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I have twin 1993 Johnson 90hp Engines on my Outrage 22. Both engines have working 4 wire VRO systems. I have the factoy shop manual and am INTIMATE with all systems (VRO included) of these style engines.
Despite fighting a variety of fuel and electrical issues earlier this season both engines generally run well aside from the starboard using more fuel and therefore more oil.
After some maintenance work this Saturday I launched the boat for a short sea trial. After warming up for a few minutes I brought the boat to plane, and eventually full throttle. Being a calm morning I trimmed the motors up to maximize top speed, while maintaining a solid "pee stream" out of the telltale.
After a few minutes of this WOT operation at 54-5500 RPM I heard an audible alarm of very short beeps, if I had to guess these were less than 1/2 second tones, with maybe another 1/2 second separating them. As I throttled back, the tones faded and slowed.
After a brief inspection of the engines and nothing to be found that would worry me, I continued my test with the engines trimmed all the way down to be sure the engines were receiving sufficient cooling water.
A few minutes later at WOT (5000 rpm with lower trim) the same alarm repeated it self.
From my 20+ years working on this style engine, this style alarm is not one I have heard, nor is it listed in the factory service manual. I also do not know which engine sounded this alarm, I plan to install LED's in parallel with the alarm buzzer to be able to have a visual indicator of the alarm, and which engine is producing it.
Doe anyone have any insight as to thew cause of such an alarm?
It is probably saying "Yo...I'm a 27 year old engine. Stop running me WOT for minutes at a time!" ;)
From a 2004 post on another Whaler site:
A continuous alarm means either an overheat condition or a fuel restriction.
NO oil would be a continuous beeping 1/2 second on - 1/2 second off. Low oil would be a beep every 20 seconds.
The sensor for low oil is in the tank. The sensor for NO oil is at the fuel/oil pump. Temp sensors are on top of the powerhead, and fuel restriction sensor is a vacuum gauge near the fuel pump.
If you let your engine cool down and the alarm goes off, then you are having a cooling problem. If the alarm still goes off when the engine is cool, then you have a fuel restriction.
Edited by biggiefl on 08/26/19 - 7:55 AM
24 Whalers so far....
You are correct, I misread the manual last night. It calls the No Oil alarm a "constant pulse" which I misread as "constant tone" (Overheat/ fuel restriction)
In addition to the LED's I am going to install to determine if it is port or starboard engine issue I will premix the fuel I have in the tank while I chase whatever is causing this alarm.
The LOW Oil level and NO Oil level is activated with a float sensor inside the OMC VRO tank itself. That is why there are wires connected to the tank to sound the alarms. https://www.whalercentral.com/article...cle_id=15[
