Engine alarms

[katyag]

I've got a 225 HP Optimax that started beeping at me over the weekend. Shortly after shifting into gear, I get 4 loud beeps. Then every few minutes after that, I get 4 beeps. Water pressure is normal, oil level is fine, amp meter showing 13-14 amps. Not sure what else to check. The only abnormalities I noticed are that the speedometer is stuck around 45 mph, but it's done that before and later returned to normal, and the tach is stuck around 600 rpm. Can anybody tell me what the 4 beeps mean? I left the boat at the lake and won't be back for a few weeks, but I won't plan to run it again til I get it in the shop, unless it's something minor that I can fix.

[canadabullet]

I had the same thing happen and Don informed me that 4 beeps is low oil in the little oil tank on the engine. You can either remove the little cap and top it up with oil while it is not running or with the engine running loosen the cap on the motor mounted tank and let it fill then tighten the cap..

[EuropeanAM]

That would be a low oil level warning.

Preferably, bleed the air from the engine mounted tank with the engine idling... snug the cap down as soon as you see oil spew from the cap. Wipe up spillage...

If this situation repeats, you'll want to have your oil system checked for leaks (usually air leaks, such as loose caps on boat tank, bad o-rings on boat tank, loose hose connectors, leaky check valve, or faulty pressure check valve in crankcase.

[katyag]

I found my owners manual last night and it said 4 beeps repeated every 2 minutes indicated water in the fuel line. Can you empty the water from the fuel filter and put it back on, or do you have to replace the filter? What is the ultimate solution? Since I just filled the tank with 45 gallons of 89 octane, I'd hate to drain the tank.

[rangerguy]

Johnny you have IM. Yes it can mean water in the fuel/water separator or low oil in the little tank on the motor or a bad oil level sensor in the little oil tank. All of that happen to mine when I had it. Do you have the smartcraft gages?

[katyag]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rangerguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">. Do you have the smartcraft gages? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you kidding? I'm running a ProCraft. Obviously I went cheap. Relatively speaking. Especially compared to you.

Yeah, I rechecked the owners manual today when I got home, and the low oil reserve and water in the fuel alarms are the same. Looks like both are fairly easy to fix, as long as I don't have a gas tank full of water.

Thanks for all the replies. This is my first decent boat, so I'm still learning. Maybe one day I can pay y'all back for all the help.