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Evinrud 1994 225 hp ]Alarming Erratically

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bay

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The engine is a 1994 225 Evirude Ocean Pro. At idle speed under way the alarm will sounds erratically, long beep, short beeps, etc., alternating between warning signals. Sometimes it starts soon after engine start sometime it takes longer, almost always it starts within 10 to 15 minutes. Engine runs fine, when I throttle up the alarming stops.* :confused:
*
Any help is appreciated.
 
Re: Evinrud 225 Alarming Erratically

all i can tell you is that i have a 1992 70hp johnson that used to have vro (disconnected and back to premixing), i have a plate that says (short tones every 40 seconds.. low on oil.), ( rapid short tones.. no oil.) and of course long tone is overheat.
 
Re: Evinrud 225 Alarming Erratically

Curt O thanks for the reply.
I also have a plate with all the codes. The tones are irregular and not problem specific. You are probably right disconnect the VRO, pre mix, and disconnect all the alarm sensors, if that can be done I might go that route. I am concerned that by doing so and ignoring the problem I might be missing something simple that might cause problems down the road. These engines are not cheap to repair.
 
Re: Evinrud 225 Alarming Erratically

OK, it seems like no one has had this problem. Any suggestions on how to diagnose the problem.

Thanks
 
Re: Evinrud 225 Alarming Erratically

Ok...here we go....

There are four faults that cause the alarm to trigger:
1. Overheat, 2. Fuel restriction, 3. No oil, 4. Low oil.

There is no "smarts" to it...ie there is no computer interpreting the fault and sounding the horn. It is a very simple warning system.

The fault warnings are all triggered in the wiring of the engine by tan wires. The tan wires have colored stripes on them, tan/yellow, for instance is on the OMS pump wiring plug, and will signal a no oil condition. The tan/black is in the oil tank harness, and will signal a low oil condition. The tan/orange is in the incoming fuel line vacuum switch and will signal high vacuum in the incoming fuel line. The solid tans are present at each temp sender at the top of each head.

So, if you take ANY of those lines to ground, the associated warning horn beeps will sound.

If it were me, I would systematically disconnect the harness for each of the four conditions (one by one) and try to determine which circuit is causing the intermittent horn sounding. That MAY point to a defective sender switch that is intermittently open/closed/open as you are underway. Bad low oil switch in the tank would be high on my list....

If you cannot isolate it that way, then you are experiencing some sort of intermittent electrical short to ground on one of those tan wires in the wiring harness. If that is the case, it will be tough to find.
If you put an ohmmeter on any of these tan wires, other lead to ground, while you are underway, the ohmmeter will indicate a short to ground when the horn goes off. For example, put the ohmmeter on a tan temp wire, run the motor recreating the fault, and see if the meter fluctuates as the horn sounds. If it does, you have found the shorting circuit. If it is solid open to ground, but the horn still sounds intermittently, then it is not the temp circuit, and must be a different one. Try til you find the shorting tan wire.

I also heard somewhere that routing the tans (temp) too close to PP wiring may cause intermittent sounding of the horn, but this is way fuzzy for me, and if someone else knows for sure, please chime in.
 
Re: Evinrud 225 Alarming Erratically

Daselbee,

You just simplified the problem for me, just what I was hoping for. Bad low oil switch might be it, I will check that first because that seemed to be one of the clear signals when the tank was still 1/2 full.

I am not shore I am following the ohmmeter scenario correctly. If the fault switch goes to ground, when an ohmmeter is connected to the wire and the ground, the ohmmeter should automatically fluctuate since the fault switch is making the ground. I think the fault switch has to be disconnected.

Great info, thanks.:)
 
Re: Evinrud 225 Alarming Erratically

Yes, you are right...the fault switch can be disconnected. I posted the part about finding the defective switch first, by disconnecting, etc. THEN, if the switches are OK, use the ohmmeter (or a test light) and it doesn't matter if the line is disconnected or not, because the switch is not causing the intermittency. The wiring is. BUt you can still disconnect it if you want...no harm at all.

The key though is to find which of the four lines is causing the horn to trigger. Cannot rule out a wiring fault up at the horn, also. Don't forget that.
 
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