Optimax 150 Alarm beep question

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Hey everyone, I was going to run the engine one last time before putting it away tonight. I went to fire it up, turned over just fine, but as soon as I turned the key past the choke (one beep), and turned the engine over, it started to beep intermittently as long as the engine was running.

The engine fired up okay and idled fine. I didn't notice the idle too high or too low, and the engine didn't chug or sputter or anything like that. I never saw any water coming out of the pee hole, but it usually takes a few minutes before it starts cycling through and since it was beeping, I didn't run the engine that long before turning it off.

I let the engine sit for a few minutes and then tried it again, same thing. I can't seem to find anywhere on the internet what this beeping refers to? It has been freezing here overnight, could it be anything to do with the weather? I've got oil in the reservoir and I primed the bulb like always.

Any thoughts, thanks.

 

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Hi there, how many beeps are you getting with the engine running?

 

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Hey FT, thanks for the reply. It's beeping non-stop when the engine is running and will keep beeping until I shut it off. The beeping starts as soon as I turn the key to crank it. The engine fires up, and it keeps beeping.

According to the that table, it would be the throttle sensor? Would this have anything to do with it sitting for a month in freezing temperatures?

 

[Fun Times]

According to the that table, it would be the throttle sensor? Would this have anything to do with it sitting for a month in freezing temperatures?

Seems unlikely the cold temp would be effecting the TPS sensor. What year is the engine? Seems there were some TPS problems in the late 90's.

Also the most common problem is a sticky float inside the engine mounted oil reservoir (or water in the fuel filter) and while the manual says it's 4 beeps every 2 minutes for the oil, there are many reports online saying some engine models have experienced a constant alarm with oil tank problems.

Have you tried searching online optimax countuies beeps? Hours of reading and how to check a few things on the oil/electrical system. If it is a TPS, you're going to need too either test the TPS with a multimeter or buy yourself a marine scan to check the live data, etc. etc.

Here's one example of a bad oil reservoir tank float sender.
http://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/thr...problem.34937/

A video of how to jump/test the oil sensor for you,
http://bluewaterpirate.phanfare.com/5621532

 

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Thanks again FT. I think I'll check the on engine oil tank. A couple weeks ago I took it out and the oil reservoir on the engine had not filled up properly as it sat for quite a while. It was an easy fix. Just remove the cap and let the oil come right to the top. It may be the same thing here. I'll test that and see what happens.

Appreciate the feedback and advice.

 

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UPDATE

The weather has warmed quite a bit, so I thought I'd try and fire it up today and see if I still got the beeps. Before doing so, I removed the little cap from the on-board oil reservoir. I had this problem about two months ago. I got the 4 beeps every 2 minutes and found out it was the oil reservoir not filling up. So I removed the cap, fired it, it started to spill over, and that was that. No more beeps, and I used it the entire day with no problems. That was about 2 months ago.

Today I removed the cap and fired it up. Fired no problem, but I had the intermittent beeps again, and no oil started to spill out of the reservoir. I gave it about 2 minutes while I waited for it, but it never started spilling. So I shut it off in case I'm not getting any oil through the system.

So that's where I'm at. I check the connections to my main oil tank in the boat, and all looks good. Could it be that somewhere along the oil lines oil isn't getting in? Do you think it is an oil problem? My main tank is 3/4 full.

Any ideas would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fun Times]

Sounds like you may have a oil flow problem between the two oil tanks. If so, it could be an internal problem of the main tank like sludge build up, a clogged inline oil filter, or check valve problem on the oil lines between the two tanks. Without knowing your year or serial number, Item numbers 11 and 17 are your examples in the first link below. # 6 is a check valve as well.
Also keep in mind a cracked oil cap, missing/damaged cap seal could affect the oil flow too.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show...=5338&bnbr=130&bdesc=OIL+INJECTION+COMPONENTS

Here are some really helpful tips of what and how to check your oil flow system. http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/010923.html
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/ref...Injection.html

Check valve discussion, http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engin...injection-part

Hope you find this to be an easy one to figure out, let us know....Good luck.

 

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Thanks again FT. I'll take a look in the next few days and see what I come up with.

On a side note, I also noticed that the engine wasn't peeing as it should be. Could the beeps be something to do with water (not) circulating through and cooling the engine?

 

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UPDATE: I chatted with my mechanic and he says it's definitely an oil problem. Any intermittent beep on the 150 Opti has to do with oil, a straight beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep has to do with temperature.

Not trusting abilities with this engine, I decided to bring it in and have him look at it. He's guessing it could be something as simple as a hose popping off due to the cold weather we've been having. But who knows, it could be anything. But I know my little oil reservoir under the cowling isn't getting oil because it didn't overflow the last time I ran it and took the cap off. So needless to say I shut it down pretty fast. No oil is a bad thing.

Anyways, when I get it back, I'll post an update.