moderndayhero
New member
Hello everyone. Thanks a million for this forum. I’ve learned a lot from it, but now I need to ask for help.
TLDR; How do I get my engine overheat and oil pressure lights wired up and working as well as the overheat buzzer operational without using the Honda Remote Control?
Now the rather thorough context. Please forgive the detail but it will probably help answer the usual questions. I have a 2014’ish Honda BF15DK2/ SRSU (Short shaft, Remote control, Electric start, Europe destination). We’ve had our boat for 3 years now. The boat was new. The Honda was already used and packaged with the boat, but it didn’t come with the Honda Remote Control. Instead it came with a third-party throttle which based on the design of our little sloop (it’s a Dutch canal boat really) I suppose made some sense at the time of initial fit up. I don’t believe the Honda remote control would fit on our particular console, but that would require some additional research.
Anyway, after various troubles with this engine over these three years I finally realized that (among other things) the engine had been overheating from time to time. This would have been easier to diagnose if the buzzer worked (there actually is a buzzer, but was previously unknown/hidden to me) and if there were any indicator lights which there are not. I didn’t know this engine was even capable of transmitting warning sounds and displaying lights for the first long while. You don’t know what you don’t know, right?
Well, I’ve since learned a lot more about this engine (little thanks to Honda and mostly thanks to the Internet). I know I have the factory wiring harness. I know a buzzer exists and works when I apply voltage directly to it, but doesn’t sound during an overheat condition. Eventually, I suspected a bad transistor in the CDI not completing the path to ground as I’ve tested pretty much everything else (continuity along the wires, etc.) and it all seems to be ok.
I do know that when the engine overheats the engine is forced into limp mode until it cools off, so that part of the CDI is working properly. It was challenging to understand why the engine was behaving the way it was without any other outward indications that it was overheating, but I’m learning now. I decided that I don’t care so much about the buzzer IF I could at least get indicator lights working properly. I finally found a Honda wiring diagram that appears to be exactly the right one for my engine and fortunately I have the Honda wiring harness for it, so from that perspective everything looks spot on. In fact I just installed a WEMA tachometer and it seems to be working perfectly and that wiring diagram was critical in getting that done correctly. I’m super happy there.
My real challenge it seems is with the indicator lamps. Here’s where I really need your help. I naively assumed that I could just order up a couple of 12V LEDs and just plug them in according to the wiring diagram and that would be that. I was hopeful when I plugged in the one for the oil pressure sender. A nice bright green My hopes faded when I plugged in the overheat LED. It’s burning just as brightly as the oil pressure one. I’ve taken the multi-meter to task. I’ve measured lots of things, but I can’t make a ton of sense out of what I’m getting back anymore. I even bought a new CDI to test as I was ultimately convinced this had to be where the problem was but that has also failed to solve my issue.
So, I have no idea what to try at this point. I’m reasonably convinced (although not certain - thanks again, Honda documentation) that I’ve wired things up correctly: orange wire for the oil pressure sender, red wire for the overheat, both sharing the grey wire (same one I used for the tach installation). When I short the oil pressure sender the green LED goes from bright to dim, but not out. The overheat sensor is constantly burning bright red regardless of engine condition. And of course, the buzzer does nothing even when I have been certain (in retrospect now) that the engine was overheating.
So. I’m utterly lost folks. What am I missing? Is there logic buried inside the Honda Remote Control (that I don't have) that makes it all work? This wouldn’t make much sense to me as the CDI should handle all of that functionality and neither my original nor brand new CDI seem to behave any differently, but I don’t know what else I can try at this point. Please help me get my buzzer and my two lights working. It didn't seem like this would be a challenging project and yet here I am.
Huge thanks in advance to anyone who has even bothered to read this far
Alan
TLDR; How do I get my engine overheat and oil pressure lights wired up and working as well as the overheat buzzer operational without using the Honda Remote Control?
Now the rather thorough context. Please forgive the detail but it will probably help answer the usual questions. I have a 2014’ish Honda BF15DK2/ SRSU (Short shaft, Remote control, Electric start, Europe destination). We’ve had our boat for 3 years now. The boat was new. The Honda was already used and packaged with the boat, but it didn’t come with the Honda Remote Control. Instead it came with a third-party throttle which based on the design of our little sloop (it’s a Dutch canal boat really) I suppose made some sense at the time of initial fit up. I don’t believe the Honda remote control would fit on our particular console, but that would require some additional research.
Anyway, after various troubles with this engine over these three years I finally realized that (among other things) the engine had been overheating from time to time. This would have been easier to diagnose if the buzzer worked (there actually is a buzzer, but was previously unknown/hidden to me) and if there were any indicator lights which there are not. I didn’t know this engine was even capable of transmitting warning sounds and displaying lights for the first long while. You don’t know what you don’t know, right?
Well, I’ve since learned a lot more about this engine (little thanks to Honda and mostly thanks to the Internet). I know I have the factory wiring harness. I know a buzzer exists and works when I apply voltage directly to it, but doesn’t sound during an overheat condition. Eventually, I suspected a bad transistor in the CDI not completing the path to ground as I’ve tested pretty much everything else (continuity along the wires, etc.) and it all seems to be ok.
I do know that when the engine overheats the engine is forced into limp mode until it cools off, so that part of the CDI is working properly. It was challenging to understand why the engine was behaving the way it was without any other outward indications that it was overheating, but I’m learning now. I decided that I don’t care so much about the buzzer IF I could at least get indicator lights working properly. I finally found a Honda wiring diagram that appears to be exactly the right one for my engine and fortunately I have the Honda wiring harness for it, so from that perspective everything looks spot on. In fact I just installed a WEMA tachometer and it seems to be working perfectly and that wiring diagram was critical in getting that done correctly. I’m super happy there.
My real challenge it seems is with the indicator lamps. Here’s where I really need your help. I naively assumed that I could just order up a couple of 12V LEDs and just plug them in according to the wiring diagram and that would be that. I was hopeful when I plugged in the one for the oil pressure sender. A nice bright green My hopes faded when I plugged in the overheat LED. It’s burning just as brightly as the oil pressure one. I’ve taken the multi-meter to task. I’ve measured lots of things, but I can’t make a ton of sense out of what I’m getting back anymore. I even bought a new CDI to test as I was ultimately convinced this had to be where the problem was but that has also failed to solve my issue.
So, I have no idea what to try at this point. I’m reasonably convinced (although not certain - thanks again, Honda documentation) that I’ve wired things up correctly: orange wire for the oil pressure sender, red wire for the overheat, both sharing the grey wire (same one I used for the tach installation). When I short the oil pressure sender the green LED goes from bright to dim, but not out. The overheat sensor is constantly burning bright red regardless of engine condition. And of course, the buzzer does nothing even when I have been certain (in retrospect now) that the engine was overheating.
So. I’m utterly lost folks. What am I missing? Is there logic buried inside the Honda Remote Control (that I don't have) that makes it all work? This wouldn’t make much sense to me as the CDI should handle all of that functionality and neither my original nor brand new CDI seem to behave any differently, but I don’t know what else I can try at this point. Please help me get my buzzer and my two lights working. It didn't seem like this would be a challenging project and yet here I am.
Huge thanks in advance to anyone who has even bothered to read this far
Alan