supra ballast won't fill

[wakedude125]

Last weekend we went out with our 4 month old 06 sunsport 24v with wakeboard package and we surfed on goofy side with ballast. Once we switched to regular the ballast wouldn't fill. If you turned the boat off you could hear the pump working on right and bow but left rear you didn't hear a thing. Is this common? What's wrong? What should we do?

[lowdrag]

Well, since the ballast all works off of the same fill pump, I'd say the pump is fine but you probably have an electrical problem with the solenoid or switch for you left rear bag. I had a similar problem with the front bag and noticed when it happened that the light on the switch was not working at the time either. Do the other bags fill when you can hear the pump is running?

wakedude,
sounds like it is just a priming issue... very easy....
Get the boat up on plane and then turn your ballast on to fill. See if that is it. Some times it takes a little pressure and when you are on plane it will do that. Sometimes I turn my switches on and off while on plane and it will get it primed and ready to roll. They will fill a lot quicker when you are on plane also. Hope that is the problem otherwise you will have to keep searching for your prob or take it to your dealer. Good luck.....

[Diggs]

Sounds like a priming issue. If so very easy...
Get the boat up on plane and then turn on your fill switches. That should prime the pump and get it going. I sometimes flip the switches on and off once on plane and they get going. Your bags will fill much quicker while on plan anyway. Good luck.

[wakedude125]

Yes our other ballast bags do fill. If we turn on the right you hear the pump. but like i said on left you cannot hear a thing.

[wakedude125]

thanks diggs we will try it

[Diggs]

if the other bags are filling it would not be the pump needing to be primed cause the same pump should fill all of them. Check the connection and make sure it has not been pinched or something. Sometimes the bags get out of position and can pinch or kink the hose. check that.... good luck

[lowdrag]

I'll say it again. If the pump runs when you turn your other bags on but you can not hear it run on one bag. It is electrical. Something in the switch and wiring for the bag in question is not turning the pump on and not energizing the solenoid and opening it for that bag.

[wakedude125]

Thanks but one difference is our light for switch does turn on.

[jsantos615]

I have the same problem on my Sunsport 24 V. The two rear ballasts will fill properly, but the front will not. This is a brand new boat and the dealer suggested that it is a solenoid issue, I'll have them look at it when I have my 20 hour check done.

[lowdrag]

jsantos,

If you want to check it yourself, start by opening the v-drive cover to get to the pump manifold. Turn your front ballast switch on and see if the pump is running. If it is, it's probably the solenoid if the system is primed and the other bags are filling just fine. From there just flip the little black switch on the solenoid for the front bag. If you get water to the front then, I'd say it has to be the solenoid or wiring. You can use that method to fill the front bag until you get the problem taken care of. Just be aware that you need to flip the solenoid switch back when you're done filling it or running the pump to fill any of bags will also fill the front. The front bag may also slowly fill while you're running at speed. If the pump doesn't run while you're trying to fill the front bag you can still flip the solenoid switch while running the rear bags to get it to fill until the dealer gets it taken care of.

[Diggs]

Originally posted by lowdrag


I'll say it again. If the pump runs when you turn your other bags on but you can not hear it run on one bag. It is electrical. Something in the switch and wiring for the bag in question is not turning the pump on and not energizing the solenoid and opening it for that bag.

He cold be right, but you will notice the sound of the pump much louder at the front compartment than you will in the back. This is because it is pumping from right there. I can't hear my pumps from the back compartments.

[taft]

Im having a problem with one of my rear ballasts, but in my case it wont empty past a certain point. It will empty fine at the beginning, then it will stop leaving 20 or more pounds of water in the bag. I'll hold the bag up so all the water is over the hose and that will usually fix it however, lately even that hasn't been working. I made sure the hose wasn't kinked, so Im not sure what it is. Anyone ever experienced this? (it sometimes seems like the suction kicks out on that one bag, but every other bag works perfectly.)

[Diggs]

taft....
totally normal... it never gets all the water. just roll the bag down towards the drain (applying pressure) and then flip on the switch if you want it totally empty....

[lowdrag]

I can rarely ever get my bags to empty completely on their own. Sometimes the pumps seem to get air locked or something and I have to toggle the switch on and off a couple of times to get them pumping again. I've also had the rear bags get rolled over before so the discharge hose is on the top instead of the bottom.

[jsantos615]

Lowdrag -

Thanks for the tip! I'll give it a try this weekend.

It's kinda disappointing though; a boat in this price range should not have problems like this when purchased new.

-j