Oil resevior sending unit

[zjz4476]

Ok, this is my first post on iboats so Hello and thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide. My boat has a 2004 MERC 4.3 L - 190 HP I.O motor. I live in the Midwest so I just put the boat in the water a few weeks ago. Today I went out on the boat and was cruzing around the lake and my QuickSilver brand warning buzzer went off. I immediately put the boat in neutral and did a quick check of the gauges and Oil pressure looked good, Temps were normal. So I shut her down and went to check the fluids and noticed that my gear oil reservoir was fairly low. My guess is that the system purged itself after I drained and refilled the out drive a few weeks ago and the reservoir needed to be topped off. I topped off the reservoir and the alarm never shut off. I turned the boat on and off thinking that it needed to reset itself somehow with no luck. To make sure that it was the oil reservoir that was causing the alarm, with the boat running, I disconnected one of the two wires going to the sending unit under the reservoir and the alarm shut off. I put the wire back on and it came back on. I know there is enough oil in the system as it is visibly full. Now I can ask my question... Does it sound like my sending unit is bad, or is there some trick in resetting the alarm? what is the best way to test the unit? Is there any thing else that I should be looking for that could be causing the alarm to not shut off? <br /><br />Thank you <br /><br />Zane

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Oil resevior sending unit

could be the sender is bad or the float is stuck in the "mud" that sometimes forms in the resevoir.<br /> as far as testing, you pretty much did, if the resevoir is full and dissconctin a wire made the system quit alarming its definatly an issue with the float switch in the resevoir.<br />on the water its the exact test I would make.<br /> quick,easy and painless.

 

[zjz4476]

Re: Oil resevior sending unit

OK for those that may do a search on this I figured I would post what my issue was and how I fixed it. I pulled the gear oil reservoir and cleaned it out really well. There was a lot of gunk at the bottom of it so I used some WD40 to break it all down then blew everything out with my compressor. Put it back in the boat, hooked it back up, and filled it up and the alarm turn off. <br /><br />It sounds like "rodbolts" suggestion was correct that the float was stuck.<br /><br />Thanks for you help

 

[Don S]

Re: Oil resevior sending unit

That is a real common problem with the Merc HiPerformance gear lube. That reservoir should be cleaned every time the gear lube is changed.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Oil resevior sending unit

what DonS says .<br /> be careful blowing in the tank with compressed air, you can blow the foat retaining clip off and its not fun getting it back on. <br />dont ask how I know Ill deny everything.

 

[timrsd]

Re: Oil resevior sending unit

I am having the same problem with my Mercruiser 350 / Bravo III outdrive. The low oil warning (2 short beeps every minute) began immediately after fueling up and upon return from a 3-1/2-hour trip of constant running about 3k RPM. Thanks to the posts above I found no shortage of sludge in the oil reservoir. Cleaned it out and re-installed. I got about 10 minutes running time without the alarm, followed by about 10 minutes with the alarm, followed by about 30 minutes with no alarm, and now back to running with alarm. The engine remained on the entire time.
Later I tried disconnecting the wires at the oil reservoir but still got an alarm.
Any troubleshooting ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Don S]

Re: Oil resevior sending unit

Best to start a new thread with your problem, even if it is similar to someone elses.
Might want to include the year of your engine and drive as well.

 

[timrsd]

Re: Oil resevior sending unit

Thanks, Don. I'll do that.