Alarm??? - Maxum Boat Owners Club

F5MANN · 07-25-2010, 05:56 PM

I never questioned what the 1 bbep alarm? was when starting up the engines, I just assumed the alarm was a warning that the engines were in start mode. However, I am getting the same alarm after 1 engine has been ideling for several minutes. The engine stays running and does maintain RPM -but I am at the dock) ...Can someone give me some education here?

Thank,

seapuppy · 07-26-2010, 01:43 AM

well..there are 3 items that are being monitored....1)engine oil pressure...)drive oil level..ie the reservoir and finally 3) engine over temp...those are the only things being checked...now if your getting some beeping..then the first thing to check is the reservoir...if the level is low ..it should beep...sometimes the sensor will fail..you could have full reservoir and it beeps......

SP

F5MANN · 07-26-2010, 11:56 AM

Thanx SP. The alarm on the SB engine is weaker in tone than the P engine alarm. Also the SB engine looses RPM and shuts down. I will have a mechanic check it out but can you tell me what purpose 2 beeps mean when starting the engines? I am curious.

Thanx,

shrew · 07-26-2010, 01:36 PM

When you turn the key to accessory, it should beep simply to indicate that your alarm system is working correctly. The overheat alarm should be a long continuous 'beep'. I would not suspect starting and idling at the dock to cause overheating issues, but obviously the guage would confirm it (hopefully) The manual should have the beep codes in it. Though, drive oil levels will not cause an engine to loose RPM's and/or stall.

F5MANN · 07-29-2010, 04:15 PM

It was the water pump!!! Mechanic with his Mercury Marine EFI Computer found 2 codes registerd. 1 for over heating and the second for low oil pressure. Exactly how I had reported my issue. After taking me to school on the how's & why's of good boat maintenance and record keeping, I had him change both impellars. After the repair engines ran without alarm issues and after 20+ minutes, no codes and cool engines. I do keep records of any and all maintenance I have performed on the boat but I had not gotten around to checking the water pumps! I will have them visually checked every 50 hours from now on...and replaced at the 100 hour service.

Thanks to all,

Timski · 10-18-2010, 03:55 PM

I have had a similar alarm issue on my SB engine but only after running for about 45-60 minutes. The gauges do not indicate anything is overheated, I changed the impeller and it did not solve the problem. Any suggestions?

F5MANN · 10-18-2010, 04:27 PM

Hello Timski,

The engine alarms default on 3 issues, 1) low oil pressure, 2) over temp (>175 f), 3) transmission fluid temp too hot ( what is too hot -I have no idea but.. As a guy who has been down the road on the alarm issues, I strongly suggest that you get with a marine mechanic that has the proper MerCruiser computer to diagnose your alarm issue. Believe me, the computer analysis was extremely thorough (even disclosed the correct engine hours)...

HTH,

shrew · 10-20-2010, 06:29 PM

That is very interesting. I wonder what the difference would be between 'Over Temp.' and 'Closed Cooling Temp.'? One would think they would be somewhat synonomous, since the closed cooling cools the block. If the raw water isnt' cooling the closed coolant side then the coolant itself would be hot and wouldn't be able to effectively cool the block. One would think that one would lead to the other. Maybe not immediatly, but in short order. Low oil pressure certainly makes sense. there should be an alarm for drive resevoir oil levels as well.

If there was a water pump issue, then I would also think the engine temps would have risen accordingly as well. If the guage didn't indicate an overheating issue, then that would still be a source of concern for me. i'd like to see my guages indicating what is going on accurately (for whatever that is worth, since guages are known to be less than spot on accurate). Did the mechanic make any mention of the temp guages at the helm? Or was this a water pressure issue?

F5MANN · 10-20-2010, 07:24 PM

The issue was the water pump impellar. The mechanic advised me that the alarm default for the (raw water) temp is above 175 f degrees. The water temp gauge error is calculated as a % of full scale (3%) not % of reading. So at 175 degrees f (approx mid scale the error would be doubled approx +/- 6% of the reading. The EFI computer read my water temp at 176.6 degrees f and the gauge indicated 175 degrees f. I suggest that you contact a marine mechanic certtified in mercruiser engines and get him to analyze your engines. I paid $50.00 for both engine analysis with a written report of the peramaters monitored.

HTH