1992 Evinrude Intruder spitfire series 150 Overheat alarm

[mogul buster]

First off.........been reading a ton on here and love the helpful topics and replies from such knowledgable people..........was hoping I never had to actually ask my own question..........but forgot to knock on wood.

~1992 E150GLENC~

This engine/Champion boat is new to us...........we had it out without issues 3 weeks ago.......but this last weekend.........it acted up. We warmed her up....made a 5 minute run......fished 45 min......made a 3 minute run.....fished 45 minutes......and on the 3rd run the constant alarm went off WITHOUT S.L.O.W. taking effect. We shut her down and checked for heat.......easily kept our hands on the cylinder heads. We decide to fish awhile to let her cool just in case.........an hour later........we fire her up....drive about 5 feet in gear and it goes off again. Now we "know" she is definately not hot after sitting for an hour in 50 degree water....so what's going on? Definately not a fuel restriction issue I wouldn't think......since it's not affected by RPM's.

After my searches.......I've narrowed it down to either stuck thermostat(s).......electrical grounding issue........ water pump not putting out enough pressure......faulty sensor.........faulty horn....or blocked line. Am I on the right path? Our impeller was inspected during lower unit rebuild this past winter.......so not sure if it failed. We do small engine repairs so we are familiar with components...........just not familiar with outboards in general.........but we would like to fix things ourselves from here on out.

Any suggestions are much appreciated before I waste more money that I don't have.

 

[marinemech1]

Re: 1992 Evinrude Intruder spitfire series 150 Overheat alarm

you could have a fuel restriction tripping vacuum switch or possibly a bad vacuum switch
or a bad sensor
disconnect oil tank temp sensors and vacuum switch too see whats causing the problem
Wayne

 

[mogul buster]

Re: 1992 Evinrude Intruder spitfire series 150 Overheat alarm

Thanks marinetech........I will keep that in mind as well..........hoping for a simple solution....

 

[mogul buster]

Re: 1992 Evinrude Intruder spitfire series 150 Overheat alarm

Anyone else have other input?

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1992 Evinrude Intruder spitfire series 150 Overheat alarm

It does not get much simpler than the vacuum switch - it's just a simple gounding switch that is either off or on. That's the only other cause of a constant alarm besides an overheat unless you have a short to ground in the tan wire or the horn is going bad.

 

[mogul buster]

Re: 1992 Evinrude Intruder spitfire series 150 Overheat alarm

Tonight we dropped her into a barrel/running hose and tested her out. Sensors set off alarm when grounded to block......so they are working. At first........we had a great stream of water.........after shutting her down and restarting.......we had NO water and of course...no pressure at the guage. The third time.......we had a slight stream of water and low pressure. Pretty sure the water pump is failing despite being "checked over" by a mechanic this past winter. So I guess this may explain the semi-cool block at the lake.........sometimes working well.......sometimes not.

Due to time interfering with a do-it-yourself job........we are sending her off to a different mechanic in the morning. Should we have T-stats replaced as well? Again thanks for the advice/help.

 

[ananas238]

Re: 1992 Evinrude Intruder spitfire series 150 Overheat alarm

I had this problem today with my Evinrude 1993 Spitfire Intruder 150. I had the engine running on muffs for about 2 mins, pissing well, and I unhooked the fuel line from the gas tank - mostly to see what would happen. I figured the motor would burn out the fuel it could pull from the hose and then die out.

It stayed running about 1 minute, then started to pull the last of the fuel from the filter. It made the primer ball in the fuel hose collapse in on itself (good suction). As it cleared out that remaining little bit of fuel, the motor started to lose RPM's and began dying out. I went quickly to turn off the key before the engine actually killed itself, and that's when the alarm started. It's a 1-tone, endless beep in case anyone was wondering. The sound comes out the throttle console. I thought it was the overheat alarm, and since I was shutting it off that moment anyway, I figured it would cool down and the alarm would stop. Turned off the key and both the alarm and engine stopped.

At first I checked the water hose. Not very high pressure, but it was enough and the engine definitely was not hot. I thought "is this thing smart enough to know when the fuel line is disconnected?" So I plugged the fuel line back in, went to crank it up. Alarm still sounded off, but the engine started no prob. Alarm continued even as the fuel rushed back into the filter and fuel lines. I shut it off quickly thinking I might have a different problem. After checking this thread, I went back out to the boat and cranked it up. Finally no alarm. It did need a few minutes sitting with the fuel line re-attached to finally shut off the alarm. This alarm was definitely for the loss of fuel vacuum, and not for overheating.

This is pretty interesting to me. I did not know there was a fuel vacuum alarm. Now I know what this sounds like. The previous owner told me the motor had trouble sometimes sucking fuel (due to imperfect fuel lines), and to prime the hell out of it if the engine began acting up. At least now I know that if I ACTUALLY have a fuel vacuum problem, the alarm will sound.

Is it possible for this alarm to sound off when my gas tank gets empty? Usually the motor just runs til the fuel level gets below the suction straw and eventually cuts off. But I have never heard the alarm until today. I'm trying to figure out what happened differently today to cause the alarm, that hadn't happened in the past when I ran out of gas in a tank.