Smartcraft Gauges Flashes "AL"

[tlsch377]

i have a 2003 Mercury OptiMax135-HP engine on my 2005 180 DAUNTLESS boat. The engine has a a counter rotating gear case, so a previous owner must have replaced the original engine [or put on a new gear case].

When I purchased this boat four years ago, I took it to the local Boston Whaler dealer near Annapolis. The SmartCraft gauges were not working and the dealer installed replacement gauges.

This year while cruising at an engine speed of around 4,500-RPM, the Mercury OptiMax engine speed speed dropped to 1,000-RPM, and then the engine stopped. The engine would not restart.

After being towed back to my home port, I pulled the boat out, went through [various procedures] to my level of ability, finding that there was no water in the water-fuel separator filter and the oil reservoir was full.

I started the engine on a hose adaptor ("muffs") and very little water came from telltale.

I relaunched the boat. At idle speeds the engines seems to run hot, 158 to 165-degrees-F. and a message flashed on the gauge "AL." When increasing engine speed until the boat was on plane the engine temperature reduced to to 120 to 125-degrees-F, but the gauge keeps lashing "AL". i flushed the engine with eight gallons of white vinegar and dish soap through the engine.

As Jim explains in a recent post in another thread, an outboard engine at idle can run warm, up to 185-degrees-F.

What causes me concern is the gauges flashing "AL".

Additionally. I had a new impeller installed in November 2019 then I winterized the engine. Before this I had never noticed the "AL" flashing message.

Combining all of the information above, what can I check to find out why the alarm flashes?

[jimh]

The first step in understand what the gauge means by "AL" is to consult the Smartcraft documentation for your gauges and discover what the message "AL" means. I really have no idea about that, other than a wild guess that "AL" must mean "ALARM."

There must be some sort of owner's guide or instruction manual or gauge operating instructions that reveals the entire panoply of messages that can be displayed and explains precisely what conditions will cause each message. Without this information being provide, the gauge message is indecipherable and useless.

[Phil T]

I recall a prior conversation regarding Mercury and Smartcraft error messages.

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/002394.html

Mercury does not include a list of the codes and descriptions of potential messages. One must visit a dealer.

[tlsch377]

I thank both of you. The message on the gauge shows "engine hot". But the owner's manual for the Optimax does not speak to how hot is nornal. As mentioned in the post that Phil sent, the smartcraft manual doesn't address it, or what to do. I have a mechanic coming tomorrow, I had the boat at two different yards, but when they did not do anything within the time they said they would, one yard had it for 2 1/2 weeks w/o touching it even after making an appointment. The second yard called me when they said they had time to work on it, then they did not touch it for 10 days before I took it back. The mechanic coming works from his truck; seems to know Optimax engines, but the fish are 35 -50 miles north by boat and I don't want to be in a boat with an engine I am not comfortable with.

please keep the support coming.


'

[biggiefl]

My support is simple...put a new waterpump in it. If you are feeling frisky, replace the thermostat. Your problems should be solved.

[Jefecinco]

You didn't mention if flushing the cooling system with vinegar and soap improved the telltale flow of your engine. If it did not I would suspect the impeller replacement work done 1n 2019 may have not been properly completed. There is also a possibility that the engine has a faulty thermostat.

I suspect that some SmartCraft fault codes may have to be cleared by a dealer or someone with the appropriate Mercury software on a laptop computer or tablet.