# Help with Mercury 50 Hp alarm



## The Goat Roper (Mar 30, 2018)

Hi guys,
I am getting my boat ready to go walleye fishing. Took it out A few days ago and the alarm buzzer went off after about 10 minutes of running it. It is an intermittent one second beep, pause one second, beep one second and so on. The alarm stays on until I turn the motor off . The motor ran fine the whole time the alarm was going. An hour later, when I opened it up again within five minutes it did the same, started beeping again. Both times the buzzer came on when I had opened wide open All the way. I took it to the dealer and they cannot figure it out . They tell me the computer says there's nothing wrong and they cannot Get the motor to beep. Not sure how much good that would do if they did hear the beep. Described the beep to them so I'm not really sure why they would need to hear it?
Anybody can help me out on this one because I'm not really happy with the way the dealer is handling it. Also I called 2 other dealers and described the problem and both of them said The motor stores the codes once it beeps .however the dealer where my boat is at says the computer does not store codes and they do not really use a computer to diagnose "beeping" alarms.
I'm a little flustered for 2 reasons.
1- i'm told two different things from different mercury dealers
2- I would like to know what difference it makes if they cant the beeps to come on as opposed to diagnosing it based on my description of the beeps (if they can't get it to come on.) I know it could be a variety of things but even if the dealer hears the beeps and confirms what I told them, did I just dumped two hours of diagnostic costs for nothing?? Afte they hear the beeping they still have to figure out why. And it may be a challenge if the computer say nothings wrong.

My motor is a 2005 Mercury for stroke 50 horse EFI.
Anyone have ideas?


----------



## Jimbo 09 (Jan 28, 2013)

Im only familiar with two stoke Mercs. Where a constant alarm is overheating. An intermittent beep is oil. Does it still run norm when the alarm goes off or does it go into limp mode?


----------



## Jimbo 09 (Jan 28, 2013)

Last time the impeller was changed? Our motor was spitting water good but keep having the alarm going off randomly. Changed the impeller and it went away.


----------



## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

It probably thinks that the water jacket temperature is too hot, but that doesn’t automatically mean that it is overheating. The next time you get it beeping at you, unplug the temp sensor and see if the beeping goes away. It’s a start.


----------



## The Goat Roper (Mar 30, 2018)

The impeller was changed two years ago and the water is pissing out very strong. The one second beeping stays on the entire time once it comes on but the motor doesn't act any differently. After researching it on the Internet,I doubt it is overheating because the buzzer would be a constant beep. This is beeping 1 second at a time and pauses 1 second at a time.


----------



## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

There are more reasons that could make the engine think that it’s overheating than it actually overheating. Let’s say that the overheating alarm is supposed to come on when the water at the sensor goes above 150F. The water passage might have a slight blockage, reducing the flow slightly so that the temp hits 151F but damage isn’t going to happen. Maybe there is a blockage (sucked up weeds/debris/whatever at the location where the temp sensor is that causes the water right there to stagnate a bit where there is good flow through the rest of the water jacket. Maybe the temp sensor itself is going bad and reading higher than the actual temp. Or something else. Unplugging the sensor to see if it makes the beeping go away will help diagnose the issue.


----------



## Jimbo 09 (Jan 28, 2013)

It might think there is low oil pressure. Full of clean oil? Can unplug the oil pressure sensor when the alarm is going off am see if it shuts off. If it does then you can check the pressure with a mechanical gauge to ensure it’s fine and the sensor is bad.


----------



## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Did you leave it in the water or is it stored on a trailer


----------



## The Goat Roper (Mar 30, 2018)

I'm thinking it's along the lines of oil also but I have no idea where the sensor is and how to mechanically check the pressure either? Can you give me a crash course on doing that Jimbo? Thanks for all the replies, i'm new to This site and I'm glad you guys of been helpful.


----------



## The Goat Roper (Mar 30, 2018)

Scout 2 said:


> Did you leave it in the water or is it stored on a trailer


On my trailer always. Has 250 hours on it. never had an issue on it until I get ready to Walleye fish of course LOL


----------



## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

The Goat Roper said:


> On my trailer always. Has 250 hours on it. never had an issue on it until I get ready to Walleye fish of course LOL


I had a 60 oil injected and I left it in the water inCanada. Next morning going across the lake it started beeping like yours did them went to a solid beep. When I looked back water was coming out all around the motor shaft under the engine. I slowed down and beeping went away. Got back to the dock and the water outlet was plugged. Took a wire and proded it out but it had a gritty feel to it. That after noon same thing. I pulled the hose off inside the cowling and it was full of real tiny zebra mussels. I took the next size drill and drilled the out let out on size and never had a problem again. One other thing we found is the gills were fullof small zebra musseels


----------



## Jimbo 09 (Jan 28, 2013)

The Goat Roper said:


> I'm thinking it's along the lines of oil also but I have no idea where the sensor is and how to mechanically check the pressure either? Can you give me a crash course on doing that Jimbo? Thanks for all the replies, i'm new to This site and I'm glad you guys of been helpful.



I’m not familiar with your exact motor but It should be above your oil filter somewhere. Start by unplugging it when it does the alarm to see if that’s the cause. The switch shouldn’t be that much to replace if that’s it. Probably cheaper than rigging up a gauge unless you know someone with one.


----------



## sullyxlh (Oct 28, 2004)

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=528835


----------



## The Goat Roper (Mar 30, 2018)

Well, turns out it's a fuel pump, as the dealer said. Hope he is right........I am always skeptical until I try it for myself. The dealer said the fuel pump was working overtime trying to pump fuel through a partially plugged fuel line, hence tripping the buzzer. Everything was changed from the tank all the way inside the motor. I wasn't thrilled about paying out what I did but as long as the problem is solved, I can justify paying it.


----------



## sullyxlh (Oct 28, 2004)

The Goat Roper said:


> ....The dealer said the fuel pump was working overtime trying to pump fuel through* a partially plugged fuel line*....



http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=22490


----------



## DFJISH (Mar 30, 2009)

I have a 2002 4 stroke 50hp Merc on my Lund that I bought last year. I had an alarm going off too. Scared me a lot. I took it to two different marine mechanics. The first one was stumped but the second on found the problem. Apparently the gas I had been using had enthanol in it. The ethanol dried the rubber in the fuel line from the tank to the motor and tiny particles of rubber were obstructing the flow of gas. They cleaned the lines in the motor and I replaced the fuel lines from the tank to the motor, drained out the regular unleaded (ethanol) gas and ran the carbs dry. Then I refilled with recreational (ethanol free) gas with 1 oz of Sea Foam/gal gas. Problem stopped with the warning sound and the motor idles smooth as silk.


----------



## The Goat Roper (Mar 30, 2018)

DFJISH said:


> I have a 2002 4 stroke 50hp Merc on my Lund that I bought last year. I had an alarm going off too. Scared me a lot. I took it to two different marine mechanics. The first one was stumped but the second on found the problem. Apparently the gas I had been using had enthanol in it. The ethanol dried the rubber in the fuel line from the tank to the motor and tiny particles of rubber were obstructing the flow of gas. They cleaned the lines in the motor and I replaced the fuel lines from the tank to the motor, drained out the regular unleaded (ethanol) gas and ran the carbs dry. Then I refilled with recreational (ethanol free) gas with 1 oz of Sea Foam/gal gas. Problem stopped with the warning sound and the motor idles smooth as silk.


Took it out and ran her hard.....beeping is gone and runs better. They showed me the old hose and the hose liner had rotted and were plugged with particles.
Problem fixed, but the dealer damaged my prop during the test drive lol! Can't win I guess. They are willing to repair and make it right do I can't complain except it was an inconvience.


----------



## sullyxlh (Oct 28, 2004)

@ DFJISH & TGR, Did either of you two read the link I posted??


----------



## sullyxlh (Oct 28, 2004)

DFJISH said:


> ...They cleaned the lines in the motor...


If they charged you for that, you got taken, they NEED to be replaced or your going to encounter the same problems again.
READ the link I posted, it's VERY informative to the situation you guys encountered...


----------



## The Goat Roper (Mar 30, 2018)

Y


sullyxlh said:


> @ DFJISH & TGR, Did either of you two read the link I posted??


Yes I did and that was pretty accurate as to what they did to remedy the problem- changed the lines, fuel filter, diaphragms and fuel pump. 
Not sure it was really worth $559 tho lol


----------

