Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

I've been dealing with Malibu and my dealer, Taylor's Boats in Draper, Utah, for the life of my boat (8 months) about two annoying warranty issues on my 2015 T23 with SP2 that they either cannot fix or will not fix.

The first is the tower speakers buzz. Pretty much all the time. Initially (from day 1 of owning the boat) 2 of the 4 speakers, now 3 of the 4. They state they have multiple boats with this issue and neither them, their stereo contractor guy, nor Malibu knows how to fix it. Reportedly, in somebody's boat, not mine, they have swapped out every part of the stereo one at a time and that has not fixed the problem. At this point they aren't willing to do any more work on my boat to try to fix it unless Malibu can tell them how to do so. "Bring it back in the Spring and maybe we can fix it then." They won't take the parts off and pay me the difference between SP1 and SP2 so I can go buy a stereo on the open market that would be installed by someone that knows how to fix their own work.

The second is that I get a check engine light and alarm coming on without going into limp mode. It corresponds to the fuel pressure sensor. It happens most days I take the boat out, but not every day. It is easily reset by turning the battery off. But will usually come back on later that day or the next. It happens when the fuel tank is full, half-full, and mostly empty, usually during acceleration. The dealership says they cannot reproduce the problem in the shop. Malibu says it is PCM's issue. The dealership says PCM won't authorize them to replace parts unless the problem can be reproduced in the shop.

A nice customer service attitude (which they always have) is great, but what I really want is actual customer service. I want the boat I bought brand new ($80K+) with a warranty on it to actually work the way it is supposed to work. It's embarrassing to take friends and family out on something I spent so much money on to listen to a buzzy stereo and watch the check engine light keep coming on like it's a 20 year old beater.

Any recommendations for how to proceed? What would you do at this point? Keep taking it back to the dealership once a month all season? Keep calling and bugging Malibu? Call PCM? Take it to a stereo shop and pay to have it fixed myself? Blast them on the internet?

I have a 13 a22. The speakers buzz in it also. I kept returning it under warranty with no luck. Now the warranty is out so I don't have to worry about it anymore just listen to the junk stereo with the buzzing while on the lake. I have never hated a boat more than an axis

Speaker buzz is a semi-common issue with boats, even new boats. Keep in mind dealers and manufactures are not gurus in boat audio which can be more complicated than diagnosing car audio. Also, factory wires/cables are usually not the best grade and often not securely connected or routed/wired correctly to eliminate noise. I know it's not the answer you want seeing that you guys are talking about it being a warranty issue, however, a reputable marine audio shop should be able to figure out. Only once in all my boats (Supra) I had annoying buzz in the tower speakers. I took my boat to Earmark to have a custom bass reflex box built and sub installed but I told them about the buzz. Got my boat back and it was totally quiet. Unfortunately the diagnosis and rewire will cost out of pocket if taken to an audio shop. My dealer has brought in an audio tech from a marine audio shop before to diagnos and/or work on complicated issues.

Not sure if this will work but this is how I would handle it
If you know of a good marine audio dealer in your area take your boat to your dealer and tell them to bring it to the audio shop or bring someone in to fix your boat. The audio shop will bill your dealer and your dealer could bill it as warranty labor to Malibu.

I had this problem to, well mine only happened when the boat was on, don't know if yours is the same or not my dealer came to me and tried replacing basically everything and nothing changed, in the mean time I put some cheap filters between the amps and stereo which made the sound a lot quieter. Basically just masking the sound. In the end I believe my dealer ended up putting a filter on the ground wire. I was also told that Malibu has boats with this problem and doesn't know how to fix it.

This. Mine did the same thing. I replaced all the RCA cables with good quality ones and got everything on a common ground. By everything I mean amps, 420, and radio. It has solved my issue. The rca's used my Malibu are garbage.

Sounds like you used a ground loop or similar to reduce it. They work to a point.

I hope those with this issue, while not our faults and frustrating, realize it can be fixed properly. It just takes someone with the skill and knowledge of marine audio and knowledge of where/how noise is created and eliminated in the marine environment

My wine pretty much disappeared when I added the zld... I also ground the bluetooth directly to the battery as with the factory bluetooth wiring they do not do this. I still have a very slight buzz but very minimal.

I would reach out to PCM. They are very helpful... I've reached out to them twice and they have helped resolve my issue collaborating with the dealer. I ended up getting both PCM and my dealer on an email and had them give me updates until my issue was resolved. It was resolved in a few days after I went that route. I left that experience being very satisfied with PCM's customer service.

my 15 has a buzz and my last 2 boats had a buzz. grounding and powering all stereo components from the distribution block fixed it in my last boat... havent had the chance to do the same in this one.

My buddy had the same issue with his 2015 A23 on the check engine coming on. A lot of the new PCMs had to be reflashed but some dealers didn't get the computers yet to do it. Once they did that m, the problem went away.