Mercruiser alarm

S

SRC Houston

New Member
Oct 15, 2012
12
Houston
Boat Info
2007 SR 185 Sport
Engines
4.3L Mercruiser V6
Pretty sure it is drive oil sensor triggering.the helm alarm on my 185 Sport since oil pressure and engine temp are fine.
Problem started after a fluid change but continues intermitently even after topping up the reservoir. Do these sensors typically go bad? Marine Max only sells the entire reservoir not sensor by itself..
Any advice?
 
Theres a float in the reservoir bottle, you could disconnect the two wires on the bottle and remove the res, drain it and clean with mineral spirits/degreaser, rinse and blow dry w/compressed air and reinstall. I've never had one go bad but I do this when I change outdrive oil everytime. Maybe the float is sticking and this may help, plus it doesn't really cost anything.
 
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Very uncommon for the drive fluid bottle's float to go bad. When the alarm goes off, disconnect one of the wires going to the float valve. If the noise stops, check out the float to see if it's stuck (can't really see it if bottle is full). If noise doesn't stop, you've eliminated this as one of the three variables.
 
Thanks.
Did not realize it was a float - thought it was a pressure switch.
If the float is bad/damaged can I replace it without buying a whole new reservoir?
 
As Dennis said, do the check, disconnecting wires to see if it goes away. I mentioned cleaning the bottle out because sludge builds up in the bottom of the bottle over time and it doesn't usually all drain out, hence cleaning the bottle and reinstalling it.
 
To the best of my knowledge, no, you can't replace just the float.

Lance (or Susan?) has a good point about the sludge. I clean mine every year using Brakleen for that exact reason.
 
Lazy Daze said:
Very uncommon for the drive fluid bottle's float to go bad. When the alarm goes off, disconnect one of the wires going to the float valve. If the noise stops, check out the float to see if it's stuck (can't really see it if bottle is full). If noise doesn't stop, you've eliminated this as one of the three variables.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming the alarm you are in reference to is two beeps every 60 seconds. You mention "eliminating one of the three variables" which I would translate this to mean there are three things that most commonly cause the two beep alarm. I know from experience on my 03 model 5.0MPI engine that one of the others is an idle air control valve gone bad.

What would be a source for the 3rd variable??? A fellow told me that a fuel pressure regulator can cause it but I have no idea if this is true. Anyone know some of the major causes for the two beeps alarm??
 
Last Dollar said:
I'm assuming the alarm you are in reference to is two beeps every 60 seconds. You mention "eliminating one of the three variables" which I would translate this to mean there are three things that most commonly cause the two beep alarm. I know from experience on my 03 model 5.0MPI engine that one of the others is an idle air control valve gone bad.

What would be a source for the 3rd variable??? A fellow told me that a fuel pressure regulator can cause it but I have no idea if this is true. Anyone know some of the major causes for the two beeps alarm??
Click to expand...
On the OP's boat there are alarms for low drive fluid, high engine temperature and low oil pressure, as he referenced in his first post (or she).
 
Last Dollar said:
I'm assuming the alarm you are in reference to is two beeps every 60 seconds. You mention "eliminating one of the three variables" which I would translate this to mean there are three things that most commonly cause the two beep alarm. I know from experience on my 03 model 5.0MPI engine that one of the others is an idle air control valve gone bad.

What would be a source for the 3rd variable??? A fellow told me that a fuel pressure regulator can cause it but I have no idea if this is true. Anyone know some of the major causes for the two beeps alarm??
Click to expand...

ZZ13 said:
On the OP's boat there are alarms for low drive fluid, high engine temperature and low oil pressure, as he referenced in his first post (or she).
Click to expand...

What Bill said.
 
Correct. Alarm is not two beeps but one continuous sound however it is intermittent and only lasts 5 seconds or so. I plan to inspect and clean float this afternoon.
Thanks for all the advice!
 
SRC Houston said:
Correct. Alarm is not two beeps but one continuous sound however it is intermittent and only lasts 5 seconds or so. I plan to inspect and clean float this afternoon.
Thanks for all the advice!
Click to expand...

Wait, does this alarm only come on when you first start the engine? If so, that's normal - it's reacting because the oil pressure hasn't yet reached the minimum required PSI to open the switch.
 
When was last themostat and water pump impeller changed?? Also as Dennis said, you shouldn't get an alarm at 170, especially if its an EFI motor.
 
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You've eliminated the other two from the equation? How?

Alarm should not sound at 170* (assuming gauge is reading correctly - gauges are rarely bad). Would then be the temp sensor (feeds the alarm, not the gauge) that is flaky. You have two sensors on your t-stat housing (actually, one of them is technically called a sender). The one that feeds the alarm is a two wire (black/yellow, if memory serves). Remove the connector and see if alarm stops.

Can you keep your hands on top of the elbows - they shouldn't get so hot as to cause you to have to immediately remove them. If you can, replace sensor. If you can't, more questions/info to follow.
 
Replacing temp sender/sensor. Did not realize there was a separate one for the alarm so assumed alarm and gauge used same info. Bad assumption :)
 
Good deal! I take it that the problem was the temp sensor?
 
We've been having a continuous alarm sounding when (it seems) we've been travelling at low rpm/speed for extended periods. THe alarm is a solid alarm and only switches off if we turn off the batteries and the restart (this can be immediate). No signs of any issues on the Smartcraft gauges, and the only thing I've noticed is the oil pressure on the digital readout does flick about a bit. No problems whatsoever when we're travelling at normal cruising speed - the issue seems to be only present when we are limited to 8-10 knots by the river speed limits or the lack of daylight (West Australian laws). Is this likely to be a similar issue? i.e. a discrepancy between the actual temperature and that shown by the gauges? The mech did a diagnostic (supposedly) when they checked the boat recently but didn't report any issues.

Any - and I mean any - guidance appreciated!
 
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