91 Evinrude V4 question about alarm- not starting

[Termite]

Long story short - Just bought a boat 91 90horse Evinrude. Ran fine at the guys house, ran fine out on the lake (sea trial) no alarms nothing. Brought it out to the lake and started on the first crank, tooled around with the family then decided to go fishing. My kids were playing "hide and seek" around the boat and I was fishing for about 45 min. After that boat won't start and I have a steady (non-intermitent) alarm going off. Most of the time the boat won't crank over but once in a while it will, I can't remember if the alarm is sounding when it actually cranks. Is there anything I can check quickly before trying to go through the whole electrical system? I'm thinking one of the kids pulled or disconnected something but that is just a guess :facepalm:

 

[pn]

Re: 91 Evinrude V4 question about alarm- not starting

in neutral...kill switch...

 

[kjdunne]

Re: 91 Evinrude V4 question about alarm- not starting

Check all the battery cable connections, at battery and engine. Make them shiny, shiny clean. If you have wing nuts on the battery posts, replace them with stainless hex nuts. Also check and clean the two small wire connections on the starter solenoid. No crank could also be the shifter not exactly in neutral, or bad neutral switch inside control box, bad kill switch or lanyard not fully seated to it, or ignition switch. Failing solenoid or starter could be the problem, too. Do the connections first, most common problem. Is the battery fully charged?

Solve the "no crank" issue first, then let us know if you still have alarm issue.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 91 Evinrude V4 question about alarm- not starting

A constant horn is for an overheat. (various intermittent horns are for the oiling system.) When the engine overheats to 212 degrees, the hot horn comes on. It will stay on till the powerhead cools to 175. There are two overheat switches-one in each head. Tan or brown wire going to each of them. There is a knife connector next to each in their wiring harness. You can peel back the rubber boot to expose the connector. If the horn is sounding and you disconnected both switches at that connector- the horn should silence. That's the a test to see if they are driving the constant warning horn. It's unusual that the horn came on after you stopped for 45 minutes. Does not make a lot of sense. Perhaps one of the two head sensors is kaput-has internally shorted to ground, causing a false warning horn.