Motosparkz
Recruit
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2016
- Messages
- 4
Hi Guys,
Hi guys, just found this little forum & it seems you have a wealth of knowledge here, so hoping someone can point us in a right direction. I'm an auto-electrician by trade, but not having worked on boats before as such. We are over in the UK & we have recently bought our first MerCruiser powered boat & we are experiencing issues with it. I have tried a few local mechanics but no-one has any diagnostics, so hoping you can help.
I have been through the ID pdf you guys have, but cant narrow down what we have exactly, ref engine dates. On the engine build plate it says: "350 Mag BRAVO, 864377-3, 884521, ??p5AAAv_0037_5.7_BRAVO_P_AB20531005" (question marks, I just cant read what is there) She is running the Bravo 3 outdrive.
Right, the problem, basically the previous owner had her 3 years, but hardly ever took her out as he was a bit scared of her, (our marina's dont half cram us together so lots of risk just getting in & out) The marina where we are is onto a small river, which has speed restrictions so it's a tad hard to test for more than a few hundred feet without upsetting someone.
When we went out on test, she appeared to have a misfire & the warning alarm came, running a continuous tone, running reduced power. The boatyard changed the fuel filter, we took her out again & all seemed well, got on the plane nice & quick & rev'd out to around 4800 rpm so thought that was sorted. we bought her, nibbled out of the marina, we then got a double beep alarm, she then went onto a continuous tone again & reduced power right down to the point we only just had idle with reduced cylinders, (not sure if the Guardian system is clever enough to shut down cylinders) We have replaced the plugs, oil & filters. The only thing non-standard is someone has put a pancake filter on, as opposed to the full flame arrestor but tbh, not having seen one before this may be just the std filter with the arrestor removed, although the cam breather just goes to near the filter, it's not attached??
Anyway, we then got her back in, fully drained the tank to get rid of old fuel, took the tank outlet out & noticed the one way ball valve was a bit rusty looking so replaced that. Took her out & all seemed well apart form when bimbling at around 6kn, every now & then she would still double beep, around every couple of minutes or so, but no effect on running, it seemed after running the engine blower fan, the beep went away, so we thought that was maybe an emission in the engine bay alarm.
This weekend we went through the lock & did around a 40 mile round trip, most of the time she behaved, but occasionally gives the double beep, & then by the end of the weekend we have been experiencing the single continuous tone, but this only appears above 3200rpm, stays on until the engine is brought back to a complete idle, & it then turns off, till next time we try to get above 3200rpm. Another thing she has done maybe 3 times now, is when dropping to idle, if you dont listen carefully, she sounds like she cuts out, but immediately catches again, sort of like the anti-stall is kicking in, then the IAC valve plays catchup & raises back to idle, she has never stalled though. Pretty much through the whole rev range she does sound sweet, apart from maybe 2600 to 3000rpm, but cant really decide if it's engine or cavitation as we get no shuddering, just something sounds off.
So, is any one that clever to point us in any direction, (knowing my day job I know exactly what you will say), so 2nd question, seeing as we cannot find anyone local with diagnostics, is there any system you guys can recommend for us. I seem to recall seeing a dash gauge which gives a read out but not sure ours is advanced enough on the management to have everything in place.
So, whats says you guys, any good ideas. Obviously in the day job I wouldn't like to add up how much money I have in diagnostics, but then again, if I'm going to buy something it has to do it's job, dont want some little obd reader from fleabay lol
Cheers in advance, & sorry for the essay. It does vary every time so sorry about the long winded descriptions :-(
Cheers, Shane
Hi guys, just found this little forum & it seems you have a wealth of knowledge here, so hoping someone can point us in a right direction. I'm an auto-electrician by trade, but not having worked on boats before as such. We are over in the UK & we have recently bought our first MerCruiser powered boat & we are experiencing issues with it. I have tried a few local mechanics but no-one has any diagnostics, so hoping you can help.
I have been through the ID pdf you guys have, but cant narrow down what we have exactly, ref engine dates. On the engine build plate it says: "350 Mag BRAVO, 864377-3, 884521, ??p5AAAv_0037_5.7_BRAVO_P_AB20531005" (question marks, I just cant read what is there) She is running the Bravo 3 outdrive.
Right, the problem, basically the previous owner had her 3 years, but hardly ever took her out as he was a bit scared of her, (our marina's dont half cram us together so lots of risk just getting in & out) The marina where we are is onto a small river, which has speed restrictions so it's a tad hard to test for more than a few hundred feet without upsetting someone.
When we went out on test, she appeared to have a misfire & the warning alarm came, running a continuous tone, running reduced power. The boatyard changed the fuel filter, we took her out again & all seemed well, got on the plane nice & quick & rev'd out to around 4800 rpm so thought that was sorted. we bought her, nibbled out of the marina, we then got a double beep alarm, she then went onto a continuous tone again & reduced power right down to the point we only just had idle with reduced cylinders, (not sure if the Guardian system is clever enough to shut down cylinders) We have replaced the plugs, oil & filters. The only thing non-standard is someone has put a pancake filter on, as opposed to the full flame arrestor but tbh, not having seen one before this may be just the std filter with the arrestor removed, although the cam breather just goes to near the filter, it's not attached??
Anyway, we then got her back in, fully drained the tank to get rid of old fuel, took the tank outlet out & noticed the one way ball valve was a bit rusty looking so replaced that. Took her out & all seemed well apart form when bimbling at around 6kn, every now & then she would still double beep, around every couple of minutes or so, but no effect on running, it seemed after running the engine blower fan, the beep went away, so we thought that was maybe an emission in the engine bay alarm.
This weekend we went through the lock & did around a 40 mile round trip, most of the time she behaved, but occasionally gives the double beep, & then by the end of the weekend we have been experiencing the single continuous tone, but this only appears above 3200rpm, stays on until the engine is brought back to a complete idle, & it then turns off, till next time we try to get above 3200rpm. Another thing she has done maybe 3 times now, is when dropping to idle, if you dont listen carefully, she sounds like she cuts out, but immediately catches again, sort of like the anti-stall is kicking in, then the IAC valve plays catchup & raises back to idle, she has never stalled though. Pretty much through the whole rev range she does sound sweet, apart from maybe 2600 to 3000rpm, but cant really decide if it's engine or cavitation as we get no shuddering, just something sounds off.
So, is any one that clever to point us in any direction, (knowing my day job I know exactly what you will say), so 2nd question, seeing as we cannot find anyone local with diagnostics, is there any system you guys can recommend for us. I seem to recall seeing a dash gauge which gives a read out but not sure ours is advanced enough on the management to have everything in place.
So, whats says you guys, any good ideas. Obviously in the day job I wouldn't like to add up how much money I have in diagnostics, but then again, if I'm going to buy something it has to do it's job, dont want some little obd reader from fleabay lol
Cheers in advance, & sorry for the essay. It does vary every time so sorry about the long winded descriptions :-(
Cheers, Shane
