2016 surf front ballast not filling

[Gyppy]

My two rear ballasts fill no problem, but my front ballast is not filling. When I flip the front switch, the pump turns on just like when I turn on the right and left ballast. But no water fills the front sack. Any ideas of how to trouble shoot?

[haknslash]

Bad or old ballast impeller that can't prime? Is the ball valve open? I'd inspect the ballast impeller and ensure ball valve is open. If the impeller looks bad or is missing fins then it won't prime (suck in water).

[Gyppy]

I was able to open the pump. The impeller looked fine. However, I was afraid to activate the pump while I had it open. Can you tell me how to check the ball valve? I am also wondering if the intake line is plugged, but I can’t figure out where to look to see if it is plugged with seaweed.

[KnoxMojo]

I was able to open the pump. The impeller looked fine. However, I was afraid to activate the pump while I had it open. Can you tell me how to check the ball valve? I am also wondering if the intake line is plugged, but I can’t figure out where to look to see if it is plugged with seaweed.

Here is any easy thing to do. Swap the front impeller with a known good rear impeller, see if the problem follows it. The ball valve is either open or closed. Follow the hose from the pump to the valve, they should be vertical is memory serves.

[KnoxMojo]

Also, an impeller might look like it is good, when in fact it is bad and used up. New impellers are flexible and the ends are round. Used up ones will be stiffer and the ends will be squared off. Front pump impeller normally needs replaced faster than rears on 3 pump systems as they run for longer filling and draining.

[Gyppy]

That is a great easy idea of just swapping another impeller. Since the front ballast pump is the harder one to get to, the starboard pump would be easy to swap.

I will search for the ball valve. I am having trouble following the lines to find any valves - they tubing ends up hiding behind/under the engine or up in hard to see sections of the body.

[Gyppy]

Ok, so I swapped the impeller from the starboard over to the center. The center still failed to fill, but the starboard worked fine with the center impeller. So it is not the impeller. The next mission is to find this ball valve.

[KnoxMojo]

Ok, so I swapped the impeller from the starboard over to the center. The center still failed to fill, but the starboard worked fine with the center impeller. So it is not the impeller. The next mission is to find this ball valve.

Just take your time and follow the lines. You may be able to look under the boat if on a trailer or lift to find the thru hulls and go from there. Verify the pump is actually spinning as well. The valve really should not be far from the pump. 1 side goes to the bag, the other to the valve.

[haknslash]

Was the pump working fine before during the season? The only reason I mentioned the ball valve being shut was if you bought the boat recently and this is your first time going through it. If that's the case then it's possible the previous owner or dealership closed the valve for winterization (or whatever reason). If the ballast pump was working fine and all the sudden is not then it's likely not the ball valve as those are just simple "gates" to allow water in and out of the thru hull fitting when the ballast pump is running.

[Tommy2slow]

My two rear ballasts fill no problem, but my front ballast is not filling. When I flip the front switch, the pump turns on just like when I turn on the right and left ballast. But no water fills the front sack. Any ideas of how to trouble shoot?
What model of boat are we talking about? Most modern Moomba boats consist of a Center tank and a bag under the bow seats for the front ballast. The front bag fills from the over flow from the Center tank and won’t begin filling until the tank is pretty much full. When you first begin to fill the front you will hear the pump running but won’t see the bag filling for a few minutes.

[Gyppy]

Was the pump working fine before during the season? The only reason I mentioned the ball valve being shut was if you bought the boat recently and this is your first time going through it. If that's the case then it's possible the previous owner or dealership closed the valve for winterization (or whatever reason). If the ballast pump was working fine and all the sudden is not then it's likely not the ball valve as those are just simple "gates" to allow water in and out of the thru hull fitting when the ballast pump is running.
this is a very good point. I bought this 2016 Moomba Surf recently. I thought I looked under the front seat to make sure all three ballast bags were filling, but I may not have done that. I do remember looking at the dash gauge and seeing the bags fill, but realize now that those bars are all based off time, not a sensor in the bags. I will look under the boat and see if I can find the ball valve.

[Gyppy]

What model of boat are we talking about? Most modern Moomba boats consist of a Center tank and a bag under the bow seats for the front ballast. The front bag fills from the over flow from the Center tank and wonÂ’t begin filling until the tank is pretty much full. When you first begin to fill the front you will hear the pump running but wonÂ’t see the bag filling for a few minutes.

this is a 2016 Moomba Mojo Surf. I am not sure if there is a center tank since I just bought this boat. The previous owner told me about the bags, but not a tank. I never see the bag filling, even at the very end of the fill time. All I really know is that the ballasts stop filling because the time setting tells it the bag is full, not because there is a sensor that says the ballast full.

[haknslash]

Yea I would for sure follow the lines and find the ball valve to ensure it’s set to open.

[Holdmybeer]

I have the same boat but a 2015 model. There is a tank in the floor. You can see the level on the side of it through the middle plug port (cover in floor next to the driver's seat). It has to fil first then it spills into the bow bag. Takes 12-13 minutes to fill them both all the way. The ball valve that are looking for is under the transmission/v-drive dog house. Once you pull it out, they will be on the port side. There should be 3 of them, make sure all are open, handle parallel with the hose.

If the pump keep turning off while trying to fill, go through the screens and reset your ballast level to empty on the center. The timers should start over this way, otherwise you get 30 seconds or so of additional runtime by turning the switch off and back on again.

[Gyppy]

This is super helpful. The front bags may not be filling just because the center ballast is not filling long enough. I need to check the settings, but I am pretty sure all three ballasts are set for less than 8 min, and the center ballast is shortest time, different from the right and left. I probably need to recalibrate the ballast fill times to confirm this. Is there a way to correctly determine ballast fill and empty times?.

[HFarr]

This is super helpful. The front bags may not be filling just because the center ballast is not filling long enough. I need to check the settings, but I am pretty sure all three ballasts are set for less than 8 min, and the center ballast is shortest time, different from the right and left. I probably need to recalibrate the ballast fill times to confirm this. Is there a way to correctly determine ballast fill and empty times?.
The only sure way to do that is to use a watch and keep flipping the switch off and back on until you can visually see the bags are all full.

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[Holdmybeer]

You can calculate it.

3-pump system = 1 pump for rear x 2 + 1 pump for center and bow.

Jabsco pump is ~11gpm
water is 8.3lbs/gallon


700+500=1200lbs / 8.3 = 144.5 gallons / 11 = 13.1 minutes.

Go to "Vessel Settings" and change the timers. You can calculate the rear bags the same way and see what they need to be changed to also. The meters on the screen will now be closer to the actual value of the bags. The gauge is an estimate based on time and efficiency of the pump. Old impeller will take longer to fill or not fill at all.

[BigOrange]

Real world experience on the same boat/setup = 14 mins on front ballast timer.

[SHINDIG2.0]

My 2016 Mojo front stopped working yesterday and rears filled fine. Switch light turns on but appears no motor sound so figuring pump is having issue. Can anyone let me know where pumps are located in the Mojo? Thanks

[j.mo]

My 2016 Mojo front stopped working yesterday and rears filled fine. Switch light turns on but appears no motor sound so figuring pump is having issue. Can anyone let me know where pumps are located in the Mojo? Thanks

I’d bet it’s your impeller shredded. When they are running with no fins, they are pretty quiet. I couldn’t hear mine run at all, but it was on.


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[Holdmybeer]

3 pump system.
Front/mid pump is on port side behind the rear wall of the rear locker. 2 Phillips screws at the top and 4 screws on the angle pieces on the floor.

I think the bottom one is the front/mid, but you will need to confirm.

[Zog]

3 pump system.
Front/mid pump is on port side behind the rear wall of the rear locker. 2 Phillips screws at the top and 4 screws on the angle pieces on the floor.

I think the bottom one is the front/mid, but you will need to confirm.

Nope... The 2016 has the pumps side by side. the one next to the engine is the front/mid one. The way it is mounted requires you to fully remove the pump to change the impeller (at least it was on mine), since the impeller cover is facing the engine compartment.