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My 115 hp, 2009 ETEC has run flawlessly this season. I have another boat; therefore, I only had about 50 running hours on it when I became broken down into a potentially dangerous situation.

I did a night run to Cuttyhunk, about 15 miles. The engine running perfectly as per usual. I anchored out, motor off and fished through the entire night. Ominous north winds were building; so, I started up to go home. I idled along for about 5 minutes for warmup, then started throttling up. I was now startled by an alarm horn and a red, NO OIL, light on the tachometer display. The engine computer shut down to 1000 rpm and 4 mph. And this is the way I fought my way home back to Woods Hole, hugging the south shore of the isands against a NE gale.

I put the boat up on the trailer to the dealer who sold me the engine. On their initial startups, they confirmed the alarm and shut down a couple of start up times. But when they snooped around, they really didn't find a culprit. The engine seemed to get all the requisite oil. They couldn't find or demonstrate any pinhole leaks. They relaunched the boat and ran it around, and didn't trigger the alarm.

Two questions: what happened, and, if this happens again, how can I bypass the engine shutdown sensor and alarm computer to get some speed and get home?

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Probably a computer glitch of some sort........no excuse for it, but the computer is receiving a message that there is no oil.............My first suspect would be the oil sender or the like of one. I would also contact the dealer again and ask them to contact the mfg to see if this problem has been reported by others. I would be very hesitate to diable the safe mode.

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First you can't disable the safe mode, and even if you could, do you really want to blow up the engine? It is possible to have a air bubble in the oil line. The best thing to do is pump the bulb on the remote oil tank. It looks as if you have the tank down in the bilge, if so be careful about crimping the oil line if you have a hatch cover.

If you get a no oil alarm, and the alarm clears, the engine will reset and will come out of safe mode.

If you get bubbles in the oil line, and the alarm won't clear, fastest way to removed them is run the winterization, remember if your doing this in water, tie to the boat to a dock or take the prop off or you will go flying.

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The winterization procedure is done in neutral, not in gear.

It is possible that an air bubble triggered the oil pressure sensor and gave a false alarm. Do the winterizing as that helps to bleed any air out of the lines. Then if it happens again, turn the motor off then restart and that way the engine computer is reset.

Be sure to use only XD-100 synthetic oil when the temp get below 40°F.

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[quote]kamie wrote:

If you get a no oil alarm, and the alarm clears, the engine will reset and will come out of safe mode.

If you get bubbles in the oil line, and the alarm won't clear, fastest way to removed them is run the winterization, remember if your doing this in water, tie to the boat to a dock or take the prop off or you will go flying.


I thank the experts for their responses. My...trustworthy...E-tec dealer, who candidly admits that he really couldn't find a technical problem or defect, even though he did observe and confirm the alarm at startup a couple of initial times before he started tearing through the engine and oiling system, etc., did also tell me to perform the "winterization" maneuver...literally at sea, if this engine alarm and shutdown happens again.

Wow! Okay. I guess I'll do that...namely make myself on-board aware how to perform this. Since this is a new engine, and was not the end of the season, I did not yet have a working knowledge, nor commit this procedure to memory.

The dealer and I are scratching our heads if this will happen again. It may take many miles and hours until or if it does. So, that will be on my boating mind for the next year.

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sauerkraut
I'm glad you got it worked out [some what] and this IS Not a personal attack on you or the e-tec... ok!
Has anyone else had this happen or is a fluke?
Ok lets put this in the column of benefits on buying a four stroke...

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Hi sauerkraut, i also have that engine and have never had a problem. Do you have the XD-100 in it, it says in the manual to make sure your running that in colder temperatures and I know the guy who sold me my etech also said the most common problem is picking up maybe a plastic bag or something like that to cause this problem. In the dark maybe you couldnt see anything at the bottom of the engine. Sounds scary what happened to you, i know mine has run flawless and hope this never happens to anyone again

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I have had it happen 3 times. The first time it scared me and had not figured out how to do the winterization, the second time, winterized not problem, the third time was my own fault, filled the tank and crimped the oil line. winterized it, cleared then came back until I figured out what was wrong.

Seahorse,
I realize that you do the winterization in neutral, but if you screw up and throttle all the way forward in gear, you can be in for a nasty shock.

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I had it happen within the first few hours while running in a very nasty bay chop. My oil was down to about 1/4 tank, maybe a little less. I never got a low oil warning but we believe while running the rough chop with a relatively low oil level, the oil line sucked air from the tank as the oil sloshed about. My regular mechanic (not the shop that did the re-power) couldnt find anything wrong with the engine or installation. Happened twice before we made it back to the dock. I simply shut down, turned the battery switch off for a minute, the cycled everything back on and continued on our way.

I've since put nearly 20 more hours on the motor with no issues. I make sure to try and keep the oil tank at least 1/2 full.

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When I had this NO OIL red alarm and shutdown incident, my oil reservoir was more than 3/4 full. I run only the XD-100 Evinrude oil. Despite the miserable night of weather, it wasn't particularly cold either. I am impressed that some of you responders have had this OIL ALARM problem also; therefore, as I learn this new engine, I guess I have to be ready for this possibility to happen.

I will agree that the oiling system for the E-tec may be a technical weak point that favors the 4-stroke alternative. I have been running two 17' Whalers with Hondas since 1999, and have absolutely nothing bad to say about them-- except for the weight. We'll see on this new 190 Whaler; I will keep an open mind.

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Sorry,

but I never said that, nor do I feel that way. In a lot of cases you can't fix a no oil alarm as easily as you can on the etec. Since all I need to do is run the winterization procedure which takes all of 3 minutes, and I have purged the oil lines of all air. I had an alarm on my old Merc, took awhile to figure out there was a tiny crack in the internal oil tank cap that would keep the engine from sucking in external oil.

The eTec may be sensitive which is fine, since I put a lot of $$$ into the engine, I don't want it to blow, but I don't really consider it a weak link.

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I don't consider my experience a technical issue.

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I think this occurrence is more the exception than the rule. After 2 seasons of ocean running, our 200 HO hasn't had one alarm yet.