2000 Optimax 225 Four Beeps, Running Hot, & Smokey

[NewFisher]

Hi there friends,


Just joined because I bought my first boat that I will use to go after smallmouths and other species in Lake St. Clair and The Great Lakes. I brought it home this weekend but I am more familiar with the OMC Sterndrives of my father's boat then these outboards. I did a compression check on the motors before buying it but I did forget to open up the throttle but with the throttles closed my cylinders were all around 90psi. I put all brand new Mercury spec NGK plugs in her after I noticed the plugs that in it were fouled from being an NGK model with a heat rating of 10 and too short. I put all brand new Mercury spec NGK plugs in her after I noticed the plugs that in it were fouled from being an NGK model with a heat rating of 10 and too short.


My starboard engine serial: 0T109324.


This engine fires up and then has four long beeps. I thought maybe it was the gas/water separator filter. I unplugged the bottom pigtail and the beeps still happened. I then checked the engine oil tank and it is full of oil. This engine was only ran for a few a minutes and muffs and was already at 175 degrees F and still climbing while my other engine which was running at nearly 3 times the RPM was over 50 degrees cooler. I increased the RPM to match the other engine and it sure smoked a lot more too so I then shut it down. Also this engine did seem to have a little bit of a shake to it at idle which was about 900rpm but my port engine was idling near 2500rpm for some reason as you may seen in my other post so I cannot compare. Any ideas what the problem(s) could be on this one?

[DewRonInc]

Water pump, and or thermostats

[DewRonInc]

Pee stream cools air compressor also

[EuropeanAM]

Always start at the source: The Water Pump.

WHICH NGK plug did you install, BTW?

[NewFisher]

Don I put in the IZFR5IZ that I ordered after reading your one of your post because the previous owner had NGK's in it that were very fouled from being too cold of heat range and too short of plug. I bought 12 to replace all 6 in each motor of mine. Some had screw on caps and others had solid caps for some reason.

I purchased a Rinda Diacom kit incase I need it that will be here Wednesday for further diagnostic help. I will order two impeller kits as I'm sure the other motor could use one too. I will start on this one and report back.

[SilverFox579]

The correct plug for your non-ProXS 225 is IZFR5G. There is a ton of useful information in the FAQs at the top of this forum, great place to learn about your Optimax, from the Oil, Battery, Spark Plugs, Fuel and Fuel Additive Recommendations topic:

Spark Plugs:
-QL77CC (Champion) for 3 Liter EFI's (XB models or 2001 and EARLIER: .035" / All 2002-> Down-draft intake models: .040")
>>>>-IZFR5G (NGK)@ .032-.033" for Standard Opti's 135-225HP, 2001 200XS, and 200 ProXS PRIOR TO Serial Number#1B912786***<<<<
-IZFR5J (NGK) @.032-.033 for 75-115 Opti's
-IZFR6J (NGK)for 150/175/200 ProXS (200 ProXS Serial #1B912786-up) & 225-250 ProXS and Racing XS Motors
-2006 & prior ProXS: .032-.033"
-2007 & up: .042-.044" gap for best idle performance. (150/175/225/250 ProXS/XS)
- 2007 & up 225-250 XS/ProXS can use NGK- IZFR6J (gapped to .042-.044") OR IZFR6J-11 (pre-gapped, currently a "factory only" plug)
-2007 & up 225 ProXS: .042-.044" (IZFR6J)
-175 ProXS: .042-.044" (IZFR6J)
*** 200 ProXS Models manufactured PRIOR TO 2/1/12 utilize IZFR5G(NGK) Plugs.
*** 200 ProXS Models manufactured AFTER 2/1/12 (Serial Number 1B912786 and later) will utilize NGK- IZFR6J (gapped at .042-.044") due to production changes in the engines.

-IZFR7M (NGK) for 300XS: .044" Gap

[EuropeanAM]

Don I put in the IZFR5IZ that I ordered after reading your one of your post because the previous owner had NGK's in it that were very fouled from being too cold of heat range and too short of plug. I bought 12 to replace all 6 in each motor of mine. Some had screw on caps and others had solid caps for some reason.

Start by purchasing the CORRECT spark plugs and installing them, AFTER gapping them properly.

IZFR5G at .032-.033" gap. Do not use ANY other plug for your engine.

[NewFisher]

Oops I copy and pasted the wrong plug part number; I didn't look at my receipt because it used the other part number; 5887. I did buy the right ones, however, I did not gap them. I will take them back out and gap them. I'm gonna change the impeller, pull the codes using the Rinda, gap the plugs, and maybe recheck compression with throttle open this weekend. I also put 90 gallons of fresh fuel for each motor's tank (180 total) with Don's cocktail prior to firing them up last weekend. That was quite expensive as I put non-ethanol 90 octane in at $6.49 a gallon. Appreciate the help fellas. Should have an update soon on this motor.

Also is there a how to thread for the impeller/water pump kit?

[Bryanmc57]

Your motor is designed to run on 87 octane fuel. Higher octane fuel burns colder and slower and can result in excess carbon buildup. Here's the how to for your water pump... http://www.bassboatcentral.com/sttipswp2.htm

[rvaha]

Your motor is designed to run on 87 octane fuel. Higher octane fuel burns colder and slower and can result in excess carbon buildup. Here's the how to for your water pump... http://www.bassboatcentral.com/sttipswp2.htm

most marinas in Virginia carry 90 octane - non ethanol. No other choice.

[Bryanmc57]

most marinas in Virginia carry 90 octane - non ethanol. No other choice.

Your better off with 87 octane E10... It also costs less per gallon.

[NewFisher]

Your better off with 87 octane E10... It also costs less per gallon.

Thanks for the link Bryan, I did end up finding that how-to and this video:

I'm new to both Mercury and Outboards in general but I am not new to the overall designs and fuels used in carb/efi/dfi two or four cycle engines. I am a former engineer for a very large publicly traded multifuel industrial engine manufacture: https://psiengines.com/

Aside from costs I respectfully disagree that one would be better off with E10 87 octane. Ethanol free 87 octane would be ideal as our motors don't need the slightly slower and colder burning rate of 90 octane rating, but we are talking a few octane points here; not race gas octane ratings. I believe the benefits of non-ethanol far outweigh the few octane points and like rvaha said I have never seen a Marina sell anything different here either. This boat is not a bass boat; it is 33' charter boat with dual 150 gallon tanks; would be a lot of time and effort to pull it out of the water to go to the gas station once I start using it. Maybe I should have drained the tanks completely but they were close to empty. I'm sure the little of old gas lost some octane so the extra octane will make up for that and 90 octane will probably help me too when I store the boat for the winter because if it loses some octane in storage I'll still be probably just above 87 octane; where 87 would drop below and we all know it's better to a point or two above then be below.

On a side note Rinda, sent me a two prong connector harness and I need a four so I can't pull codes this weekend. Well maybe I could if I went and sourced a connector but I'll wait and see if Rinda wants this harness back to send me the right one first. However, I have the old water pump out and putting the new kit in it right now. Old one looked great so I am not sure if a new one is going to help bring down the temps. Got the plugs out and am gapping them to .32 from the .31 that they came but I highly doubt .01" in gap is going to change the way this engine is running on the muffs either since my other engine did not beep or smoke with the plugs being gapped at NGK's .31 spec.

[SilverFox579]

My 13+ yr old Optimax runs as good today as when new, nothing but ethanol from the very first tank. ALWAYS top-tier, high traffic station, correct octane, and the "cocktail".

If Don says not to do it, that's all I need to know.

[Bryanmc57]

If Don says not to do it, that's all I need to know.

+1

[EuropeanAM]

Spark plug gap isn't going to cause the engine to "beep"- and it would have to be off by a pretty good margin to cause it to smoke.

Run the fuel you wish to- but be aware that these Speed-Density systems have no means (whatsoever) of compensating for changes in fuel octane or quality. Since carbon buildup is the "achillies heel"... it would be very wise to avoid anything that can result in incomplete combustion and/or carbon buildup.

All we can do is put the information out there for you.

BTW... strongly recommend AGAINST utilizing "tube" videos as your repair guide. Many of them are riddled with costly errors (hard to weed through them and determine what's good and what's not).

[NewFisher]

Spark plug gap isn't going to cause the engine to "beep"- and it would have to be off by a pretty good margin to cause it to smoke.

Run the fuel you wish to- but be aware that these Speed-Density systems have no means (whatsoever) of compensating for changes in fuel octane or quality. Since carbon buildup is the "achillies heel"... it would be very wise to avoid anything that can result in incomplete combustion and/or carbon buildup.

All we can do is put the information out there for you.

BTW... strongly recommend AGAINST utilizing "tube" videos as your repair guide. Many of them are riddled with costly errors (hard to weed through them and determine what's good and what's not).

Don I appreciate the solid information from you guys on here; it was the knowledge and experience I seen you had that made me join this forum and want to be apart of the community even though my new to me boat is a charter boat and not a bass boat. For the costs I would run 87 octane E10 during the season, but it's a 14,000lbs boat full of fluid plus trailer weight too. My truck is only rated to pull 12,000lbs and I don't have the time to pull the thing out of water to get e10 so I have to use 90 octane ethanol free which is the standard Michigan marina fuel. In all my other engines such as my snowmobiles I run E10 at whatever octane the factory calls for but at the end of the season I do my last fill ups with the ethanol free 90 octane gas and put Stabil in. Some motors I run fogging oil in for storage but I read not to do that on here with these. Seems to work good for me on all my other powersports engines. I do better than my father. My father's snowmobile is identical to my backup snowmobile which actually calls for 91 octane minimum (but doesn't ping on the 90 ethanol free) at up to 10% ethanol. He only uses E10 premium at tier 1 high traffic stations and stores his tank near empty with Stabil every year. Well it took him a couple hundred pulls to start the engine this year and he often seems to run lean due to carb jets getting clogged or iced up and burns down cylinders every couple thousand miles. My backup snowmobile which is jetted identical to his has been sitting in the same spot since 2015. I needed to move it two weeks ago and it fired up on the fourth pull and I did nothing special but pour some fresh non-ethanol 90 octane to make up for what evaporated; ironically it did take 8ish pulls to start it this week but I also did not use the choke. On snowmobiles we deal with heavy soot on the exhaust power valves and what makes the most difference on them regardless if it carb, efi or dfi is running good full synthetic high detergent 2 cycle oil. Surprised to see the two gallons of Optimax DFI oil that I was given with the boat was a synthetic blend.

But I commented in my other thread that my 2000 engines have Optimax labeled cowls but my serial numbers call out 225 EFI motors. I took the cowls off again and sure enough I don't see injectors running through the head so apparently the previous owner should have been running premium plus and not DFI oil? Also my trim does not want to go back down after raising it up do the water pump either. I hear the Solenoid clicking when I hit up or down but it just won't go down, it will rock a bit, and it will go a bit farther up. My other engine's trim is working fine so it's not the batteries, might need a new trim motor now as well or something. Appreciate the help guys; likely most of the time I will agree with you Mercury Outboard gurus as I'm the Mercury newb here but I do have strong feelings against what seems to be ethanol phase separation causing problems in the two cycle engines of my father's and friends' snowmobiles, chainsaws, string trimmers, and even their four stroke lawn mowers as compared to how I store my things for the season. One friend has started storing his stuff with full tanks of non-ethanol fuel with Stabil too after finally getting sick of having so much more problems than me with the things we both commonly own.

[EuropeanAM]

See other thread- suspect you have Optimax cowlings on EFI engines.

[NewFisher]

See other thread- suspect you have Optimax cowlings on EFI engines.

Rinda came to that conclusion as well. Going to get you pics as soon as I get home. Assuming you are both right; I'm going to need to order Champion QL77CC and swap out the IZFR5G correct?

[EuropeanAM]

Absolutely!

[NewFisher]

Well I swapped plugs and started it up yesterday and I don't think it beeped but I only ran the motor for a few minutes until my neighbor asked if I could shut it off. The Rinda did not pick up any codes either so maybe it was the plugs causing the beeps? However, the Rinda said it was idling around 1000-1200rpm. The Rinda also said ECM hours: 90.3. They can't be the total number of hours on the engine can it being that they are 2000s?