New to Me 2003 Optimax

[chackett]

Hey All-

My old 1987 Suzuki DT200 finally gave up the ghost and I ended up with a 2003 Optimax. Seems to have been fairly well cared for and generally ran pretty well, except for a minor sneeze condition at idle which would occassionally cause the motor to konk out, but would always fire right back up. With the last bit of cold weather I figured I'd go ahead and do a bunch of the stuff I would want done on a "new to me" motor.

1. Replace the VST fuel filter
2. Replace the plugs
3. Replace lower unit gear oil (impeller was done last season)
4. New oil
5. I removed the fuel rail and both the fuel and air injectors, ran them through the ultrasonic cleaner and my consumer grade injector cleaner.

What else should I do?

Oh .. and out of curiosity, what is this?

[rock]

Nice motor. I believe that to be a water pressure sensor.

Rock

[chackett]

Thanks! I'm not afraid to take care of a motor .. I certainly did a lot of maintenance on the old Zuke to keep it running strong for so long. Hoping to get a good number of years from the Opti.

Water pressure sensor makes sense. Following the gray tube, it has what looks like some sort of indicator (like a turkey indicator). I "fiddled" with it, but found it in the condition you see it in below. It certainly looks like it's trying to indicate something to me, but I'm really not sure. Is this "normal?"

I need to get my hands on the service manual.

[Tango]

That is the water pressure sending unit for the Smartcraft system. Which connector does it have for the main harness? Does it have the early or late fuel system?

[chackett]

That is the water pressure sending unit for the Smartcraft system. Which connector does it have for the main harness? Does it have the early or late fuel system?

Thanks! To be honest, I'm not sure. I was going to have to start a whole new thread to see if I could get someone to help me figure out all this SmartCraft business

There is a 10-pin CAN connector on the engine, but I can't find one anywhere on the harness that came with the motor. It did come with 2 smartcraft gauges (Speedo & Tach) .. both have cracks and a burned out LCD. I'm familiar with gaugesaver and will probably send at least the tach to him for repair.

Since I couldn't find a CAN connector anywhere on the main wiring harness, I purchased the long blue cable and snaked it from the CAN connector under the cowling to the center console, where I plugged it into a junction box. I bought a tachometer harness for the tach, and plugged that into the junction box. It definitely gets power, and you can tell there's something going on with the LCD (although it's too burned out to tell what exactly), but the actual tachometer needle doesn't move when you start the motor. I've been really surprised at how little help I've been able to find online with this smartcraft stuff. I've seen and read several of the guides / documents that are available, but it's just not been much help for me unfortunately. It seems like some cables have resistors built-in .. some have a resistor only on one end? Sometimes it matters which direction you plug a cable in, other times it doesn't? One person tells me I need resistors in all empty spaces on the junction box, some say just a dust cover. Some people say get the yellow cap resistor, some people say theirs is purple. Lol. I obviously have a lot to learn

Thanks for the response, I do appreciate it!

Chris

[Tango]

Chris,

I'll be driving most of this week, so just give me a call. Where are you located? Take a few more photos of the right side and left side of the powered. If you've run the data cable forward, did you install a termination plug in the junction box and is the one installed on the powerhead?

I'll try to walk you thru it best I can on the phone. If you were close to SC, I'd say run on by when I get back and we'll go thru it together. I have a bunch of Smartcraft stuff.

David@AldenTransport.com
713.817.7571

Email me and I'll send you the manuals on the full schematics.

[XstreamVking]

I have an 03 225 opti...Be thankful it has the single TPS on it and not the old style dual TPS set up. They are good engines. The air compressor on mine was replaced at 1200 hrs and the reeds were replaced ( Chris Carson's reeds) at the same time. Both good things to do BEFORE failure occurs.

[chackett]

Chris,

I'll be driving most of this week, so just give me a call. Where are you located? Take a few more photos of the right side and left side of the powered. If you've run the data cable forward, did you install a termination plug in the junction box and is the one installed on the powerhead?

I'll try to walk you thru it best I can on the phone. If you were close to SC, I'd say run on by when I get back and we'll go thru it together. I have a bunch of Smartcraft stuff.

David@AldenTransport.com
713.817.7571

Email me and I'll send you the manuals on the full schematics.

Nice! Thanks so much David, I really appreciate that. I am in the office today, so won't be able to do anything today. Tomorrow I can take some photos and maybe message you separately with how things look on my end. Friday - Sunday I'm going with a buddy to Lake Martin in AL to chase some big striper. So maybe one day next week we can figure this out?

Oh .. for terminators .. I don't have any installed anywhere, which for a while I suspected was my problem. I've only been able to locate a single 10 pin CAN connector anywhere on the boat. It's under the cowling and I believe is the one people frequently refer to as the "engine mounted CAN connector." Looking at other diagrams, they all show a CAN connector somewhere outside the cowling as a branch from the main wiring harness, but I've not been able to locate one. ... sooo .. with all that being said, I don't see how or where I could connect a resistor on the engine side of the cable, since the cable is plugged into the only CAN connector I can find. Someone on another forum said some of the data cables have no resistors built in, some have a resistor built into one end, and some have a resistor built into both ends. I'm sure I have no idea, but visually my data cable looks the same on both ends.

I'll reach out and see if we can't get to the bottom of all this. I really appreciate your being willing to help out. Oh .. and I'm in Gainesville GA, on Lake Lanier ..

Thanks!
Chris

[chackett]

I have an 03 225 opti...Be thankful it has the single TPS on it and not the old style dual TPS set up. They are good engines. The air compressor on mine was replaced at 1200 hrs and the reeds were replaced ( Chris Carson's reeds) at the same time. Both good things to do BEFORE failure occurs.

Sorry I missed this before, I think I was typing my previous reply when this was posted. I'm not positive, but if I were a bettin' man, I'd say the air compressor has been replaced (or possibly rebuilt). It has an orange (or yellow, I can't remember) dot on it that looks to me like the kind of mark a mechanic puts on something when it's been replaced or rebuilt. I hope so, I really don't want to have to deal with that right now