showing compression, spark, etc on all six cylinders the last time they ran it but they'll do it again. He said the reworked prop might be a problem, they could have added cup to it.700-800rpm lost to prop cupping? something seems really effed up here. Anybody know of a high performance shop in lower michigan that could help me out here. I'm afraid I have a crap motor.
 
Ask them to let you borrow a brand new prop of the correct size or a pitch lower to see if you get your rpms back.
 
Just a guess, but have someone test the head temp sensor with an ohm meter and see if it is up to par. Def. sensor will cause this problem. boatman
 
I have a similar problem with my 1996 225 EFI. My threshold seems to be 5400. I can run it to 5400 consistently with a 24 OR a 26 pitch trophy. I've only had one run where I got out of the throttle the right way and then back in slow enough. My spedo ran up to 70 (about 8 mph faster on the spedo than my normal 60 mph gps @ 5400 runs w the 24p). On that run, I picked up revs pretty distinctly as I backed out which was slightly unsettling, but cool once I realized what was going on. I backed out fairly fast maybe to 80% of WOT.

Since then, I've adjusted my TPI and also the throttle linkage (wasn't opening the whole way). This helped my low end bog (and mileage), but didn't do much for my top end - but I haven't really tested much since then.

Hotbeek - so you get better speeds not trimmed up the whole way? I'm sure it all depends on setback and height above the pad, but when I trim up the whole way, I shoot a HUGE rooster that just doesn't seem like the most efficient way to run (I'm about 4" below the V and no setback on my starliner). I haven't tried any runs at less than full up, but I will now.

Hoxsey - I'd spend a little more time running that motor and trying to back out different ways before you take it back to the mechanic. From my experience a typical boat mechanic (especially a pontoon boat guy) will know less than the guys on this board.
 
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