Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again) - Updated

Recently replaced thermostat, hoses, impeller, manifold to riser gaskets, cleaned the water jackets in the risers and remove alot of debris.

Now here is what happens and what happened.

1.) When cruising for several minutes, I get the loud "BEEEEP" telling me something is wrong. So I come off plane and check my gauges, everything looks fine.

Temp guage says its fine, oil pressure says its fine. No warning lights.
I turn off the engine and immediately fire it back up and no warning beep. So I go back to cruising, a few minutes later, same thing. Repeat process, come off plane, turn off engine, turn on engine everything runs fine.

I wonder if I might be getting air into my water system similar to the thread on overheating? Thoughts on this?

2.) If I wanted to, could I run the engine without the thermostat just to rule out the possibility that it is somehow incorrectly installed? Or is that a bad idea?

3.) The second time the buzzer went off, I turned the engine off and didn't have it OUT of gear. There was a "POP".

I shifted it the rest of the way into neutral (with the engine off) and started it back up. No problem there.

However, when I put it into drive, there is a delay in the drive engaging now. The RPMS increase, and there is a lurch when the drive engages.
Now I have to shift forward quickly (without accelerating) and wait a split second for the drive to engage and then throttle up.

This has me greatly concerned. Could the alignment between the shift cables and the transmission be out of wack? Or is it something else?

I have both the service manual and the drive manual but I would like to ideas where to begin. If it is adjusting the shift cables, I have that special tool required to align the shift cables (assuming I can find it).

Thanks!
Chris

P.S. Thanks Don et.al for the previous help regarding the overheating problem!!!

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Well I have the same motor and drive on my boat and I cant understand why your drive and going into gear would change if you just shut the motor off even if left in gear.

The pop you say you heard may have just been a back fire since you killed power to the motor while the carb would have still been spraying gas and just ignited that gas just on the heat of the engine creating a small back fire.

When you shift your throttle handle can you feel the drive going into gear evenly between the Forward and reverse gears? Maby your shift cable just streached out at the same time your starting to have this other problem and its just a coincidance that now it is related to this warning buzzer issue. Also when you shifted the drive back to neutral with the motor off exactly how far on the throttle were you when you pull back to Neutral. That could have caused the shift cable to fail or get out of alignment.

When I 1st read your post I was unaware of what engine and drive you have and was thinking it was an electric shift OMC of some kind but then I saw your signature and see you have the same set up as my boat. Mercs are 100% machanical in how they shift and the only thing I could think is your shift cable is streached out. Bravo I drives in that year as yours and even mine being a 93 do tend to shift hard. There is a modification I am aware of to make them shift easier but its a 400.00 mod. Im ok with how mine shifts and Im not going to do the mod.

If your shift cable is screwd up it could take more positioning on the handle to put it in gear and at the same time it would rev your engine then go in gear harder. I would check the position of where its going in gear in both F and R and see if its the same. I would think its not and that it will go into Reverse problably sooner then its supposed to.

Oh and my machanic told me you should NEVER shift a BRAVO drive without the motor running. ( unless your putting it in Forward to pull the drive off ) I have a feeling thats why your shift cable may have gotten screwed up.

Another suggestion! The warming BEEEEEEP will also go off if your gear lube monitor bottle ( not sure if that year has one or not?? ) is low or empty. What is the present state of the gear lube? This may also have something to do with how its shifting although I kind of doubt it.

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

BAYLINER185 said:

Another suggestion! The warming BEEEEEEP will also go off if your gear lube monitor bottle ( not sure if that year has one or not?? ) is low or empty. What is the present state of the gear lube? This may also have something to do with how its shifting although I kind of doubt it.

Click to expand...

If that was the case I don't think the buzzer would stop after restarting the engine would it?

I think my shifting has caused my cables to be out of alignment which I'm going to try to adjust later (assuming I can find my tool).

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

You have 3 things that will cause the alarm, overtemp, low oil pressure, and low gear lube reservoir.
None of those switches have anything to do with any of the gauges.
The gear lube monitor. have you actually taken it off the boat and cleaned it in the past couple of years? The Merc Hi Performance gear lube (green stuff) has a tendency to build a sludge in the reservor and cause problems. But, disconnet it and make a run and see if the problem goes away.
If not, disconnect the temp switch (NOT the gauge sender) and try it again. If you still have the same problem, disconnect the low oil pressure switch and try again. if you still have the problem, then you have a wiring problem cause everything else is disconnected.

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Don,

I need some clarification on your response please.

I'm not sure where the gear lube monitor even is? Where is it typically found?

What is the difference between the gauge sender and the temp switch? In my thermostat housing, I have a temp sensor that I replaced that has 2 wires that connect to it. Is this the switch or is this the gauge sender? (I know I'm a dunce but any help is appreciated!)

Where would I find the low oil pressure switch? Also would HIGH oil pressure set off the alarm? I seem to have approx 1 quart too much oil in the pan. When I added the oil, I dont' believe I had the boat level. Thoughts?

IF anyone else wants to chime in, I'm all ears!

Thanks again for all the help.
Chris

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

bump

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Re: Three Questions - A 'lil help? (again)

Well, I don't appear to have a gear lube reservoir. I didn't see one anywhere anyway.

If the gear lube was low in the drive itself, would that cause an alarm?