wake plate

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

took the boat out today for the first run of the year and my wake plate was acting up. while wake boarding first thing in the day it was very slow reacting to the lever but did move... after wards we wanted to surf and it was stuck down you could hear it hum when you hit the lever so i know its not a fuse or anything. any ideas what my issue could be
thanks guys

[bzubke1]

Could it just be a problem with the gauge or did you confirm the plate itself wasn't moving correctly. My gauge was acting up a couple seasons ago. I guess you should also check the fluid.

[VA LSV]

X2 on check the fluid level. Uses ATF fluid.

[KSmith]

X2 on check the fluid level. Uses ATF fluid.

X3 on fluid level check. If you have to add fluid don't overfill and then cycle the plate between fully down and fully up about 10 times to get any air worked out of lines.

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

yeah i did confirm it wasn't working tried to surf and with the wake plate down it was really hard to find the sweet spot. i'll check the fluid tomorrow... will the air work its way out of the line itself just by cycling it up and down... i guess this is a bone head thing on my part didn't even know there was something seperate for the wake plate is it in the engine compartment or on the wake plate ? thanks for the input guys

[VA LSV]

Pump and resevoir are located in the engine compartment, passenger side. The tank is opaque to visually check the level. You'll need to remove the plastic cover to gain access to the very small fill plug. The air will work itself out very quickly. Do your final fill with the plate up so you don't overfill the resivoir. Look for leaks at the actuators attached to the plate. Bennett Trim Tabs sent me replacement O rings to repair my leak and when one failed again, they sent me a new actuator.

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

my fluid level was in the range but i added more to top it off i hear the motor running so i know its not the fuse or lose wire but wakeplate still won't move... any ideas now? thanks

[mmandley]

my fluid level was in the range but i added more to top it off i hear the motor running so i know its not the fuse or lose wire but wakeplate still won't move... any ideas now? thanks

If your hearing the pump motor run but the plate isnt moving you can try to gently tap the the wake plate with a rubber mallet while making the wake plate move up. Hit it right where the piston attached. The piston could have got locked into position over the winter. Other then that id be looking at a new piston. You can also try disconnecting the line at the piston and hitting the wake plate lever to see if fluid comes out. That will tell you theres no issues with fluid delivery.

[lrock]

First run of the summer, wake plate not working. I do not hear the pump motor. I have traced wires all around and I cannot find the fuse. Can someone tell me where it is?

Lrock
06 Outback V

[mmandley]

First run of the summer, wake plate not working. I do not hear the pump motor. I have traced wires all around and I cannot find the fuse. Can someone tell me where it is?

Lrock
06 Outback V

There is 2 sets of fuses, at least on my 08 LSV. Under the dash upper left side when looking at the steering wheel, you have a set of pull out fises, and possibly a set of push button circuit breakers.

Is everything else in the boat working?

[lrock]

yes, everything working great, plate just dead. I saw that fuse bank under the dash, but my wake plate switch did not have wires running there. The wires for it go starboard under the dash and run down the side of the boat behind the throttle.

Lrock

[squeeg333]

I would recommend looking at the wakeplate electrical connections right at the steering wheel. Those quick connects they use have a tendancy to work themselves loose. I've had this issue twice that I recall. The pump will sound like it's pumping, but the line to the solenoid to direct the fluid isn't getting power. It's a pain in the butt to get solid access to them, but I'd remove the lever (just unscrew it), and then remove the cover plate (has the up/down arrows) and you should be able to get at those connections a bit easier. I'll almost guarantee this is your issue. The wire that is typically lose on mine is a yellow wire. Needle nose pliers should help to get to the connections.

Check here and see if that solves it. You might have had intermittent connection when wakeboarding that one day, and then it disconnected all together once you got to surfing. I've had all the problems you described, and this fixed all of them.

[lrock]

Will do. Thanks. I'll report back.

Lrock

[lrock]

All the connections at the switch looked solid. I may have to take it in. Not excited about it, 2 hour drive both ways.

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

hey mike does it make sense that first trip to the lake this year it worked at first then took a crap on me then. then after adding fluid and messing with the lever checking connections for a good 20 min it cycled up and down i'd say 3 or 4 times then all of sudden stopped again. i'm stumped .... if i run the lever and let the motor run it gets pretty darn warm to the touch is this normal? also should that piston be lubed up with some kind of grease or is it useless cause water will wash it off?

[mmandley]

Sounds like there is binding in there, adding fluid then cycling it for a while till it works, is most likly the air in the system bleeding out.

After it started working then cycled up and down 3 times it quit. Was the sound normal? Speed seem normal? Im thinking the motor is over heating. As for the piston im not sure. Mine is dry to the touch. It might use a gasket or oring type seal that keeps water out. I can look at mine but not till Sunday when i have time.

Might give this a read, not positive but pretty sure this is who makes our tabs.

http://www.bennetttrimtabs.com/pdf/owners_manual.pdf

[lrock]

squeeg333 thanks for the advice. I worked on it for hours today. Took off the steering wheel and took apart the lever. Still nothing.. I re-traced every wire and everything was solid. Fluid was good, but I was going to add a little, just then I noticed the master connection under the fluid/pump assembly was not connected, just unplugged and tied together. I guess the shop unhooked it and then tied it together. I know it makes no sense, but no other was to explain it. It worked last summer and stopped after I had the oil changed and the boat prepped for the water. No way for it to come undone and tied off. After that, working like a charm. I guess I should have checked it better when I first started.

Many thanks. Lesson learned, KISS and check the easy things throughly first.


Lrock

[squeeg333]

lrock, glad you got it handled. You gotta watch those shop guys man - you never know how much attention they are paying to what they are doing!!

And you know what they say, "it's always in the last place you look"

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

so i called bennets to get some advice also they wanted me to verify the pump was working so they asked me to use a jumper wire from pos battery terminal then spit other end. then disconnect the connection at the pump and touch the blue and green for tab down and yellow and green for tab up. after doing this it worked like a charm... never messed once and went up and down as fast as normal but when using lever it drags slow and sometimes sticks so atleast now i know pistions aren't bent and pump is working. bennets said that it could be a relay issue or lever at the steering wheel that isn't letting it get enough volts to run it properly. so now i'm gonna try to trace the wire to the relay recheck it there and then again at the lever to find out where my issue is that
thanks guys for the help