Unknown Alarm on 1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series

[Skipper T]

1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series. When I turned the key to accessorys last evening the "alarm" beep under the dash went off constantly, engine had not been started. This had happen before in the garage when engine had not been started in days and again when we put it in the water before starting engine cold. Both previous times after about a minute the alarm quit or quit after turning the key off and back on. Last night i kept turning the switch on and off, waiting a few minutes between, and then it finally quit. This is the same beep, but louder and solid, that beeps briefly when I turn the key on normally. After it finally quit last night the engine started ran, idled, fine, put out good water, smoked as usual, but when I would start to take off after a few seconds or so the alarm would sound, usually at about 1500 plus rpms. I would shut engine down and restart no alarm, then take off alarm would sound. Tried idling alarm sounded after two minutes, but that only on one occasion time. Alarm also sounded when I dropped gear into reverse? Could not get it to run without alarm sounding. Gave up and trailered it, alarm also sounded when i throttled up putting it on the trailer. I can't seem to find a constant cause. Like I mentioned it happened in the garage one day, engine hadn't ran in a week, and one other time when engine hadn't ran. The common denominator seems to be the times I have been fiddling with replacing toggle switches in the boat prior to when the alarm soundings have occurred. Now when I turn the main power on in the boat, as i have a box to shut all the power down when i charge the batteries with the on board system, for some reason the radio comes on automatically which never happened before my messing with the electrical switches. I'm inclined to think this may be a electrical issue but also worried it may be the engine. Im not talented in electrical or mechanical areas to know much about this. The previous owners have many wires ran under the consoles, kind of a mess actually. Engine idles good, sounds normal, seems to power up normally, except the alarm going off, smoking and putting out water, guages show temps running normal? Again it seems t have happened after messing with the electrical stuff in the past, alarm sounded when engine was cold and one time it beep twice quickly while running on plane but nothing after that. Have only owned the boat for a few months and trying to get switches replaced and wiring figured out. Talked with previous owner which said he hadn't had any issues with the alarm. If anything I think it smokes too much, i dont know how you would set the oil mixture and how do you know when it's right or too little or too much? Any help would be appreciated as cant really afford to pay a bunch of labor cost to diagnose problem. Thanks.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Unknown Alarm on 1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series

Engine alarms are usually caused by just a few things. There should be a light in one of your gauges to indicate the problem. If not, check the following:

1) Oil level in the 2-stroke oil container and whether or not there is a secondary container mounted on the engine under the cowling (Merc has these, but I'm not sure about the Johnson. Low oil level will sound the alarm because it sloshes rearward under acceleration.

2) Low alternator output, however my experience says this will usually sound at slower speeds, not after revving

3) High temp from low water flow. Check water output and impeller and associated passageways.

Don't worry about the alarm when the key is turned on. It's supposed to ring to let you know that the alarms are functioning. Worry about alarms that sound after you've got the engine running.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Unknown Alarm on 1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series

Engine alarms are usually caused by just a few things. There should be a light in one of your gauges to indicate the problem.....

As I recall the 'system check' feature wasn't introduced by OMC until '96. Prior to that you had basically just several alarm conditions which would sound the horn: engine temperature, fuel line high suction pressure (indicating a fuel line restriction), VRO no oil flow alarm, and VRO low oil level alarm. Assuming everything is working properly the only alarm that makes any sense without the engine running would be the low oil level. Other than that you'll need to disconnect the sensors for each of those, one at a time, and see if that makes the problem go away. Another possibility is a wire shorted to ground.

Edit to add: Your engine might have an alarm horn which is supposed to sound for a few seconds when you turn the power on, I haven't been able to find anything about that in my service manual though. If that's the case then it's possible the alarm horn itself is acting up.

 

[Skipper T]

Re: Unknown Alarm on 1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series

It does sound a alarm chirp when you turn the key on normally, but as stated the alarm would not quit and did weird things even after and I started it. We just filled the oil tank yesterday so it's full.

 

[Skipper T]

Re: Unknown Alarm on 1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series

We did work on some lights yesterday and had to find a ground but it was on the other side of the boat, passengers side? It does seem this has happened only after my messing with switches, replacing old after market light switches and wires?

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Unknown Alarm on 1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series

It's just going to involve some troubleshooting on your part, unfortunately there aren't any easy answers. On the buzzer there should be three wires, purple, black, and brown. The purple supplies power when the ignition switch is on, the black is ground, and the brown is the one that activates the alarm. The alarm is activated when the brown wire gets grounded, so you'll need to be looking for something that's shorting that to ground.

 

[Skipper T]

Re: Unknown Alarm on 1992 Ranger with a Johnson 150 Fast Strike Silver Star Series

No more than I know, which is little, I think it's a ground related problem, but I can't igure out why when I started to take off it would go off unless when taking off the engine was producing more rpms and started the alternate to produce output which caused it? Just like the one time yesterday when I put it in reverse it went off but not but once? We put a fake lake on it today and ran it and messed with wires we messed with the same as yesterday and can't get it to sound. I started and ran the engine several times briefly until temp guage showed it had warmed up and dropped in reverse also and still no alarm?