Oxygen sensor

R

rose01

New Member
Sep 4, 2010
7
Seattle
Boat Info
270 SLX 2011
Engines
MerCruiser 8.2 MAG HO ECT DTS Bravo IIIx Sterndrive (430 hp)
I have a 2011 270SLX with the 8.2 HO engine. Cruising the other day my engine alarm went off and said it was the exhaust system and that it was the oxygen sensor. The boat is brand new and the dealer is coming to look at it. Any idea what caused it to go off and if it was something i did while driving it?
 
Rose
what was the problem with the oxygen sensor. I have a 2009 sun dancer 270 with only 75 hours on it and just ran inti the same problem!
 
hot yet, they are ordering a new sensor but have not yet determined what caused the failure. Will let you know when i know
 
They've only been sticking O2 sensors in boats for the last couple of years, so it may be hard to come by a definitive answer. However, they've been putting them in cars for a long time. I seem to remember that there's a fair chance of one failing early in the life of a new engine as all the assembly lubes burn off... plus electrical devices have a fair probability of infant mortality. I wouldn't sweat it if it's just a failed O2 sensor.
 
we just bought a brand new 2012 260 sun dancer and the dealer already came twice to change 3 oxygen sensors and they are coming today for the third time. does anyone have any idea what is going on. We are so frustrated and although dealer is doing the right thing for us this is not what I expected from Merc
 
Ok, our dealer is READY to take our boat back... They have been to US 3 times in 3 weeks! As of now ALL 4 O2 sensors have been replaced with NEW ones! Now one of the 1st new ones they changed has gone bad again! So its not like a Merc installed fautly sensros from the factory! Now one of the dealer installed sensors just went bad yesterday! It lasted about a week!!!! Bought this boat brand NEW 3 weeks ago and the dealer has been back 3 times! We went back to the dealer yesterday and he said use the boat for the weekend, if it happens again this weekend he will take the boat back! Thats all and great and he wants to put me into a 2011 280 Sundancer! From what I am told the dealer has SEVERAL BOATS with this same issue!!!! So why would I want to get a 2011 280 Dancer pay them the difference ( 24,000 ) and that boat have the SAME dam issues! Now Ive spent 24,000 and still in the same situation! My wife has been on with a supervisor at MERC and he has been working with the dealer! They are aware of this issue and told her there is NO FIX to the problem as of yet! But they are working on it! I really dont want to give back our boat its ALL Set up with electronics Lights etc etc... So I think we will MAKE them give us an extended warranty for 5 years for FREE so at least we have a clear head that if this keeps happening we wont have to pay for this... Our boat only came with a ONE year warranty! Has anyone else out there been going through O2 sensors every week??? Merc thinks its the height of the risors and manifolds causing this issue! They may have to change the risors to lower ones! I will keep you all posted here and let you all know what is going on !
 
I was looking into fitting aftermarket fuel injection to my 7.4 carby engines, but after planning the installation I ran into a dilemma over fitting the O2 sensors, specifically I couldn't find anyway of getting them hot enough to work properly.

I'll make the long story short and simply say in a motor vehicle the sensors go in the collector where the exhaust headers join. There is no equivalent point in a marinised engine that I could access as the water cooled manifolds, risers and elbows cool the exhaust gasses too quickly to get the O2 sensors hot enough to give enough output to take the control system out of open loop mode. There are heated sensors in use but the system I was looking used unheated ones.

I am going to hazard a guess and say the sensors are being carbon fouled since they can't get hot enough to self-clean. They may have heaters so the oxygen measuring system works but I reckon the sensor body is too cold to burn off the combustion deposits and hence they fail. I know most fuel injection systems used by merc haven't had O2 sensors until recently but there must be a lot of boats out there running ok so maybe they changed to a different sensor type thats not suitable.
 
Does the motor perform normally ? .If the alarm is the only indicator then just run the snot out of it and let the dealer worry about the warranty if anything breaks.
Also check these measurements. A-B 13 inches minimum
0000.jpg
 
Last edited:
This past weekend I was out on my 2011 260 Sundeck and had an Exhaust Oxygen Sensor Failure. I assume this is an Emissions issue and still covered under warranty. From the posts listed this seems to be a problem with Mercruiser Engines. Has anyone heard from Sea Ray on a Fix?
 
The only fix that was offered to me was a NEW Lower riser kit that the dealer installed and Merc paid for it.. Happened to about 6 boats at our dealer! After 20 hours mine went off again! The dealer wound up taking my boat back and we just ordered a 2013 280 DA .. we had problems from day one in June up to Aug.. So I told them take the boat back for every penny I paid and get me a NEW BOAT! THEY DID! Plus now Im getting a LOADED up 280 instead of a 260.. They did the right thing!
 
Are all of you guys that are having problems with the o2 sensors all in salt water? I'm just curious. I work in south fl. At a Searay dealer and deal with this a few times a week. The ones that I see going bad are the post o2 sensors due to salt water corrosion
 
flflatrate said:
Are all of you guys that are having problems with the o2 sensors all in salt water? I'm just curious. I work in south fl. At a Searay dealer and deal with this a few times a week. The ones that I see going bad are the post o2 sensors due to salt water corrosion
Click to expand...

YES, still have the problem! They changed the risers to lower ones 200 hours later tossed another O2 code! As of TODAY they took my boat back from me and ordered me a 2013 280 DA ! Enough was enough! From what I understand its NOT EVERYONE that is the issue! My delaer had like 6 of them this summer! Merc better step up and fix this issue! Im sure they will have alot of people taking them to court!
 
A lower riser?? I wouldmthinkmthatnwould make it worse. The 280 your getting now. Does it come with the single 8.2? If so make sure it has all of the exhaust updates. They had more problems with water ingestion on them then your 350 mpi.
 
260 Sundeck Man said:
This past weekend I was out on my 2011 260 Sundeck and had an Exhaust Oxygen Sensor Failure. I assume this is an Emissions issue and still covered under warranty. From the posts listed this seems to be a problem with Mercruiser Engines. Has anyone heard from Sea Ray on a Fix?
Click to expand...

The Fix is: that Merc pays for a RISER kit to make the risers lower if the boat can take the lower riser kit! Merc sends down a tech they do a water line level to determine if they can safely install the lower riser kit, they say thats the FIX! NOT! THey installed 4 inch riser from 6 inch ones and 20 hours later still had an O2 code! This went on from June 6 to Aug 9.. enough was enough for me. The delaer came to my marine once a week ALL summer long to reset the computer and install 02 sensors!! Now they took my boat back from me and ordered me a 2013 280 I had a 260 .. This time im getting a SEACORE 8.2 FWC engine.. Staying away from the 350 Mag..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,346
Messages
1,430,838
Members
61,195
Latest member
Polski
Back
Top