Alarm going off.

[fishhawker]

I have a Mariner 40 Magnum Outboard S/N 06117753. Its probably about 7 or 8 years old and I have had excellent service from it on my 17 ft Center Consol. This year after going through the normal start up of plugs, filters, oil, ect,I went to start it and noticed a Alarm I was not familiar with. I always get the single beep when I turn the key. No problem there. I have periodically over the years noticed an occational churp when idiling for a long period such as very slow trolling, due to the battery not getting as much charge as it needs. After speeding up for a short period, that always went away. This alarm is a loud Beep,Beep,Beep and starts as soon as I turn the key on. My dealer told me it was probably my oil sensor in the tank and to unplug it and check if it goes off. I did and the alarm went off. I replaced the sensor (No big deal), pluged it in and was greeted by the alarm again. He told me that I could bring it down this weekend and drop it off. Well thankfully I found this website while looking for info. The engine runs great all through this. Idle, run up, water temp are great. I can smell oil in the exhaust, so I know (or think) it's getting oil. The alarm stops as soon as I unplug the sensor and restarts upon connection. I did notice something weird the other night when I got home. The light on the TAC was on and there was no key or switch on. I had to remove the Battery lead to get the light to go off. Could this alarm be caused by a bad ignition switch? What is it? Why is the light on the TAC? Any help would be most appreciated. I would much rather go Rockfishing on the first day of the season than have to take my boat down and drop it off so the engine can be worked on who knows when and at god knows what cost. Although the engine runs great with the sensor unplugged, I wouldn't think that I really want to consider that as an option. Thanks again for any help.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Alarm going off.

Welcome to iboats, Fishhawker. <br />The sender triggers the alarm by completing the alarm's cicuit to ground. The alarm is connected to positive all the time. The sender connects the ground when it senses no oil or low oil.<br />The fact that your tach is lighting up even without the switch ,is the same cause. The switch is no longer needed to complete the bulb's connection to ground, because there is a short to ground.Yes, it could be the ignition switch. or any ground lead making contact with ground, thru virtually any path (another wire, a metal trim strip,ect). It could be the regulator shorting out,wires ,corrosion or cobwebs, completing the path to ground. These can be easy or very hard to find, dependiong on your luck, and where you happen to start looking for it. I would check the negitive buss (where all the negative wires attach near the fuese block), the ignition switch,regulator, wire harness (in that order).<br />Look for a bundle of wires that is pinched or squished.<br />Good luck, quick-find, and happy hunting.

 

[fishhawker]

Re: Alarm going off.

Thanks for the reply. I found out what the problem with the lights were. Accessory wiring was backward. However, still have alarm problem. I checked all of the wiring I could see, both at the engine and at the console. Everything looks fine . No crimps, chafes or excessive corrosion. I'm afraid I'm over my head. Should be some kind of tester the dealer can put on it to find out whats up. I guess that's my next step. Once again thanks for the help. I'm glad I found a forum such as this to discuss these problems. I'm sure I'll be back.

 

[MURX]

Re: Alarm going off.

I used to have a merc 90 3cyl did the same thing. after the local stealer sold me an entire oil resivoir with sensor I installed the new jug filled it up and presto low oil alarm went off.... I wound up leaving it there and he fixed it.... said the new sensor was bad