What kind of alarm would alert the CRITICAL alert sound but not show up in Vessel view mobile?

J

Jmangus22

Member
Jul 1, 2020
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Boatless
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boatless
I have had a gremlin for a while, but today it got much worse.

The alarm in question is the blaring loud one, loud 1 or more second beep, without stopping, until suddenly it does.

It never happens on the way out, I spent an hour or two out there today where we were hitting various spots, it didn't make any sound until the last time I went to start the motor.. instant alarm, went away, but came back when put in to gear. This time it stayed for a while, long enough to get VVM loaded and connected, no faults!
Pulling it back to idle it stopped, put it in gear, back it comes, VVM connected the entire time not showing even one fault (usually it shows one about the gas sender, it has done this from day 1, I was told to ignore it.)

Anyway, I checked drive oil level, it was half way between full and add. I haven't added oil to that in months.

It's a 383 freshwater cooled merc, all sensors seemed to be reading fine, but I guess vessel view mobile doesn't show the drive oil res. one?

Going to dig down into it tomorrow AM, hoping it's just something with the drive oil res sensor.. does anyone know how to eliminate that from the system to test out to see if the alarm still sounds?

Thank you for your help!
 
Okay, we can eliminate engine speed limiter, as I was up on plane, while it came on and stayed on for a few mins and then turned off.. only to start the whole thing again when I came off plane. The only reason I did that was because I was far away and I had VVM showing me that pressures and temps were normal.
 
As a rudimentary test, you can try unplugging the alarm sensors one at a time, with the alarm screaming at you, and see if the alarm goes away. May be just as simple as a bad sensor.

Water temp, Water pressure, Oil pressure, Lube tank come to mind 1st.

Get a copy of the wiring diagram / manual to determine which and where the alarm sensors are.

I have found that water pressure and / or temp are common offenders when coming off plane.

PS: your sig shows "boatless". Perhaps update so we know better what to consider as possible remedies. Not knowing specifics leads to "spit balling".
 
Thanks Bill - I actually have a rinker... however there isn't much traffic over there, so coming here with questions usually yields a more complete response. Also - I have dreams of owning a venture 370, so I'm not totally on the dark side!

Thank you for the steps to take. Will try to reproduce today, the real problem is that it never happens at the dock or on the way out, seems to only show it's face after the engine has been running, and then sitting for a while.. so run up to temp, and then on the way down to cool again.
 
The Rinda scanner would be a great investment!

And don't worry about not having a SR. I don't have one anymore but I stick around. There are lots of Merc owners here.

The 370 Venture is an awesome boat!

Assuming your alarm sound is coming from the helm?
 
Bill Curtis said:
As a rudimentary test, you can try unplugging the alarm sensors one at a time, with the alarm screaming at you, and see if the alarm goes away. May be just as simple as a bad sensor.

Water temp, Water pressure, Oil pressure, Lube tank come to mind 1st.

Get a copy of the wiring diagram / manual to determine which and where the alarm sensors are.

I have found that water pressure and / or temp are common offenders when coming off plane.

PS: your sig shows "boatless". Perhaps update so we know better what to consider as possible remedies. Not knowing specifics leads to "spit balling".
Click to expand...

Never had much luck with unplugging alarm sensors since most of them run a 3 wire system (assuming you have an EFI engine with an ECM555 computer). One wire is for +5 volts (from the ECM555), one for ground, and a signal wire that sends .5 to 4.5 volts back to the computer to indicate the value of whatever the sensor is reading (oil pressure, water pressure etc). Unplugging the sensor will then provide 0 volts back to the computer which will trigger a fault since .5 volts is the lowest setting the sensor should ever provide - unless the sensor is not working. You really cannot "fool" the SMARTCRAFT system with the type of sensors used. The computer is looking for values that correspond to the engine's running condition and when it's too far off the parameters you get the dreaded alarm!
 
Was under the impression the alarm system used sender switch units separate from engine monitoring senders.

I guess that is one drawback with the EFI systems.
 
Bill Curtis said:
Was under the impression the alarm system used sender switch units separate from engine monitoring senders.

I guess that is one drawback with the EFI systems.
Click to expand...
Yea, it appears his boat, whatever it is, has Smartcraft and the engine is ECM controlled and monitored. Consequently, the fault alerts are generated through the ECM and the engine sensors that interface with the ECM and then a data stream through the Smartcraft system. Unplugging sensors will result in possibly other faults like a sensor voltage or signal loss which could cascade into unrelated fault codes. Most sensors in ECM controlled engines are provided a 5V signal from the ECM to operate the sensor.
For the larger boats with the Sea Ray Systems Monitor there are separate sensors; that system does not interface with the ECM except for one year and the Cat 3196..... But that's another story. Pre-Smartcraft the SR Systems Monitor had engine monitoring then Smartcraft based boats removed all engine monitoring from the SR Systems Monitor system.
Regardless, Mercury is sparce in their data (what's new) regarding information available to the consumer on the Smartcraft networks including available fault messages and codes. VV Mobile would be no different.
 
Here's the fault list for ECM555 engines with SMARTCRAFT...
upload_2022-12-23_11-7-32.png


Looks like unplugging sensors would cause the "2 beep/min" fault due to the ECM555 seeing that the sensor circuit in an "open" position.
 
scoflaw said:
Without knowing what ecm the OP has he's not going to get accurate info here.
Click to expand...

Agreed - It should would be nice to know the engine details if the OP wants more accurate info. However, if he's got VVM, he must have SMARTCRAFT which would only be available with either be a ECM555 or PCM555.
 
Thank you for all the thoughts and comments. I will be back at the boat this weekend and will look up what I've got.. took it out for another full day on Thursday and there were no alarms.

From the chart above, it is not a 100% constant alarm, it is a beep, every second or less. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Which would lead me to believe it's the drive oil alarm. However the drive oil was not low the other day when I checked it. Supposed it can be a bad sensor as others have stated, will check that out first.

Weird that vessel view mobile wouldn't report that.
 
Ok don't know if this helps but a buddy of mine had an alarm only when coming off plane. We looked at the gauges, checked all the fluids and everything was as it should be. When commissioning his boat this year, it's a 2001 Rinker with a three year old 5.7 four barrel with an Alpha drive he launched the boat and the alarm continued from the previous season. I pointed out that his all his cooling hoses looked original and should be replaced, he bought the boat three years ago because it had a new engine and was a good buy(cheap). After we changed the hoses no more alarm. It turned out that the hoses were collapsing inside and restricting the water flow, but we never understood why only coming off plane?
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I decided to top off the oil drive res. and see if that was it.

Ran the boat for 30 mins out, stopped for a while, 30 mins back, then hit a few dive spots, spending about 3 hours doing that... lots of stopping and starting.. no alarm.

The thing is the drive oil level was not even halfway down between the low and high marks.. wonder if that sensor is going.. and why it doesnt show up in Vessel view mobile.
 
Here are a few thoughts.
1. For the Drive Oil sensor. If you haven't removed your drive fluid reservoir and cleaned it for a few years, the float can get sticky and not work properly. That is one sensor you can unplug (2 wires) and it will bypass the float. Remove, empty, put some brake cleaner in it and shake real good, let it soak, shake it again. May even have to put a small brush in there to help loosen things up. Not saying this is your issue, but good PM to avoid the problem. I do it every drive service. Don't think this is your issue, but should do it anyways - good PM.

2. Sounds like you may be overheating when coming off plain. When the rpms drop when coming off plain so does the raw water pressure. You can sometimes see it on your engine temp gauge. May not be a significant rise. Remembering the engine temp gauge is just that - the engine coolant temp. This is usually due to worn impellor or restricted water flow. This causes a temp increase in the manifold temp as the manifolds absorb the heat that is not carried away by the higher water flow when on plain. First inspect the heat exchanger. If all those little tubes in there are not open, you will restrict water flow. This will cause your coming off plain alarm as with the limited pressure and water flow the manifolds will over heat and give you an alarm. You can clean the heat exchanger right on the boat. Remove the raw water hoses and make a loop with some lengths of hose and a 5 gallon bucket and old bilge pump or drill pump and run barnacle buster through it. I used a drill pump and wire tied the switch to on at the speed I desired. let this circulate for 30 min or so. This will rule out a blockage or restrictions in your heat exchanger. When we bought our 340 (496mags) we had to do this. They were a clogged up mess. We did not have a strainer as we have Br III drives and the raw water came straight from the drives to the pump. We installed through hulls and strainers to prevent this as well as premature wear of impellors from the sand, dirt, shell fragments, etc going into and through the system.

3. This is what was giving me the exact symptoms you are having. Happened just about every time coming off plain from more than a short cruise. The way I tested it (as recommended by my Merc Serv Mngr) was when coming off plain, take the port engine out of gear (port engine was the culprit) and idle into the creek with the strb motor. When the alarm started, idle up the port engine (out of gear) and see if the alarm stops. It did.
After removing and inspecting the manifolds (did the R side of the motor first as this is the last side to get cooling raw water, therefore it is actually quite warm by the time it goes through that part of the motor) we were one cruise away from disaster as it was toast inside.
Replaced all 4 manifolds, inspected the heat exchanger and it was clear, barnacle busted the oil cooler, fuel cooler and PS cooler. (made a loop and did it right on the motor) all kinds of nasties came out. Runs 10 degrees cooler and no increase in engine temp when coming off plain. Raw water pressures much better, not high from the manifold restrictions and we now know the system is clean and flowing properly.
If your system is all gunked up may want to consider adding strainer(s) before your raw water pump.
 
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