Honda BF225 alarms. Help in Philippines

Greetings, searching these forums and many others trying to get help on this issue. First in Philippines where no service is available.
Friend has brand new BF225 (few years old but was in storage and just installed for first time). Initial start up alarms which we then followed procedure for pulling codes. Fault code 26 every time. We reset codes and started motor, however the overheat alarm stays on without audible alarm present. Ran the boat a bit and no overheating issues, seems to run perfect.
At wits end as after clearing the alarm on ECU it will come back again right after key on (motor stopped and started again).

Again this is a brand new motor which was installed with factory gauge panel and wiring harness.
Anything at all as were getting a bit desperate here and hoping to actually get some fishing in before typhoon season kicks in.

Cheers

Sounds like you have two problems. A fault code 26 is the oil pressure switch (high pressure side) Unfortunately, the Helm Shop Manual says that you need to remove the cylinder heads to get to those sensors. See items 19 & 20 at:

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/H...d Later/BF225AK0 XA/CYLINDER BLOCK/parts.html

When the engine is running, does the green oil pressure light stay on, as it should?

The procedure for testing the oil pressure sensors is on pages 5-96 & 5-97 of that Helm Manual. You may want to go ahead and order the Helm Shop Manual off of eBay or Amazon. It's about $116 USD. Be sure to get the latest version for your engine. But if you are in the position where you must do your own maintenance and repair, it is worth every penny and a lot more. Don't waste your money on the cheaper after market manuals - too many errors and omissions.

There is an online manual that you many be able to access. It's for the BF 200, but the oil pressure switches are the same as the BF 225. Here is the link:

http://
boatinfo.
no/
lib/honda/manuals/bf200.html#/0

Go to the bottom center where is says 1/542. Type in a number and it will take you to that page. Note that the manual page numbers are different.

105 = beginning of Chapter 5, so what you are looking for is somewhere around page 200.

As for the overheat. I assume that you mean that the overheat light comes on, on your key switch, but you get no audible alarm. Is that correct?
First, make sure your audible alarm works. You should get two beeps when you turn on the key switch. If so, then the alarm buzzer works. When you first turn on the key switch, do all four lights on the key switch blink on? In that case, you may have a disconnected wire on the sensor because if you really had an overheat situation you should get a fault code 6.

There are two water heat sensors, one on the top of each manifold. Check those connections first. See item(s) 13 at:

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/H...AK0 XA/EXHAUST MANIFOLD THERMOSTAT/parts.html

Disconnect the 2P connector on each one and make sure that the pins are clean and are connecting well.

Thanks,

A bit more information and replies.

Audible alarm is good and works fine.
After clearing ECU we then run it with no audible alarms but the top temperature light stays on, tested for more than an hour going slowly around the islands close to shore. Again I would say is quite easy to determine no overheat as very warm weather and water, yet every part of motor is nice and cool and nice 'piss stream' which also not hot.


After running the boat for an hour and turning key off and back on steady audible alarm off-on-off-on, etc. and temp, battery, and MIL lights on. (prior to starting)
Start engine and temperature and MIL alarm steady with the green light flashing.
Check engine codes and again alarm 26 is back again on ECU.
Also seems to be very difficult to clear the ECU, seems even following the procedure only clears sometimes the ECU.

(If we clear the ECU and run engine-- back again to green light steady and red temp light on with no audible alarms)
(The two beeps after turning key on as normal, etc.)

What we have done so far:
Reset ECU numerous times and ran motor. (see above in this condition runs fine with green light on and overheat light, no audible alarms)
Checked all the connections on both temp. sensors, again motor is brand new and all connections look perfect.
Checked both temperature sensors for continuity, both appear fine.

Was hoping it was a silly thing we were missing, but not looking that way. Both of us quite mechanical and medium to high level of knowledge mechanically and we do have the manual. Very frustrating as new motor, probably 2 hrs running time now (motor was in dry storage for 6 years or so before install if that makes a difference- in storage in Africa and was shipped over here in container along with the boat and other items)

Any suggestions? Today we will try to test oil pressure sensors and post what we come up with.

Okay so we were able to clear alarms, however ECU keeps alarm 26 as obviously is a problem. Next question, anyway to test oil pressure sensors without removing heads. Haven't been through wiring diagram yet, thought the experts here might know a quick test.

See the wiring for the 34 pin connector at the beginning of chapter 5 of the Helm manual. It's page 5-11 and 5-12 in my manual. Pin 31 is for the high pressure oil pressure sensor. The wire is yellow/red. Pin 22 is the low pressure oil pressure sensor. Color is pink. Pin 34 (green/red) is the sensor ground. Check those pins for good connections and proper seating. Make sure they are not recessed or bent.

Then, using those pins should allow you to test the high pressure oil sensor wiring as described on pages 5-96 & 5-97 (Oil Pressure Switch). Your pages could be slightly different if you have a newer manual. If you can possibly get to the connector plugs without removing the heads, then you can also check the sensor itself. However, from the diagrams I have, that looks like wishful thinking. They plug directly into the top of the sensor itself.

Just as an aside, there are not many design flaws with these big Honda's, but this is one of them. It seems that if the design engineer had bothered the think through the need to test the oil pressure sensors he or she would have considered adding a connector you could get to for testing purposes without removing the heads.

All,

A quick follow up on an extensive and long drawn out troubleshooting process. Finally my friend tore into the engine much deeper. Again to recap brand new motor, never been in the water, but was stored for 9 years. Low and behold, rats....literally. Rats had during the storage of the motor nested right on top of the cylinder heads and chewed up a bit of the wiring harness!!!! So wiring repaired and we go out hopefully to bring home the fish.

Thanks again to all.....

Well, that's certainly a new one. All kinds of bugs can get into these engines, but this is the first time I've heard of rats doing it. They must have crawled through the cable housing. Thanks for the followup and explanation.

Good luck fishing.