2 Beeps and BF50 drops back to Idle RPMs when running.

I have a bf50 fuel injected engine. Out fishing today several times I got 2 short beeps and the engine dropped back to idle RPMs. All times I was running about 5,000 RPMs. A couple of times the engine kept running and a couple of other times the engine cut off. Once I throttled back or restarted all was OK. No lights came on on the dash. Also, I have temp and water flow gauges both were OK.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi haltabb,
This may not be the best answer you get but I thought I'd try since no one else has responded yet.
I'm assuming you have remote control console.
It sounds as if you may be losing electrical for a millisecond or so and the the computer may be trying to reboot. The fact that it only happens at higher revs could indicate that the vibrational harmonics are "shakin" it just right".

First thing I'd do is a complete electrical connection integrity and cleanliness check starting at the batteries.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness in marine electrics. Disconnect your battery terminals and WIRE BRUSH the interface of all the connections so that they shine. Tighten securely...with a wrench.

I don't know how comfortable you would be unplugging things under the cowl but if you can carefully disconnect and spray plugs with contact cleaner then reconnect, you may slay your gremlin.

If all that fails and you have a trim indicator, unplug it, wrap the connector in waterproof tape and run without it to see if there is a difference. I've seen some things lately about trim indicators shorting out and causing weird problems.

Hopefully someone else here has some better ideas.

Thanks,

You have me thinking about my approach to the problem. I believe the only time that you will get 2 beeps is when the ignition is turned on (instead of constant beep from overheating or low oil pressure). Someone please correct me if this is not right or if anyone knows about a 2 beep warning.

If this is the case, then maybe your are right and the ignition is turning off then back on very quickly via a wire short. Maybe, I should start the electrical wire checking & cleaning from dash back. The battery connections are new and clean. I will also clean the cowl connections.

Then the trim.

Yes, all I know is what is in the owner's manual and it only lists constant warning with appropriate light function (green OFF if oil related) if a fault is detected. And, I'm just shooting from the hip as far as where to start. I was hoping someone that has experienced this and knows the answer would chime in while we're talking.

Other areas of concern that you may have already checked but come to mind would be the emergency stop and the fuel system.
Is the E-stop key all the way in holding the stop button up properly?
And, if you have a water separator, is it clean and clear? Those sorts of things.

Good luck.

It sounds like you are probably going down the right path.... tracing electrical.

Look down at your warning lights when you are getting the two beeps...if all the lights come on for two seconds then go off (like when you start your engine), Jimmy's theory is correct.

Jimmy may be shooting from the hip...but he is normally a deadly shot!

Make sure you battery connections are not only clean but wrench tight.

How old is your battery? It should be at least 582 cca or 756 mca.

Look for any bare or skinned wires where they go through any openings. The vibrations might be enough to actually cause a short but not long enough to blow a fuse. While talking about fuses...reseat them too.

One last thing is a wiggle test. Start you engine on a hose or in the water and raise the rpms some in neutral. Then go around and wiggle the heck out of all the wires that you see on the motor and going to the motor from under the dash. If this causes a failure, then you will know the general location to do deeper investigation.

Mike

Mike

Thanks, great help.

As soon as I read the wiggle test suggestion, I was hooking up the hose. Could not duplicate the problem, but that was after I had tightened and reseated all battery, engine and key console connections. All I can do is hope that I stumbled over it or I have to wait until it happens again on the water and check the lights.

Stop lanyard is working fine and I have 2 water fuel separators both in engine and on board are clean.

I fish deep in the Louisiana marsh and many times I am outside of cell coverage. Oh well - maybe closer to the launch until I get comfortable that it will not happen again.

Sure appreciate all of the help.

I've used my trolling motor and a paddle to get home from far away more than once. Caught a few fish along the way too since things weren't happening to quickly...if you know what I mean.
It pays to keep that deep cycle fresh!
I suspect your problem will need the boat running at 5k in gear to duplicate the harmonics. Just can't do that in the driveway. But, from what you initially described, it should happen, if it's going to, pretty quickly don't you think?
Here's wishing you luck.
Keep us posted.

PS As I was re-reading your original post, it struck me that you say "once I throttled back". It reminded me of a Pontoon my customer had that kept being a phantom problem requiring "rescue" from the rental center. The responding dock hands always came back saying they could find nothing wrong and the boat ran perfectly for them. I finally found the solution to that one in the shifter handle where a wire had rubbed through. Electrical tape and no more rescues. Just a thought.

Yes, my thought is as you said, hopefully it will happen quickly or not at all. Hope that is the case because than I can either figure it out or not have to. But, I do have a recurring fear of being miles from nowhere and ready to go home with no response from the key turn.

Thanks again guys....Hal

Hopefully reseting all of the connections put the gremlins back in their box. I ran around the marsh for15 miles at all levels of RPMs - no beeps.
Thanks

Glad things worked out. Thanks for the feedback.

Mike