2010 crest pontoon w/ 135 optimax - warning buzzer

[Espence]

We just bought a used pontoon , and took it for our first cruise today . The warning buzzer kept going off , usually when I got over 20 rpms, but not always . Some times while we were at idle . Water was coming out the pee tube . I can't find anything in the manual about the buzzer . Low water buzzer from the depth meter ? , but sometimes went off in 20' . It used about a quart of oil ( automatic oil injectors ) with about 6 gal of gas , that seems right . Sometimes when it would go off , the engine will automatically idle down . Before we loaded it up , we cruised across the lake with no buzzer on engine sounded great at 4500 rpms . Was all good until we went to load , shallow water , the alarm goes off again. We want to take it out tomorrow , but worried about the motor . Also the ladder was down in the back for first part of the day , wasn't sure if the depth meter would detect that being so close and all. Any ideas would be appreciated . I saw another thread about faulty alarm , but I don't think that's it. E boat set for a year before I bought it and I ran it with the hose on it for quite awhile at the house before putting it in with no problems . Thanks for any suggestions .

 

[The Rooster]

The mods need to move this to the Merc / engine forum, but 2 things come to mind ; Overheat engine alarm. I would change that water pump impeller. Just because you can see a telltale stream, it may be getting weak. 1 quart of oil used for 6 gallons seems a bit excessive for an Optimax. Good luck !!!

 

[bilge rat jim]

do you have smartcraft installed? A continuous alarm indicates either an overheat problem, or a problem with the oil injection system, either low oil level or oil pump electrical failure. Both problems will activate the guardian system, reducing rpms. The amount of oil you say was used for 6 gallons of fuel is excessive, more than double what should be consumed, but excessive oiling will not activate the alarm. The excessive oil use sounds like the outboard has reverted to "break-in mode". Back to the alarm- just because you have water at the tell-tail does not mean the outboard is cooling properly, you need to inspect the waterpump and thermostat assembly.

 

[Espence]

I didn't see any paper work on smartcraft with the boat . I'm thinking maybe I better replace the impeller , it's probably the original , and the boat has set for awhile . Thanks for the input . I was thinking faulty depth alert , but I'm pretty new to this . Have a great day.

 

[bilge rat jim]

Depth alarm only works if your outboard is smartcraft equipped, and wired to an existing depth sounder. Just a suggestion, but you probably should get a copy of the operators manual for your outboard.

 

[Silvertip]

A quart of oil in six gallons is very excessive. Do you perhaps mean a "pint" (1/2 quiart) of oil? You also need to determine if the alarm was coming from the control box (throttle shift control), under the console, or from the locator. The fact that engine went into "safe" mode says you have an overheat condition. A poppet valve stuck shut will affect high speed operation. A thermostat stuck shut will cause overheat at idle. Both stuck shut would cause overheat at both high and low speeds.

 

[Silver Eagle]

On my 09 StarCraft I have three alarms, One is for the water pump. If that goes off shut your motor off right away. The fish finder has one if it get to close to the bottom ,You can set that one to what ever depth you want. and the third on is for the oil level in your motor. Mine is a two stroke Mercury. If the sound comes on your oil level is getting low. Mine holds about a bout two quarts .you load it from the top of the engine.