2008 185 Sport - Temp Alarm?

No prob, happy to help. I hope all your issues are resolved and no worries. Keep us posted
 
Firerooster said:
And yes your boat has the alarms.
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I know MY boat has the alarms... I can hear them! :grin:

I was wondering if the models without the gear oil res (carb'd engines) have any type of alarm for the gear oil. Just curious really.

As far as the temp alarm goes, it only sounds if the engine is too hot, right? My boat has actually been running very cool lately... it never gets above 130 degrees. I think that the thermostat is stuck open, but I haven't had a chance to pull it out yet. What are the negative affects of running the engine this cool?
 
Quick Update on my original post. Before putting the boat in the water, I checked the gear oil resevoir as well as the lower units oil. The resevoir was full, just slightly below the top line. The gear oil in the lower unit was clear and fresh as well. I took it out for a ride and received the same quick 1 second high pitched alarm (like a beep) every few minutes or when I trimmed the drive out a bit and went over 3000 rpm. Temp was never above 175. I came back to the dock again a bit frustrated.

I decided to read thru the owners manual once again on the correct procedure to change the lube. I did forget to do one thing that I am hoping could be causing this alarm. When I drained and refilled I did it the old fashioned way (from my old Bravo 1 days). I opened the top screw and pushed in new oil from the bottom until it overflowed from this vent hole up above. According to the manual, I should have buttoned up the top vent screw and keep pumping oil into the drive until it came out inside the "Drive Resevoir". I did not do this.

Next question(s):
1) Should I just re-drain/purge the entire system once again doing it right from the start, or should I just drain the resevoir again, and fill the drive from the bottom until I see it come up thru to the resevoir?

2) The rubber hose running back from the resevoir along the valve cover has a small white fitting (size is similar to a PCV valve) towards the back of the engine near the transom. It seems to connect the resevoir hose to another, coming from the drive itself. What is this fitting? does it do anything? Just curious...

Thanks alot everyone!
 
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FWIW I changed the outdrive oil on my 185 this spring and did it the same way you did. (pumping from bottom until it came out the vent) I then topped off the reservoir. After sitting a day, the reservoir level dropped a tad so I topped it off again. This past friday was the first time out and I had no problems/alarms. Checked the level when I got back and it had dropped another tad so I topped it off agian. Haven't been back out since.
 
MarkD -

FYI, when I changed my oil, I did it per the manual (pumped from the bottom, then plugged off the top and pumped until it appeared in the reservoir). If you want to be on the safe side, you can just dump the reservoir and then pump from the bottom again. I don't see any need to drain the whole system.
 
Thanks guys so far for the help. On Saturday I dumped the resevoir completely out and filled from the bottom plug until it was over half full. I then topped off the remainder. Unfortunately i wasnt able to get the boat out to test it, since its rained in the north east and the weekend is basically a wash. Looks like I have to wait until next weekend to verify all is well.

FWIW, there was still a TON of gear lube in the drive since it only took me about 10 pumps to start it up into the resevoir. Next post should hopefully have a solution in it.
 
Keep our fingers crossed for u. And for good weather!
 
I'm looking forward to hearing how your problem turns out. I'm having the same issue with mine!
 
Mark
If it turns out to NOT be the gear lube, can you verify the temp gauge reading with a IR temp gun pointed at the thermostat housing (the typical location of the gauge and alarm sensor)?
 
Next update:
I took the boat out Saturday and although it took a while, the alarm still went off. I have perfect drive oil levels, regular oil is fine too as well as the temp. The temp reading was always a tick over 170 on that gauge, so i "think" that's fine as well.... no?

I did notice a symptom though... it seems it will "act up and go off" after a throttle position change (anything over 3000 rpm). I also thought it would go off after a trim change as well but that was not as consistent as the throttle change. It doesnt go off at lower speeds, i.e. under 2800 rpm. i also tried to rule in/out temperature, so i ended up taking the boat up to WOT (for a minute) and it pulled 4800 rpm with 2/3 fuel and 2 people and the temp didnt ride upward at all.

Some questions:
1) Can I simply disconnect the wires coming from the drive lube sensor to see if that would point to or eliminate this as my alarm source? There are just 2 wires, so would i disconnect 1 or both wires?

2) How many sensors that cause alarmis are there? I recall someone saying 3.

3) Is the temp sensor in the thermostat housing? I have to check myself to verify. If I were to disco one of those wires (assuming there are 2, would that trigger or prohibit the alarm?


Ron, I dont have the IR gun. wish you were closer... wanna do a road trip to Kingston? ;)

any more ideas? i appreciate all of the help!
 
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Ron, I dont have the IR gun.
Click to expand...

Mark
Get one! They're all over ebay for $20!

I've read a bunch of posts around here about genny's giving off false alarms and the response was to short out/jump each alarm one at a time to figure out which it is. I'm not sure if that's your answer so please don't do that unless someone far superior to me chimes in. Not sure if this is your engine but it does show the sensor #43 mounted on the housing #18. Since there seem to be no ill effects or truly reproducible symptoms, I'm guessing a bad sensor. Now you've got to find it!

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show...br=13603&bnbr=160&bdesc=Closed+Cooling+System

legal disclaimer: I have not been awarded my "technical contributor" degree so beware of any advice I may give as it may lead to you blowing up your boat.
 
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Next Update: (read the above prior to this)
I decided to have another look at the wires and run the boat at the dock. I noticed there are 2 sensors in the thermostat housing. The first is a 1 wire (tan-ish color) that is the wire/sensor controlling the gauge (wire located on the stbd side of the housing) AND another sensor with a weatherpak connector on the port side, with black and yellow wires. I disconnected them all, and the boat still ran fine. So when I am out again on the water, I can disco these and test.

What I noticed was the STBD riser was NOT hot but the PORT riser manifold was....... That seems odd to me since both hoses which go to the risers are coming from the same thermostat housing on the same T fitting. Any thoughs on that? could that be related somehow....? I also noticed a very noticeable "smoothing out" of the engine when the thermostat opened up. Not sure if that is normal or not.

I have a spare thermostat and sleeve that I just purchased a few weeks back. I wonder if somehow the Tstat is stuck or maybe a blockage is occuring?

At this point I have more questions than answers :( Next steps?
 
Last Update for today:
I pulled the boat onto land, since its starting to rain again... After speaking with Ron, I decided to take apart the thermostat housing and replace the sleeve/thermostat as well as look for any loose impeller parts that could be around. I pulled the riser/elbow hoses completely off first which came from the housing. They are attached to a T fitting off the top of that housing. I noticed what i will call a "check ball" which is a rod/2 balls/springs going horizontally thru the T fitting. It seems the stbd side ball was loose and could move outward when water was flowing. The port side was stuck and i could not open it up to free it by hand. I ended up hitting it with a screwdriver end, and it freed it up. I sanded the surface a bit and applied some antiseize lube to both balls... (no perverted comments please!!!) After that I pulled all other 4 hoses and found nothing obstructing the passageways. Also replaced Tstat and sleeve.

Now, it makes sense to me that this check ball could have stuck closed and caused the intermittent temp sensor alarm to go off...correct? This is the same side as the hot-to-the-touch elbow/riser. Does anyone else have an opinion on this? I'd love to hear it. Thanks!
 
EDIT: This is in response to post 33... I didn't type fast enough!

Be careful about plugging and unplugging connectors if the engine is running. You don't have an actual ECM to worry about voltage spikes back-feeding, but I'm not sure if anything would/wouldn't happen to the ignition control module. I don't know enough about that to say if things can just be unplugged/plugged while engine is running. If you really wanted to be safe, disconnect the battery negative cable, first. Again, this may not be necessary, but doing that would certainly take any possible risk out of the equation.

But, yes, you could unplug two sensors at a time (sensors go to alarms) to narrow down which one is setting off the alarm. The drive monitor bottle simply needs one wire disconnected (disconnecting both is redundant). As you figured out, the senders (senders go to the gauges, namely engine temp and oil PSI) will all have a brown (tan) wire.

The oil PSI sender and sensor are back by your oil filter.

One manifold/riser being hotter than the other could be due to an obstruction/corrosion.


2nd EDIT: I'm not familiar with the check ball to be able to offer a valid comment. But, in reading what you wrote, I think your logic (and Ron's) is sound and I would likely come to the same conclusion if I was in your shoes.
 
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Part #25 is the check ball thingy Mark is referring to. I'm not sure what it does but that part is called "Temperature Switch, (Normally Open 130-110 degrees), TKS"

B/C of the seemingly one-sided hot exhaust elbow symptom, I'm betting there's a piece of something (impeller??) stuck in the hot elbow. It will be interesting to see if Mark's greased up balls stops the hot elbow issue. If not I'd pull that elbow for examination.
 
Hello,

This is my first post, I found this thread through searching this forum as my 185 is doing the exact same thing as yours.

It was in the shop at the end of the summer last year (they said they fixed it) and now 10 days this time as the first outing this year I am having the same problems again.
It is very frustrating to say the least.

My dealer took my boat out on the water last week and now tells me my sensors are fine and there is a problem with the actual alarm under the dash. Something about the horn being very sensitive to voltage fluctuations.

So my question to you -
Does your alarm sporadically turn on and go off ??

I will hopefully have my boat back by wednesday and will be able to let you know what they changed and if it fixed the problem.
 
rondds said:
Part #25 is the check ball thingy Mark is referring to. I'm not sure what it does but that part is called "Temperature Switch, (Normally Open 130-110 degrees), TKS"

B/C of the seemingly one-sided hot exhaust elbow symptom, I'm betting there's a piece of something (impeller??) stuck in the hot elbow. It will be interesting to see if Mark's greased up balls stops the hot elbow issue. If not I'd pull that elbow for examination.
Click to expand...

I think he's got a V-6, but it's probably a similar idea. Thanks for the pic - that helped. I agree - a one sided problem is very likely an obstruction. Although, seeing as that check-ball was hanging up (basically, an obstruction, as well) that theory has some merit, also.

Ron, I bought an IR gun about 3 or 4 months ago. You're right - it's an absolutely invaluable tool! I don't know why I didn't buy one sooner.
 
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I'm taking my 2008 185 sport to the shop today or tomorrow for the same problem. Frustrating to say the least!
 
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