86 110hp Johnson buzzer question

I have an 86 Johnson 110 hp on a Ranger bass boat. The engine has been previously rebuilt by the prior owner and when I had it compression checked they confirmed the engine is like new.

Last night I was out on the river fishing. The buzzer at the throttle started going crazy. The boat still had good power when it started to go off. We shut the boat down and fished that spot for a few hours. Then as we went to start it the buzzer of course was starting to ring again. Once we started moving the buzzer quit. Then a few different times during the night as we would move the boat it wouldn't take long to hear the buzzer and have to shut down again.

The water "pee" hole is spraying water hard the entire time. The VRO has been disconnected and I pre mix 50:1 so I was wondering if maybe I premixed light and it is running lean? I just swapped plugs yesterday before we went out but I can't imagine that being the problem. I gapped the plugs at 35 thousands.

Any help would be appreciated. The thing runs fantastic when the buzzer isn't going off. For a 335 v it with only a 110 hp it will hit 47-51 mph on my GPS with two of us in it at times on the water.

Thanks,

Rod

Semper Fi

Re: 86 110hp Johnson buzzer question

im not an expert, but i think most of the time the buzzer is an overheat alarm, their maybe an alarm for low oil pressure, is the pee hole water hot?

Re: 86 110hp Johnson buzzer question

I must say I didn't even check to see if the water s hot. I did allow my buddy to premix and when I asked him about it today he said" I think i was close" so it may have been running lean.

Is there a way to clean all the ports where the water runs through the upper engine?

Rod

Re: 86 110hp Johnson buzzer question

the oil side of the vro must be plugged and the wiring off the vro must be unplugged and the wiring to old oil tank must be disconnected or you will get an alarm for low oil or no oil to vro.

Re: 86 110hp Johnson buzzer question

I think it would be best to get an infrared temp gauge, the little laser gun you can pickup at harbor freight for $30.00 and shoot a reading on the heads to know if it's getting hot or not. These motors have rubber water diverters, under the head, so the telltale stream isn't the "be-all/end-all" when it comes to the engine cooling. Water can be shooting out the telltale but never actually cooling the block itself.

A constant buzz is definitely indicative of over-heating. The oil alarm, I understand, should be short bursts of "buzz", and I can't imagine it wasn't disconnected when the VRO was unplugged, otherwise you would've been hearing this buzz the entire time you used it instead of this one particular outing??

Re: 86 110hp Johnson buzzer question

If you have a thermostat which is stuck shut, that head will overheat at idle-regardless of how strong the telltale water stream is. Once on plane, the pressure relief valves in the thermostat housing will open, flooding the powerhead with additional cooling water. Once you return to idle, it will overheat again. A good way to determine if it's overheating is to rent a laser temp gun at any local auto parts store.

Re: 86 110hp Johnson buzzer question

The alarm system has no way of knowing how much oil you put in the gas, so forget that idea. A constant tone is always overheat warning.