Outboard techs or opinions? Suzuki 20 horse

[Duckslayer89]

Just picked up a boat from my dad, little 15 foot aluminum but it has a 20 horse 4 stroke Suzuki on it. It’s a 2017 he bought brand new. He had the boat in front of his house and when the tide went out it went up on a rock and then somehow the motor got some water inside. Not swamped just a little bit. But it did something to the ECU where the power tilt wasn’t working and the engine runs rough until warned up. The starter was also staying engaged once power was put to the engine in nuetral. Could this all be caused by just a bad ECU?

[GWP]

Doubtful. Take everything apart and clean/lube everything. There are sprays that can enhance electrical properties for all the connectors. The starter sounds like a corrosion issue if it is sticking, hard to say about the tilt, but it is probably not connected to the ECU. There again, clean connectors, check switches if they got soaked.
The poor engine running itself may be water as well, if some got inside and/or in the fuel system, either tank or float bowl, unless it has fuel injection.
Either way, it probably should have been addressed directly after the incident. Salt water is VERY hard on everything. But that boat has sailed. Pun intended! Good luck!

[Duckslayer89]

Thanks man I took some of the electrical apart and the corrosion was intense on some of the relays. A friend of a friend is a technician at a marine repair shop I think he is going to tackle it at his house for cheaper than bringing it in and try to get it figured out. I’m no expert mechanic but can do basic stuff. I kind of want someone who knows outboards to deal with it. He said possibly new wiring harness? But ya my dad didn’t realize it till weeks after it happened I think he said. I talked to an outboard place in Tacoma and they said usually ECU is do or die on those things after I posted this