Sea-Doo speedster 200 DESS Problem?

[olekwj]

Still chasing a problem on 2007 Speedster 200, with twin 215’s. I’m almost certain this is a DESS problem. It might be 2 separate problems. While idling out, the port engine will die. No beeps, no engine lights,nothing just dies. If I push start button I get nothing, no beeps no starting. So I pull the DESS lanyard, and reinstall it and it usually get 2 beeps per engine and it starts right up. Then it may die again after a few seconds or a few minutes... then I pull DESS and reinstall and it will fire up again. At some point it will remain running for a while but may die again, no Rhyme or reason. Sometimes like yesterday, it dies and I pull DESS and reinstall and the DESS doesn’t respond, so I put DESS on and off a bunch of times and may take 3 tries may take 20 tries and all the sudden the DESS works and i get my 2 beeps for each engine and I fire both of them up and I’m on my way. This almost always happens after boat has sat for 5 hours beached and it’s when I try to start it to go home. Doesn’t make any sense. Most of the time when I put boat in water both engines run great for 20 min solid hauling ass around the lake. But once I park it and let it sit a while something is happening. It always starts up to go home, but port engine is guaranteed to die. Definitely seems like the DESS system is problematic and is shutting down the port engine because if it wasn’t the DESS then it should start right back up without having to pull the DESS. I’ve tested that, by just hitting stop button while both engines are running and it kills the engine, then I push start and it fires right back up, don’t have to pull DESS. BTW, I’ve replaced DESS with OEM DESS post and DESS key from Sea-Doo. I installed voltmeter and new battery, I’ve swapped the ECU’s on engines, I’ve swapped fuel pumps on engines, I’ve installed a brand new VCM twin engine module. The problem has stayed on the port engine. And the DESS is just very inconsistent. Works 100% of the time when in driveway or starting for the 1st time but after that you never know if it’s gonna cause problems. I have a CANDOO pro and no codes except P0600 which I’ve been told is a code almost always there when using a CANDOO, has something to do with the connection of Candoo and the boat. Loss of packets or something. I’d love to hear some ideas of what else to check and troubleshoot, I’m out of ideas.

 

[Mister Magoo]

Use the Candoo scanner to disable the DESS system. That should eliminate the DESS system. Since you have swapped all the parts from one engine to the other maybe the problem is in the wiring or a connector.

 

[olekwj]

Use the Candoo scanner to disable the DESS system. That should eliminate the DESS system. Since you have swapped all the parts from one engine to the other maybe the problem is in the wiring or a connector.

Ok, I’ll try that. So when I disable DESS, that’s gonna wipe out all keys....let’s say I end up needing or wanting to re enable DESS at some point, will I be able to program a key again?

 

[olekwj]

Ok, I’ll try that. So when I disable DESS, that’s gonna wipe out all keys....let’s say I end up needing or wanting to re enable DESS at some point, will I be able to program a key again?

I’m currently trying to disable DESS on the port engine and it doesn’t respond when I click disable... any idea why?

 

[Mister Magoo]

Yes you will be able to reprogram your keys anytime and turn on the DESS. That Candoo scanner software is kind of weird. See if you can use the write function: disable the DESS/remove the keys then write to the boat, remove the key and wait until the boat icon goes red then reinstall the key. I think you have to remove all keys for both engines.
Here's what I found about DESS system: The positive side comes from the VCM and is always hot. The negative side comes directly from the ECM and is the side that is switched.
I did like you did, I bought a new VCM thinking that was my problem but mine was the ECM. I had similar problems to you; engine would just die. Sometimes I could take the key on and off several times to get it to work, sometimes not. It started getting worse and worse and eventually I could not get my engine to start when warm.
Make sure there is no corrosion in the connectors. The Candoo forum has a lot of info about using the scanner to solve these problems. I see you posted this over there also, Dennis will answer your post.

Try swapping the fuse blocks.

 

[olekwj]

Yes you will be able to reprogram your keys anytime and turn on the DESS. That Candoo scanner software is kind of weird. See if you can use the write function: disable the DESS/remove the keys then write to the boat, remove the key and wait until the boat icon goes red then reinstall the key. I think you have to remove all keys for both engines.
Here's what I found about DESS system: The positive side comes from the VCM and is always hot. The negative side comes directly from the ECM and is the side that is switched.
I did like you did, I bought a new VCM thinking that was my problem but mine was the ECM. I had similar problems to you; engine would just die. Sometimes I could take the key on and off several times to get it to work, sometimes not. It started getting worse and worse and eventually I could not get my engine to start when warm.
Make sure there is no corrosion in the connectors. The Candoo forum has a lot of info about using the scanner to solve these problems. I see you posted this over there also, Dennis will answer your post.

Try swapping the fuse blocks.

I finally was able to remove all keys and disable DESS. Gonna see if it helps next time out. Did you disable DESS or get a new ECU?
When I bought this boat it had a bad ECU on the port engine. I swapped them And the problem followed the ECU, so I ordered a brand new ECU. The new ECU went in the starboard engine because I had left the ECU’s swapped. When this problem started on port engine it had the ECU that came off starboard engine. So I swapped them again using the new ECU on the port engine and the problem didn’t change or move engines so I’m still pretty positive it’s not my new ECU, but I did have a RAM Fault code just now from over the weekend on the port engine new ECU. What you think? I guess I can swap the ECU’s again

 

[Mister Magoo]

My problem started with my engine shutting down, intermittently. After a couple of months with this problem it errored a P1655, which is DESS line shorted to 12v. Disabled the DESS system, which worked for awhile but problem came back, I never knew when the engine would shut down or if I could get it started. Pulled the entire wiring harness from the boat and cleaned every connector and looked for bad wiring. Still had the problem so I bought a VCM and DESS post but problem of shutting down just got more frequent. Replaced the ECU and now have 20 hours of trouble free boating with a working DESS system.
Search the Candoo forum about the RAM fault codes, I read some good info about that problem a few months ago.
Good luck.