1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

mikegheenoe

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I have a 1986 Evinrude 40 HP. One day as I went to launch the boat, my battery finally died. Being determined to launch the boat my friend and I ran to the truck and pulled out the truck battery. I started the boat fine and everything was okay. As we were cruising to our destination we decided to remove the truck battery and swap back the dead battery in hopes it would charge it up. As soon as the terminals were lifted from the battery the alarm started to sound. I put the dead battery under the terminals and the alarm kept sounding. So, I put the truck battery back under the terminals and the alarm kept sounding. The alarm has been sounding since then which has been 2 months. Ive asked several people and they all tell me to disconnect the brown wire, since it used to be a VRO, but the wire has been disconnected along time ago. The boat runs great, except that annoying constant alarm coming from the controls....ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!?!?
THANKS
Mike
 

tashasdaddy

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

J/E Alarms

low oil alarm is a beep every 30 seconds. beep......................beep...................

no oil alarm is a beep every 1/2 second or so.beep,beep,beep

overheat alarm is a constant beep.beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

you probably have a bad temp sender, or a bad horn in the control box. could easily have blown, surprize you did not blow anything else, like the rectifier, or worse. rectifier is probably bad also, have you check to see if your motor is charging your battery? you are not suppose to disconnect battery from a running motor.
 

mikegheenoe

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

Its a constant beep. I will never disconnect the battery again, while running, thats for sure! But I'll look into both of those parts and check it out....thanks for the advice!
 

HighTrim

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

You are stating that the horn sounds immediately when the key is turned to ON right?

If so, open up the remote control and unplug the TAN wire that is connected to the horn. If the horn continues to sound, it is faulty and you will need to replace it. (not cheap for what it is by the way)

If it DOES stop, a sensor component is to blame. To determine which one, start unplugging the TAN wires from them one at a time until the horn stops. When it does you have found the faulty component. The components are the heat sensors, oil tank, VRO, vaccuum swithc, etc....
 

mikegheenoe

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

Okay this is what else I found out. I dug deeper into the problem just a few minutes ago. The alarm does start immediately after turning the key to the ON position. I do not have to start the motor to get the beep. In the back of the engine there is a large red connector. An Orange/Purple Stripe wire from that connector goes to another fuse connector. When I disconnect the fuse connector it stops beeping. The fuse is good though. That wire then goes through the solenoid and ends to what looks like a capacitor(not sure). Does that bring light to any other situations, or not? I will check the control box in the morning since it is starting to get dark here now. I will update with prognosis after that. Thanks to all for your insight, it is really helpful!!
Thanks again
 

HighTrim

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

That 20 amp fuse controls the starting circuit, and removing it will kill all power to the remote control, which is where your horn is likely located.

Try removing the TAN wire from the horn to see what happens. Let us know what you find.
 

mikegheenoe

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

Okay...heres the update.....I pulled off the controls and checked out the horn. There is a tan lead and 2 purple leads going into it. Also there is a black lead that grounds it out to the chassis. If I pull either lead off the beep stops. So now its safe to believe it is a bad sensor. Now the problem is, the large red 8pin connector changes colors at the male part. So is there 2 other sensors that I should check out? Are these sensors located inside the motor or are they externally mounted? Thanks again for all your help!
 

mikegheenoe

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

I found a wiring diagram on continuous wave, but it does not help me since I do not have any accessories. Does the tan wire go to a terminal block. The only tan wire I found is the old vro wire which is disconnected.
 

ezeke

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

You also have a tan wire running to the temperature switch at the cylinder head. That is the overheat switch which grounds the tan wire when the engine overheats. The purple wire on the horn is the positive feed from the ignition.

On all circuits relating to the horn, the horn is activated when the tan wire is gounded, completing the circuit.

The second purple wire is there to continue positive feed to the tachometer plug, when and if ever needed.

You have a short to ground somewhere on your tan wire. The tan wire does not run to the terminal block.
 

mikegheenoe

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

okay I just looked at it...and I see what your talking about....is that something I can take out?? It looks like its sealed in there...also its dark out, so I'll check it in the afternoon...but thanks for that insight!!


also, I removed the link....I saw what you meant...thanks for the heads up!
 

ezeke

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

There should be a disconnect for the temperature switch a few inches down the tan wire. Try disconnecting the wire and see if it stops the horn. If it does, the temperature switch is probably bad. If the horn keeps sounding, the short is somewhere else.
 

Joe Reeves

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

Key ON, engine NOT running, horn sounding constant..... remove tan wire from horn. If horn continues to sound, replace horn. If horn stops sounding, check rectifier as follows which is usuaally damaged if battery is disconnected when engine is running.

(Small Rectifier Description & Location)
(J. Reeves)

On most 2,3,4,6 cylinder engines, the small rectifier is located on the starboard (right) side of the engine just in front of the engines electrical wiring strip. There are a few older V4 engines that have the wiring strip on the rear portion of the engine and the rectifier would be located just under that terminal strip. The smaller horsepower engines usually have the rectifier located on the starboard side of the powerhead close to the carburetor area.

The rectifier appears to be a round object approximately one inch (1") in diameter and also about one inch (1") high. The base of it is sort of triangular in appearance and is attached to the engine with two (2) screws/bolts..... usually one screw/bolt is larger than the other. The rectifier, depending on which one your engine uses, will have either:

One Red wire, one Yellow wire, and one Yellow/Gray wire, or One Red wire, and two Yellow wires.

Note that either of the above rectifiers could have a fourth wire which would be Yellow/Blue

********************
(Small Rectifier Test)
(J. Reeves)

Remove the rectifier wires from the terminal block. Using a ohm meter, connect the black lead of the ohm meter to the rectifier base (ground), then one by one, connect the red lead of the ohm meter to the yellow, yellow/gray, then the red wire (some rectifiers may also have a fourth yellow/blue wire. If so connect to that also). Now, reverse the ohm meter leads and check those same wires again. You should get a reading in one direction, and none at all in the other direction.

Now, connect the black lead of the ohm meter to the red wire. One by one, connect the red lead of the ohm meter to the yellow, yellow/gray, and if present, the yellow/blue wire. Then reverse the leads, checking the wires again. Once more, you should get a reading in one direction and none in the other.

Note that the reading obtained from the red rectifier wire will be lower then what is obtained from the other wires.

Any deviation from the "Reading", "No Reading" as above indicates a faulty rectifier. Note that a rectifier will not tolerate reverse polarity. Simply touching the battery with the cables in the reverse order or hooking up a battery charger backwards will blow the diodes in the rectifier assy immediately.
 

mikegheenoe

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

OK...I have disconnected the temp sensor and it the alarm keeps sounding....I checked to see if the battery is getting a charge from the rectifier and it is getting charged. I disconnected a lead from the horn and it stops sounding. What to do now??
 

HighTrim

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

continue with the other sensor components until the horn stops.
 

ezeke

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

You have a short to ground in the tan wire of your main harness. You can isolate it with an ohmmeter.
 

mikegheenoe

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

okay...i will check to see if the wire is shorted some where as well as check if there is anymore sensors.....would all the sensors tie in b4 going back to the controls, like within the area of the motor?? it seems that the only sensor I can find is the temp....what other sensors should I be looking for, like a physical location?? thanks again guys!!
 

Joe Reeves

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

Disconnecting a battery from a running engine normally destroys the charging systems rectifier. See the rectifier test procedure above.
 

akapolas

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

I hope this helps.


I had the same problem with my engine. It was the tan wire that goes to the top of the oil tank. I would disconnect it from the engine side and the alarm would go off. Then I would re-connect and alarm would stop. This happened all summer even though all the oil injection components were working fine. I removed oil tank, cleaned it etc. same problem. I got fed up and removed the oil tank all together cause I was worried that it would stop sucking oil and I can blow the engine.
 

fishduck

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

help pls........ 3rd time out this year and while driving my 1989 evinrude 40hp alarm stared to sound off. would go off over 3,000 rpm. under 3000 alarm shut off. then from time to time i could go over 3000 for a bit before it would come on again. i got home and ran it and alarm goes off every 20-30 seconds. then i try just turning the key to on position and alarm goes off every 20-30 seconds still. i know there is enough oil so what can this be???? thanks for your help.
 

Al-53

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Re: 1986 Evinrude 40 HP Constant Alarm

help pls........ 3rd time out this year and while driving my 1989 evinrude 40hp alarm stared to sound off. would go off over 3,000 rpm. under 3000 alarm shut off. then from time to time i could go over 3000 for a bit before it would come on again. i got home and ran it and alarm goes off every 20-30 seconds. then i try just turning the key to on position and alarm goes off every 20-30 seconds still. i know there is enough oil so what can this be???? thanks for your help.



I would start a new post...you will get more attention to your post more so as making this a mixed post....you hijacked his and most will just tell you the same as I did..

you would get more views on your own post also

Al
 
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