Anyone used one of these?

seasick

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I don't know which gauges you have but if digital when you got the alarm, something should have been displayed with the possible exception of Water in the Fuel alar if you have a water alarm circuit and filter..
I am not sure what motor you have but in general, the ECU does not store past alarms only current ones. That is the case on older SX 2 strokes and the blinky light Multiple alarms are displayed in sequence.

And once again, I strongly urge you not to go nuts replacing parts without knowing what the alarm is and its probable cause. All that does is add extra variables as well as unnecessary costs.
If you suspect over heat conditions, get a cheap IR contact less thermometer and measure t-stat housing temps wit the cowling off as the engine warms up. That will be 30 bucks well spent. T-stat housings should warm up at the same rates and level off at around 145 to 155 degrees .
 
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RussGW270

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I am not going nuts replacing stuff right now. I want to replace things that are needed, even if not "broken" but before I do anything, I have to find out why. I do not want to "fix" something accidently, I want to fix it purposefully, so I know it is fixed, not so the alarm goes away. That is not how I work. I like leaving the problem there till I can nail down why it is happening, that means making it occur, and knowing I made it occur. If it takes longer, who cares. At least I will know I fixed it, and not a victim of it the real issue.

Also, I will go with SS with anything that I can, I just did not want to go out, with them looking that bad, without a replacement onboard just in case. Now that I am back, I can return them and order the SS ones.

Also, these are 4-stroke.

The alarm, @seasick sounded like an oil alarm, but the crazy part is.... why both engines? That is why I need to really dig into this. The odds of both engines having the same problem at the same time, same symptoms, are pretty small. The only factor in that is the length of time they both sat... but... they both have newly serviced lower ends and water pumps etc. So... why both? That, I think, is the key here.

Now, once I pull the plugs on the engines, it may tell me more, who knows. I am looking at the weather and it looks pretty crappy this weekend so going to the coast may be out of the question. So, may spend time pulling the engines apart to look at the plugs and run compression tests to see what that tells me.

Also, going to see how much it would cost to do the oil change and have a professional tune up and diagnose the engines.

Also need/want to at least see what the cost would be to get those engines hours to 0, assuming a rebuild. Not that I want to do that right now, but want to plan for the worst. I do not think they need it, but one engine has almost 1100 hours on it.

This all may be a simple fix....for this season, we will see. Since the diags did not tell me squatt, may be simple.. plus do a nice oil change and tune-up, and.. yea.. those water separators need to be replaced no matter what lol.

I want to get it so I can burn the fuel out of it, which means I need to be able to run it longer than 20 minutes. I can plan the "big overhaul" for later, if they run well enough to get me out and safe.

The boat will be top notch, eventually, but need to get it halfway-notch for now lol

R
 

RussGW270

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Btw, stuck at my desk. Anyone able to confirm...is this ...wait, this cannot be the fuel pump. I have small filters for that. What is this?

Dying to go out and look it over lol but have to work atm:(

Aaahhh washdown filter....

R
 

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Sparkdog118

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The Yamahas don’t usually hold codes. If you happen to have the diag program hooked up when the alarm is going off, you can check the overheat issue. It will either say switch on or switch off.
 

RussGW270

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Wow, that is sorta useless. It had alarms from previous issues, so not sure if it saves them only if you do not turn the engine off.. i.e. if the alarm is bad or goes off for a long time.
 

Sparkdog118

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I agree. Sometimes it saves them but not all the time. It is best to be hooked up when the problem is happening.
 

CJ7Rob

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Racor does make a filter assembly with metal bowls that have a drain plug at the bottom if you wanted to check for water in them. That's just in case you didn't want ones with clear bowls.
 

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Parthery

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The Sierra 18-7866 high capacity filters are $23 apiece on Amazon right now. The Yamaha version is $5 more.

I'm a 2 stroke guy, but I'm guessing the 4 strokes sound an alarm for one of 3 reasons....overheating, low oil, or low oil pressure. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. If the oil level is good, and if it happened to both engines at the same time, is it possible you ran through a patch of seagrass and clogged the intakes on both engines?

Might be some value in heading over to the lake and running it....see if you get the alarm again.
 

seasick

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that picture is a water pump either washdown or fresh water. Could be livewell too but its not fuel.

Note that if fuel starvation no alarm will sound. The fact that alarm alerted on BOTH motors leads me to suspect water in the gas assuming you have the water detector on the fuel filter mounted on the motor.
How did you determine that both engines sounded an alarm at the same time?
 

SmokyMtnGrady

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I am not going nuts replacing stuff right now. I want to replace things that are needed, even if not "broken" but before I do anything, I have to find out why. I do not want to "fix" something accidently, I want to fix it purposefully, so I know it is fixed, not so the alarm goes away. That is not how I work. I like leaving the problem there till I can nail down why it is happening, that means making it occur, and knowing I made it occur. If it takes longer, who cares. At least I will know I fixed it, and not a victim of it the real issue.

Also, I will go with SS with anything that I can, I just did not want to go out, with them looking that bad, without a replacement onboard just in case. Now that I am back, I can return them and order the SS ones.

Also, these are 4-stroke.

The alarm, @seasick sounded like an oil alarm, but the crazy part is.... why both engines? That is why I need to really dig into this. The odds of both engines having the same problem at the same time, same symptoms, are pretty small. The only factor in that is the length of time they both sat... but... they both have newly serviced lower ends and water pumps etc. So... why both? That, I think, is the key here.

Now, once I pull the plugs on the engines, it may tell me more, who knows. I am looking at the weather and it looks pretty crappy this weekend so going to the coast may be out of the question. So, may spend time pulling the engines apart to look at the plugs and run compression tests to see what that tells me.

Also, going to see how much it would cost to do the oil change and have a professional tune up and diagnose the engines.

Also need/want to at least see what the cost would be to get those engines hours to 0, assuming a rebuild. Not that I want to do that right now, but want to plan for the worst. I do not think they need it, but one engine has almost 1100 hours on it.

This all may be a simple fix....for this season, we will see. Since the diags did not tell me squatt, may be simple.. plus do a nice oil change and tune-up, and.. yea.. those water separators need to be replaced no matter what lol.

I want to get it so I can burn the fuel out of it, which means I need to be able to run it longer than 20 minutes. I can plan the "big overhaul" for later, if they run well enough to get me out and safe.

The boat will be top notch, eventually, but need to get it halfway-notch for now lol

R


Hey Russ,
I own a business. I keep my books clean and use QuickBooks. I track it all and keep it detailed for two reasons, the IRS and someday I hope to sell it. If I fudge my numbers , then I could get in trouble and I damage the value of my business to a future seller.

Likewise, the hour meter on your motor is an honest representation of your motors. You don't want to reset it. It will help you remember service needs and if you go to sell it you will have an honest valuation of the motors. Say your motors read 700 hours, well you know it's time to inspect the VST filters. Or at 1,000 hours you need to think timing belt. That's why that hour meter is important to leave it be.

As far as the water separator goes..I stick with the over priced OEM Yamaha on my boat. I dont use Racor or Sierra for that matter. I use all original Yamaha parts . I just can't get out when it craps out 40 miles off shore and hitch hike home. Just saying
Also i change that filter every year .
 

Ridge Runner

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I believe the plastic bowl is not allowed when there is an engine in the compartment. I think for outboards, it is OK.

I was told when I added mine that they could not be above the batteries... Food for thought.
 

wspitler

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My 2006 F250s do hold codes and they can be found and reset with YDIS software and a cable (fairly cheap) not sure about 2004 models. Agree with seasick, I'd look closely at the water in the fuel alarm since both engines are alerting. My square gauges tell me what the alarm is for if "water in the fuel." If you have a wire coming off the fuel filter bowl on the engine (under the cowl) you have those alarms. An engine can run for a while as the water stays low in the bowl until it reaches the top and then the engine eats it and chokes. Easy to confirm by pulling the separators in addition to the bowls and pouring them into a clear container. Another fairly common code are the cam position sensor codes. Engine may continue to run fine and the code will reset, but there is a capture code, at least on my 2006 model. Also the ECUs hold the engine hours and cannot be reset through the gauges. There is no way for you to reset total engine hours, even with YDIS. You should reset the maintenance hours each time you perform the annual maintenance. Hope you find the culprit, treat it like a challenging investigation. Good Luck!
 

Sparkdog118

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Water alarm is very possible. If you have a little red ring in the bottom of the filter under the hood, this is a water ring. It floats in water and sinks in gas. If it is suspended, you have water intrusion.
 

seasick

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Note that if a water alarm is triggered, it will not clear unless the cause is removed ( like draining the fuel bowl) AND the ignition is cycled off and then on. In other words, just pulling off the sense wire on the bowl will not stop the alarm if the motor is powered up.
 

dbiscayne

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bring a regular backup filter with you, I've had the O Ring serving the petcock valve blow out on those clear plastic bowls. Once they do that they suck air & you'll never get a prime.
 

seasick

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Just because you may see some water in the fuel bowl, doesn't mean that your gas is all bad. That depends on how much water there is and how much gets sent to the motor. If you have a lot of water in the gas, the motor will not fire. If I could do that I would be rich.
Using E10 gas can actually help with small amounts of water in the gas. The trick is to add fresh gas often as needed for a specific day's outing.
E10 as we all know cab absorb water and that also applies to water in the bottom of the tank. Non E10 doesn't act the same way. Water drops to the bottom and stays there until its level is high enough to get sucked up through the pickup tube.
You may remember the old days when you put a can of DryGas in your tank to 'deal' with water, That stuff was alcohol
 

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You can go to a local fuel distributor and buy a small tube of water detector. Smear a thin coat on something like a yard stick, and stick it down the sender hole to the bottom of the tank. Water will make the paste turn from white to pink, or some color change. How high it goes on the stick will indicate how much water in the bottom of the tank.