Mercury Verado limited to 2700 rpm

[spflyfish]

2013 Mercury Verado 150hp. engine starts quickly. If I am out of the water running on a muff the rpm limits to precisely 2700. Runs perfectly smooth at 2690 but starts missing at 2700. Checked fuel pressure 44psi. Oil pressure 55 at idle and 80 at 2700. Plugs look good and if I run at 2690 and pull each plug wire they are all firing. Engine seems like it is in guardian mode and some sensor is telling the PCM to limit rpm. Engine acts just like my UTV when I do not have my seatbelt on by limiting RPM. Does it when engine is cold or hot. Disconnected neutral shift switch to no avail. What should I check? I am 2 hours to the nearest dealer with a diagnostic tool.

 

[Silvertip]

Why rev above 2700 with no load? If it revs fine when you splash the boat then the perceived problem is protecting you from potential damage. If it didn't do this prior to now then perhaps a visit to the shop is in order.

 

[QBhoy]

Hi. If you are doing this in neutral…there is a soft rpm limiter on just about all modern outboards. Won’t let you rev beyond around those rpms. Mine is the same

 

[spflyfish]

Spoke to Mercury, they said without a diagnostic tool guardian mode can not be reset. If the condition is not currently happening ie: oil low quantity or pressure and engine is not hot it should reset if I disconnect battery power. I have done that multiple times. Mercury thinks I have a bad sensor. QBhoy may have be onto something as I now recall something like that. Will test in gear versus neutral. Praying it has fully reset as both dealers anywhere near me are booked for months.

 

[QBhoy]

Spoke to Mercury, they said without a diagnostic tool guardian mode can not be reset. If the condition is not currently happening ie: oil low quantity or pressure and engine is not hot it should reset if I disconnect battery power. I have done that multiple times. Mercury thinks I have a bad sensor. QBhoy may have be onto something as I now recall something like that. Will test in gear versus neutral. Praying it has fully reset as both dealers anywhere near me are booked for months.

Definitely worth a try. I got my outboard boat a few years ago. Has a 2016 engine on it. Having only had old school 2 strokes of all sizes and countless GM mercruiser and VP beforehand over the last near 40 years…the first time I tried to rev this 2016 merc 4 stroke in neutral…I got the fright of my life. Just hit a rpm limiter and bounced off and on it at around 2600/2700 rpm. Engine shaking at the same time.
Shortly afterwards realised it was a feature on almost all modern engines like this, these days. Don’t know about where you live…but here in Europe…just about every European made car has the same feature these days too.
Anyway…worth checking if that’s what it is for sure. Defo a feature on all mercury engines over a certain size and under a certain age, I’ve been in the company of just lately.

 

[QBhoy]

Oh another feature I’ve noticed in relation too…if the trim tilt is over a certain height, the engine won’t go past a certain rpm…or certainly you can’t trim tilt past a certain height, after a certain rpm at least. One or both of those is true. Can’t exactly remember what happened to make me figure that out. If you tying it in gear…make sure the engine is tilted down just in case.
You’ll also be well aware that it’s likely not very good for the engine if you do let the rpms get too high when not under load anyway…or not clever to do it too often perhaps at least. But for the purposes of solving this particular concern…have a go at putting it in gear and giving her a quick bit of throttle…with engine down as far as you can. Just to put your mind at rest perhaps.