strange beeping - 215 EC

jssearay

jssearay

Active Member
Mar 7, 2019
116
central ohio
Boat Info
1998 sea ray 215 express cruiser
Engines
5.7 mercruiser w/alpha 1, trailer boat, fresh water usage
we bought a 98 215 EC in march....5.7 merc, alpha 1......have been out probably 8 to 10 times this summer.........always on inland lake, fresh water............yesterday while out, we were coming into a no wake zone............while coming off plane, we noticed a strange beeping noise.......beeped about 6 to 7 times that i could hear, quit once we were down and moving about 4 mph........did this a couple of times when operating under the same scenario......while it was beeping, i checked all gauges, all where there were supposed to be..........any thoughts?...........could it have been the depth finder, lowrance, beeping?.........water was of sufficient depth.........engine oil level was checked before trip, at full level..................ran fine afterwords and the rest of the time we were out....does not beep when we are trying to get on plane..........thanks in advance
 
jssearay said:
we bought a 98 215 EC in march....5.7 merc, alpha 1......have been out probably 8 to 10 times this summer.........always on inland lake, fresh water............yesterday while out, we were coming into a no wake zone............while coming off plane, we noticed a strange beeping noise.......beeped about 6 to 7 times that i could hear, quit once we were down and moving about 4 mph........did this a couple of times when operating under the same scenario......while it was beeping, i checked all gauges, all where there were supposed to be..........any thoughts?...........could it have been the depth finder, lowrance, beeping?.........water was of sufficient depth.........engine oil level was checked before trip, at full level..................ran fine afterwords and the rest of the time we were out....does not beep when we are trying to get on plane..........thanks in advance
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The emergency bilge pump may have a beeper or buzzer wired in so that it sounds when the bilge pump auto switch is activated. I know mine does. I had a blue plastic engine block plug break off once and water was streaming into the bilge, and that was alerted me to the problem. On my boat the bilge pump manual switch on the dash also lights up when the bilge pump auto operates. So check for water in the bilge and maybe crawl down there (engine off) and lift the auto float manually and see if it beeps.
 
Creekwood said:
The emergency bilge pump may have a beeper or buzzer wired in so that it sounds when the bilge pump auto switch is activated. I know mine does. I had a blue plastic engine block plug break off once and water was streaming into the bilge, and that was alerted me to the problem. On my boat the bilge pump manual switch on the dash also lights up when the bilge pump auto operates. So check for water in the bilge and maybe crawl down there (engine off) and lift the auto float manually and see if it beeps.
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thanks, checked the bilge right after the beep, everything dry...............in fact, never seen any water in there except when i hosed out the cockpit...................
 
I suspect it may be your high water bilge pump, as the water would be moving forward. You check for water in your engine compartment?
 
Zim said:
I suspect it may be your high water bilge pump, ax the water would be moving forward. You check for water?
Click to expand...
yep, none........i will try manually moving the bilge pump auto float and see if i can get a beep.....................
 
You have a shower on the boat? Might be the shower bildge alarm
 
Wanderer, wanderer, I will check that.......
 
talked to my boat tech yesterday, he said he thinks beeping coming from out drive fluid reservoir float, thinks it is not reacting quick enough (said he has seen it happen due to age)..............he told me to unplug it next time we are out, and see if that confirms his suspicions...................solution is to live with an occasional beeping, but making sure reservoir is full or replacing sensor..................thanks to everyone for their suggestions............
 
If it is the reservoir, you can remove and clean it out as they get sticky over the years. IMO, living with it is not an option, there is a reason and it needs to be corrected. Next time out, turn everything off you can, DF, radio, etc and try and reproduce turning things on one at a time. Not the same motor, but my 496 would alarm sometimes when coming off plane as the manifolds heat up at this time and would alarm. Motor temp read normal, manifold sensors would alarm. Cleaning heat exchangers resolved it.
 
Korkie said:
If it is the reservoir, you can remove and clean it out as they get sticky over the years. IMO, living with it is not an option, there is a reason and it needs to be corrected. Next time out, turn everything off you can, DF, radio, etc and try and reproduce turning things on one at a time. Not the same motor, but my 496 would alarm sometimes when coming off plane as the manifolds heat up at this time and would alarm. Motor temp read normal, manifold sensors would alarm. Cleaning heat exchangers resolved it.
Click to expand...
that is what i am gonna try, pretty sure it is not the depth finder or fish finder......will have him check the heat exchangers, as i am not sure how to do that...............thanks
 
I had beeping coming from the CO detector in the cabin. For weeks I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It beeps when it no longer works properly. Not sure if you have one in your cuddy like the 215 WE's?
 
OllieC said:
I had beeping coming from the CO detector in the cabin. For weeks I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It beeps when it no longer works properly. Not sure if you have one in your cuddy like the 215 WE's?
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i couldn't find one, i believe it is the float in the outdrive reservoir tank, gonna verify tomorrow.....hopefully...thanks
 
You definitely SHOULD have a CO monitor (at least, the boat did have it when it left the factory). That's something you want to address. But that alarm would come directly from the CO monitor - not from the dash. Although, sometimes it may sound like it's coming from the dash.

Your boat doesn't have a high water bilge pump or an alarm for that (assuming stock configuration). The only things your alarm goes off for are low drive fluid (just disconnect it to see if the alarm stops), low oil pressure and high engine temp.

A depthfinder alarm is another possibility.
 
The CO monitor, in my case, is on the starboard side, in the cabin, on the wall that separates the porta-potti from the V-birth - facing the V-birth side.
 
thanks to all..............lazy daze, there is a bilge pump, with some sort of sensor..........my tech said that sensor is what trips the pump if the water in the bilge gets too high...........i check the bilge for water on a regular basis, no issues there.....i will look again for the CO detector...................
 
jssearay said:
thanks to all..............lazy daze, there is a bilge pump, with some sort of sensor..........my tech said that sensor is what trips the pump if the water in the bilge gets too high...........i check the bilge for water on a regular basis, no issues there.....i will look again for the CO detector...................
Click to expand...
That "sensor" is just a normal float switch (either mechanical or electronic) that turns the bilge pump on. Sort of like a sump pump in a basement. However, that is NOT a "high water" bilge pump and there is NO alarm with your setup. It's just a standard, automatic bilge pump. A "high water" setup would typically entail a second bilge pump and an alarm.

You can't miss the CO detector - it's right there in the open where Ollie mentioned.
 
Lazy Daze said:
That "sensor" is just a normal float switch (either mechanical or electronic) that turns the bilge pump on. Sort of like a sump pump in a basement. However, that is NOT a "high water" bilge pump and there is NO alarm with your setup. It's just a standard, automatic bilge pump. A "high water" setup would typically entail a second bilge pump and an alarm.

You can't miss the CO detector - it's right there in the open where Ollie mentioned.
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ok, thanks..............i guess i am confused though..............what does a "high water" bilge pump do that a regular, automatic bilge pump doesn't do?.............does the high water pump come on when the regular pump can't keep up?..........i will look for the detector again...............
 
jssearay said:
ok, thanks..............i guess i am confused though..............what does a "high water" bilge pump do that a regular, automatic bilge pump doesn't do?.............does the high water pump come on when the regular pump can't keep up?..........i will look for the detector again...............
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Correct. It's an emergency pump, only.
 
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