An alarm went off

[204 Escape]

Went to the lake yesterday, for the firs outing of the year. After about 45 minutes of running, and pulling a tube, an alarm went off.

This is a 5.0 220hp Mercruiser carburated unit, with a ALpha One outdrive on it. (It is a 2006 model).

The temp guage would go back and forth between 175/200 degrees. It didn't stay at the 200 degree mark long. We loaded up immediately.

Is this an impeller, or debris from the water?

The lake was "dirty", from the recent storms. If it is dirty, how do I clean it out, and what do I clean ??

I flushed out the fins in the lower unit.

I found that the small hole on the backside of the lower unit was plugged, and I cleaned it out. I am to understand that this particular hole is for the speedometer.

Thanx, for any input.

 

[sleeper]

Re: An alarm went off

Has the boat had a new impeller since 2006? If not, it needs one.

 

[204 Escape]

Re: An alarm went off

No, it hasn't. It was a leftover '06 boat. I bought it last August. It had never been started when I bought it. I guess that it could need a new impeller.

 

[danond]

Re: An alarm went off

GAH! Quit changing the font and color.

 

[Bondo]

Re: An alarm went off

GAH! Quit changing the font and color.

Ayuh,... Ditto....

 

[AZSenza]

Re: An alarm went off

Not sure about late model Alphas but my Bravo has a remote lube resevoir, when its low an alarm sounds. The first time it took me a little while to realize that was the problem. Topped it off and its been fine. Have you restarted it since then? Did it go away once cooled off? How is your oil pressure? You should have around 10 psi at idle and 35-40psi at speed (~3000+ rpm). Oil pressure, Temp and drive resevoir (If equipped) are the only things that will set the buzzer off!

 

[AZSenza]

Re: An alarm went off

To flush it, run the engine on muffs for a few minutes, yes that hole is for the speedo, mine gets clogged a lot too ( I try to avoid hitting logs). Dig out what you can, if a little water pours out after, your good, if not, youll need to disconnect the tube at the disonnect point on the outdrive and blow air to the drive side (NEVER TOWARDS THE SPEEDOMETER SIDE!)

 

[Fun Times]

Re: An alarm went off

Went to the lake yesterday, for the firs outing of the year. After about 45 minutes of running, and pulling a tube, an alarm went off.

This is a 5.0 220hp Mercruiser carburated unit, with a ALpha One outdrive on it. (It is a 2006 model).

The temp guage would go back and forth between 175/200 degrees. It didn't stay at the 200 degree mark long. We loaded up immediately.

Is this an impeller, or debris from the water?

The lake was "dirty", from the recent storms. If it is dirty, how do I clean it out, and what do I clean ??

I flushed out the fins in the lower unit.

I found that the small hole on the backside of the lower unit was plugged, and I cleaned it out. I am to understand that this particular hole is for the speedometer.

Thanx, for any input.

Are you going to do the work your self or have a shop do it? Have you ever ran the engine out at home on the hose? If that impeller has ever ran dry for 30 seconds or more while at home or on the lake or at the ramp then more then likely the impeller is bad. And right at three years it is time to change it any ways. But if it is not the impeller and the lake was that dirty then some thing is cloging up the water system in the drive or in the engine and some times it could be the oil cooler is cloged up because it some times has small holes inside it and get cloged up fast Or the thermostat has picked up some type of dirt and it could be stuck half closed "if you will" So it can't do it's job makeing it run hot at different RPMs speeds. These are some of the main things that go wrong from the info you gave. Good luck with it.

 

[204 Escape]

Re: An alarm went off

We got the impeller changed today, along with the gasket, and the lower unit oil.

The temp dropped, and is running at a consistant 175*.

BUT, there is still an alarm that is intermittent, that goes off. Dealer said it was one of 3 alarms. For water temp, (I think it is o.k.), oil pressure, (guage shows fine, and is full of oil), or lower unit low on oil. Lower unit oil, was just changed, with the new impeller installation, and the resovior, isDealer thinks it is a bad alarm/sensor.

 

[Fun Times]

Re: An alarm went off

Did they say the impeller was bad? Do they think the drive oil bottle is bad and sounding the horn? You could try unpluging the bottle to see if the horn stops. If it dose stop buy a new bottle and install and fill it up [ASAP] If the horn still stays sounding with it unpluged take it back to the dealer. Also the engine should run at right a round 160-165 degress it self, But a lot of times some gauges read 175, Is that what your gauge always ran in the past?

 

[204 Escape]

Re: An alarm went off

Yeah, the boat ran +/- 165-170 before. It only has 24 hours on it right now, so I'm not 100% on it. But, it will be going back to the dealership again.

To me, the impellar did NOT look bad. However, athe mechanic said that it needed replaced.

The boat was a leftover 2006 model. It had never seen water at all. We bought it in Aug., of '07, and only ran it about 12 hours. Last year, we only got about 8-10 hours on it, as work had been bad, and the $ was short here.

BUT, I've always been told that the impeller should be replaced at least every "2" years". So, I had it replaced today. I filled the container up today, (it didn't need much at all), and I checked the oil level again. Everything was fine.

Providing that I can get there next week-end, I will have it checked out throughly.