LakeMartinMan
Recruit
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2020
- Messages
- 4
Hello all,
This is my first post on this forum, please inform me if I infringe on any forum rules by posting this topic here. I recently purchased a 1991 spectrum 1706 (16.5 ft) boat with a 4 cylinder 40hp mercury ELPTO motor. The motor is in fantastic condition, new power head, stator, power pack, plugs, etc.. mint condition. I had a problem with the overheat alarm going off that started after a 6 mile run up the lake about 2 weeks ago, it subsequently started to go off as soon as the key was turned to “on”. After much research and wrenching on the thing (no service manual, couldn’t find one and very little info on these motors on the web) I finally figured out that I (most likely) had a faulty wiring harness and a shot oil warning module in the motor. Adding this on this forum to potentially help anyone that may have alarm issues with their motor, I will lay out how I found this to be the issue. I must begin by saying that I have not yet replaced the oil warning module, so I am not 100% sure it is indeed the problem, but I am going to order one and post the update here. I began by making sure the alarm wires were all in good condition. Alarm wire for this motor is tan with a blue stripe. Checked that it was not the oil reservoir sensor, simply disconnected the two blue wires from the bottom of the oil tank and alarm still rang out. This particular motor also has an overheat sensor to the left of the top spark plug, checked to make sure it was not faulty and its wiring was good. No faulty wiring from either of these sensors and unplugging them did nothing to stop the alarm sounding. I deduced it must be the oil warning module- of course, unplugging this module will cut the alarm no matter what, so I will not know for sure until it is replaced. Also, I cut out the factory 8 pin plug harness and hard wired it together, and that fixed my shorting problem. Those wires were pretty corroded. Just adding this to an online forum, because 99% of the ones I read ended in solving their problem by disconnecting that oil reservoir sensor. Going to replace this module and see if that fixes my alarm problem. I could be wrong now, so any input suggesting it could be something else would be appreciated of course.
This is my first post on this forum, please inform me if I infringe on any forum rules by posting this topic here. I recently purchased a 1991 spectrum 1706 (16.5 ft) boat with a 4 cylinder 40hp mercury ELPTO motor. The motor is in fantastic condition, new power head, stator, power pack, plugs, etc.. mint condition. I had a problem with the overheat alarm going off that started after a 6 mile run up the lake about 2 weeks ago, it subsequently started to go off as soon as the key was turned to “on”. After much research and wrenching on the thing (no service manual, couldn’t find one and very little info on these motors on the web) I finally figured out that I (most likely) had a faulty wiring harness and a shot oil warning module in the motor. Adding this on this forum to potentially help anyone that may have alarm issues with their motor, I will lay out how I found this to be the issue. I must begin by saying that I have not yet replaced the oil warning module, so I am not 100% sure it is indeed the problem, but I am going to order one and post the update here. I began by making sure the alarm wires were all in good condition. Alarm wire for this motor is tan with a blue stripe. Checked that it was not the oil reservoir sensor, simply disconnected the two blue wires from the bottom of the oil tank and alarm still rang out. This particular motor also has an overheat sensor to the left of the top spark plug, checked to make sure it was not faulty and its wiring was good. No faulty wiring from either of these sensors and unplugging them did nothing to stop the alarm sounding. I deduced it must be the oil warning module- of course, unplugging this module will cut the alarm no matter what, so I will not know for sure until it is replaced. Also, I cut out the factory 8 pin plug harness and hard wired it together, and that fixed my shorting problem. Those wires were pretty corroded. Just adding this to an online forum, because 99% of the ones I read ended in solving their problem by disconnecting that oil reservoir sensor. Going to replace this module and see if that fixes my alarm problem. I could be wrong now, so any input suggesting it could be something else would be appreciated of course.
