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Author Topic:   Annoying buzzer

roastology posted 09-16-2004 04:04 PM ET (US)
Hello all, this is my first post to a site of this nature. You all sound like knowledgable boaters. When my 1996 150 hp Mercury O/B idles for about 5 minutes the buzzer sounds. According to the manual, this represents some sort of oil pressure problem. If I rev it up above 1500 rpm's the buzzer stops after about 15 seconds. I've followed all the trouble shooting suggestions in the service manual to no avail. The current setup has a seperate oil resevoir and gas tank. I'm thinking about converting that to mixed gas and oil. Any and all thoughts/opinions are appreciated.
Greg
prj posted 09-16-2004 04:23 PM ET (US)
Have you replaced the water pump/impeller
on the outboard?
Oftentimes, low RPM's equate to low water volume,
leading to heat build-up and overheat warnings.
This if the water pump is not functioning efficiently.
JohnJ80 posted 09-16-2004 04:25 PM ET (US)
I'm not sure if this is like the Johnson 70HP that I had, but if this is a 2 stroke (assume it is) and the oil is mixed by the VRO then you could have a problem.
Mine did exactly the same thing. Turns out the oiler didn't not work, it just had insufficient output. The oil sensor is pretty stupid, it doesn't know how much oil you need at each RPM, but just a minimum pressure. So, at higher speeds, I was getting insufficient oil. This resulted in scored cylinders and the need for a ring job.
So, my advice is to take this to a mechanic right away and have the oiler evaluated for proper output at idle, mid range and full throttle. It may be something else, but the consequences of no oil or low oil are pretty dog gone expensive. The probability of problem is low, but the consequences of the problem are high.
J
Buckda posted 09-16-2004 04:45 PM ET (US)
If yours is like my 1986 model Merc 150, you have a small resevoir of oil on the powerhead, and a larger remote tank. The oil alarm on mine goes off if a sensor on the small resevoir indicates that it is no longer receiving oil from the remote resevoir. This gives you sufficient time and oil to head home or get to a safe anchorage (in theory). Mine has an ideosyncracy that is just the opposite of yours - after running hard for 20 or 30 minutes and coming quickly back to idle, it will give me an oil alarm. If I shut the motor off and restart, the alarm is gone.
I'd have your mechanic start by checking whatever motor/pump is responsible for drawing pressure from the remote tank into the smaller tank to chase this problem down.
Having replaced an Evinrude powerhead on my 70 HP last winter, I can tell you that you don't want to mess around for too long trying to figure out what the problem is - just fix it - your motor needs oil!
Dave
Eagleman posted 09-16-2004 05:14 PM ET (US)
Dave,
Have you cleaned/replaced/checked out the sensor cap in that reserve tank? When the alarm sounds do you in fact have oil in the reserve tank up on the engine? If you didn't shut down the engine when you alarm sounds does the oil alarm eventually stop by itself? It's a pretty basic system, I had a problem this summer and I found the service/tech manual that I got from the factory very helpful. All's well at our camp see you sometime on the Lake.
Russ
kgregg posted 09-16-2004 08:25 PM ET (US)
I have 1991 Merc 135 with small oil tank under engine cowling and 6 gallon remote oil tank. The small tank needs to be 100% full otherwise I get "low oil" alarm. Hope this helps.
roastology posted 09-17-2004 08:43 AM ET (US)
Thank you for your inputs. Any thoughts on doing away with the remote oil reservoir? Other than having to make sure my gas tank is always at the proper oil gas ratio, it would be a much simpler set up.
kgregg posted 09-17-2004 09:52 AM ET (US)
>Any thoughts on doing away with the remote oil reservoir?
Greg-
I find it easier to deal with remote oil tank than to keep track of proper amount of oil needed in the 63 gallon gas tank in my Outrage 19. I know others here have thought about removing oil tank (or even done it). Do a search. Kevin

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Author	Topic: Annoying buzzer
roastology	posted 09-16-2004 04:04 PM ET (US) Hello all, this is my first post to a site of this nature. You all sound like knowledgable boaters. When my 1996 150 hp Mercury O/B idles for about 5 minutes the buzzer sounds. According to the manual, this represents some sort of oil pressure problem. If I rev it up above 1500 rpm's the buzzer stops after about 15 seconds. I've followed all the trouble shooting suggestions in the service manual to no avail. The current setup has a seperate oil resevoir and gas tank. I'm thinking about converting that to mixed gas and oil. Any and all thoughts/opinions are appreciated. Greg
prj	posted 09-16-2004 04:23 PM ET (US) Have you replaced the water pump/impeller on the outboard? Oftentimes, low RPM's equate to low water volume, leading to heat build-up and overheat warnings. This if the water pump is not functioning efficiently.
JohnJ80	posted 09-16-2004 04:25 PM ET (US) I'm not sure if this is like the Johnson 70HP that I had, but if this is a 2 stroke (assume it is) and the oil is mixed by the VRO then you could have a problem. Mine did exactly the same thing. Turns out the oiler didn't not work, it just had insufficient output. The oil sensor is pretty stupid, it doesn't know how much oil you need at each RPM, but just a minimum pressure. So, at higher speeds, I was getting insufficient oil. This resulted in scored cylinders and the need for a ring job. So, my advice is to take this to a mechanic right away and have the oiler evaluated for proper output at idle, mid range and full throttle. It may be something else, but the consequences of no oil or low oil are pretty dog gone expensive. The probability of problem is low, but the consequences of the problem are high. J
Buckda	posted 09-16-2004 04:45 PM ET (US) If yours is like my 1986 model Merc 150, you have a small resevoir of oil on the powerhead, and a larger remote tank. The oil alarm on mine goes off if a sensor on the small resevoir indicates that it is no longer receiving oil from the remote resevoir. This gives you sufficient time and oil to head home or get to a safe anchorage (in theory). Mine has an ideosyncracy that is just the opposite of yours - after running hard for 20 or 30 minutes and coming quickly back to idle, it will give me an oil alarm. If I shut the motor off and restart, the alarm is gone. I'd have your mechanic start by checking whatever motor/pump is responsible for drawing pressure from the remote tank into the smaller tank to chase this problem down. Having replaced an Evinrude powerhead on my 70 HP last winter, I can tell you that you don't want to mess around for too long trying to figure out what the problem is - just fix it - your motor needs oil! Dave
Eagleman	posted 09-16-2004 05:14 PM ET (US) Dave, Have you cleaned/replaced/checked out the sensor cap in that reserve tank? When the alarm sounds do you in fact have oil in the reserve tank up on the engine? If you didn't shut down the engine when you alarm sounds does the oil alarm eventually stop by itself? It's a pretty basic system, I had a problem this summer and I found the service/tech manual that I got from the factory very helpful. All's well at our camp see you sometime on the Lake. Russ
kgregg	posted 09-16-2004 08:25 PM ET (US) I have 1991 Merc 135 with small oil tank under engine cowling and 6 gallon remote oil tank. The small tank needs to be 100% full otherwise I get "low oil" alarm. Hope this helps.
roastology	posted 09-17-2004 08:43 AM ET (US) Thank you for your inputs. Any thoughts on doing away with the remote oil reservoir? Other than having to make sure my gas tank is always at the proper oil gas ratio, it would be a much simpler set up.
kgregg	posted 09-17-2004 09:52 AM ET (US) >Any thoughts on doing away with the remote oil reservoir? Greg- I find it easier to deal with remote oil tank than to keep track of proper amount of oil needed in the 63 gallon gas tank in my Outrage 19. I know others here have thought about removing oil tank (or even done it). Do a search. Kevin