Oil Pressure guage and alarm sounding

[Bjswett]

The other day i had my boat out when the beeping alarm went off. I had low fuel at the time so i figured that was the cause of the alarm. the next time i took it out on a full tank it went off again. Then i checked all my gauges and saw the oil pressure was pretty low like below 15 psi. I immediatley checked the oil dip stick and found it to be fine. The color of the oil looked good and appeared to have no water in it. I continued to ride all day and the boat ran fine, however the oil pressure gauge still read pretty low. I had to disconnect the alarm bc it wouldn't shut off. Do i have a bad gauge? What could be going on here? Any help would be awesome!

 

[PicoPico]

I had a similar issue this weekend, I was cruising and suddenly the oil presure alarm went off and the oil pressure gauge went to 0; I shutn the engine inmediately and managed to get to the marina with the other engine, once ourt of the water I tries the engine again and after a hard start the engine seemed ok, very strange, good news is that the oil pump is ok, now the issue is electrical, to add to your question why will the engine show the 2 issues at once (oil pressure gauge and alarm) and the same time when they both work independently, if some know the answer I will appreciate it! I have 2 x 7.4L MPI Bravo 1998

 

[CliffA]

just a thought...if the oil pressure senders for marine engines are basically the same as the senders on auto engines it may be possible that a small clump of 'crud' that was suspended in the oil may have temporarily blocked the orifice of the sender which caused the sender to think there was '0' or drastically reduced oil pressure and sounded the alarm accordingly...after a while the 'crud clump' could have cleared and all was fine...i used to have this problem fairly regular on and old Jeep Wrangler...usually happened when the engine was first started...after it reached normal operating temp and the oil thinned out the gauge indicated normal oil pressure...although there really should not much (if any) stuff loose and floating around in the oil....i figured the junk in the oil in the Wrangler was coming from build up in the bottom of the oil pan...

cliff

 

[PicoPico]

thanks Cliff,

it makes sense, but when I disconnect the oil pressure sender the alarm does not go off!

In my engine the alarm sensor is locates at the top of the engine, I will be out cruising tomorrow, and lets see what happens!

 

[CliffA]

thanks Cliff,

it makes sense, but when I disconnect the oil pressure sender the alarm does not go off!

In my engine the alarm sensor is locates at the top of the engine, I will be out cruising tomorrow, and lets see what happens!

i wonder if the system is designed to sound the alarm if the wire to the sending unit is unplugged?....could be a built in safety feature....just guessing out loud...don't know for sure...never tried it on my engine...fortunately i have not had any alarms to contend with and diagnose in the two years we have had the boat...

cliff

 

[Dave 205]

Just a thought, are you sure it isn't the drive lube oil alarm? What you are seeing on your oil guage could be a seperate issue?

 

[PicoPico]

thanks; i have the alarm panel that indicates what alarm has gone off, so it is definetely de oil pressure alarm. lets see how it goes this weekend

 

[I'm on a boat!]

Bjswett, throw a mechanical gauge on it to be 100% sure. Tells you if its engine or not.