Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

[Randy22]

Talk about the run-a-round. Hopefully, someone out there can give me some straight talk to this issue as I can't find it anywhere else.

I have twin 1998 200HP Mercury Offshore (not EFI) motors with roughly 320 hours on the starboard and 345 on the port engine. Few weeks ago coming in from a fishing trip and running both at idle, the starboard engine starts the beep-beep-beep. Never heard that before, but had read in my owners manual long time ago that when you hear that, shut the engine down. I could not recall if the beep was over heat or oil injection failure, but regardless shut the engine down. Fifteen minutes later, port engine starts the same thing. I'm at the dock by now, so that engine is shut down and of couse when I get home, I look in my manual and indication is oil injector failure of some sort.

Here is where the fun begins. Everyone I have spoken to tell me the chance of both alarm monitors going back are slim to none and the chance of both injectors going back are the same. But that is as far as anyone will go. Their solution is to change the alarm monitors at $200+ each and see if that fixes the problem. These are electrical components, so there is no returning them if they don't work. As far as I can tell, both my main and reserve oil canisters are full.

Does anybody have any ideas regarding checking something else. Question...if I connect an engine to a regular six gallon tank with gas/oil mix and run the engine, will the alarms still beep if the engine is getting the correct mixture. Is there anything I can do to perform a "process of elimination"? When I turn my keys on, I am getting the same alarm letting me know the system is working (boy is it working). Any assistance would be appreciated. FYI...never had either of these engines in the shop for anything.

 

[gss036]

Re: Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

Yes , the alarm will still go off w/50-1 mixture in a 6 gal tank. I would be thinking electrical, something in common w/both engines. Do you have seperate alarm beepers or just one. Probably located under the dash.
Check battery grounds and connections.
You will probably need a Mercury OEM manual to work with, check E-Bay, might be one floating around there.

 

[Randy22]

Re: Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

Thanks for the info. Yes, the alarm is located underneath the dash and that may be the one "common" element for both motors. The only hesitation I would have in saying that was the problem would be the fifteen (15) minute delay between motors sounding off as there was silence between those times. I assume Mercury does not have some type of maintenance alarm when you reach a certain milestone in terms of hours that might go off and have you rush to your nearest dealer???? If you were me, would you maybe invest in one alarm monitor and change it out to see if that one engine would run without the alarm? Thanks for the help....

 

[gss036]

Re: Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

I tyhink you would be wasting your money at this point. There are several things that will set off the alarm. One is in the engine tank, it has a float in it w/magnetic that will do it. Trace the wires back to the bayonet connection, disconnect the one that does not go to ground, see if that helps, if the alarm stops then maybe the cap on the oil tank. Loossen the cap a little to see if oil is getting pushed up to the tank. If so, then retighten (just enough to keep from leaking, as they have a tendancy to crack if overtightened). Then there is monitor that check for rotation of the oil pump. It is also magnetic pick up device that tells you if the pump is rotating. You can always run the engine on the 6 gal tank and disconnect the oil line coming from the pump to the fuel blend connection to see if oil is moving.
Like I said before, maybe you need a Merc manual.

 

[Randy22]

Re: Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

I'll trace out the lines and give that a try. I had read either on this forum or another regarding the magnet in the engine tank so I unscrewed the port oil tank and it looked OK. Then I put the cap back on and you guessed it...too tight and the top completely broke away from the base. I'll be placing an order on Monday (unless they can be glued back, but probably not worth the change of it leaking).

Let me run this by you. I fired the starboard engine today and blue smoke came out. Didn't look at thick as I recall seeing it, but by now, I've become so over cautious that I'm not sure what I remember it looked like. Only let it run about 10 seconds.

One final question...are the oil tank on the engines under pressure? After I fired the starboard engine up for the 10 seconds, I thought I might check the oil there and when I loosened the cap, oil came out. Is that a good, bad or indifferenct sign? Thanks again for the courtsey of your time...

 

[gss036]

Re: Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

No!, The tank on the engine is not pressurized. Yes, it was good thing that oil came out when the tank cap was loosened, it shows that the engine is pressurizing the boat tank which is what is supposed to happen, pushing oil into the engine tank. The oil is gravity fed to the oil pump. Too bad about breaking the cap, been there, done that. That is why I consistantly tell every only tighten enough to keep from leaking.
Blue smoke is from oil, so that is a good sign. You always get more smoke at start-up because of gas evaporation leaving all the oil in the carbs. If you check the line coming from the oil pump, you can tell whether it is pumping oil or not. Just use your portable tank w/premix, just a a precaution.
Back to one of my orginial questions, does each engine have a seperate alarm module? If not then you may just have a bad buzzer, not unheard of by any means.
Why you are messing with oil lines, check to make sure they are not brittle or cracked and in good condition, if in doubt replace them, they are cheap. That is one area that if one breaks or comes loose, there "IS NO ALARM" to warn you of failure, just a seized engine.

 

[Randy22]

Re: Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

I forgot to look at the alarm(s) under the console. I'll take a peek tomorrow afternoon to see if there is a single or two. I'll give you a note back.

I looked at the hoses today and they seem to be in very good condition. However, this is a '97 SeaRay Laguna and although it has only 375 hours on the boat, I realize hoses dryrot. Since they are dual hoses, is this something to get from the Mercury dealer? You brought up a good point should one or both go out 60 miles off shore. I've seen several messages regarding "bleeding lines". If I change these lines out, what is the best was to get the air out. Thanks...

 

[Randy22]

Re: Straight Answer - Mercury Outboard Alarms

From what I can tell, there is only one unit under the dash. Since this is an enclosed head area on my boat, when that high pitch goes off, it is difficult to tell exactly where it is coming from. I actually traced it by feeling the vibration from the unit. Question...is the buzzer unit a Mercury or a Sea Ray part? I'm wondering where I might order a replacement for this? I've read a couple of articles where people cut the wires going to their horn in order to stop the beeping. I have a separatae horn so the beeps on my boat are not coming from the bow area where the horn is located. Thanks...

Out of curiosity, do you know about or have worked on Jet Skis? Since I am waiting on a resolution to my Mercury problems, we took the jet ski out yesterday and something went wrong with the water pump. It ran hot and then the engine compartment began to fill us with water. Any thoughts or advise? (1996 Sea Doo GTI with less than 100 hours - Never been in the shop - used very little)