VS-MasterAngler Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 Hey Guys, When I go to start my 2001 Yamaha 150 VMax an alarm goes off (sounds like oil alarm)... When I try to start the motor. Symptoms- Motor tries to turn over, alarm sounds motor dies before it fully turns over. Oil reservoir in back of boat has plenty of oil, Starting battery is good at 11.8-12V. If I neutral rev the motor, it will start with no alarm after a couple tries and then runs absolutely fine without any alarm. Anyone have an idea whats going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 Battery at 11.8 -12 volts is not good. Could be causing your problem. Should be at 12.5 to 12.8 volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lap it Up Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 Yamaha alarms are either overheat or low oil. What does your multi function gauge flash when the alarm is going off? Is the alarm going off with the engine cold or hot? You mentioned you have oil in the remote tank in the boat. Have you checked the main tank on the powerhead? Is it below the required line? How are you reading battery voltage? Thru the multi function gauge or with a multi meter? Are you getting that voltage at rest or is that the drop you see while cranking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whichwaysup Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 Have you replaced the poppet valve? The old style are shaped like a "T" and get stuck easily. The replacements are shaped like a mushroom and dont actually go into the hole, so they dont get stuck. Mine usually gets stuck if I run in silty water. Running the engine above 1000 RPM for a few minutes will usually clear it. If you arent familiar with it, do a little research on it and you will see itnis oftem the culprit. easy fix! http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/021261.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VS-MasterAngler Posted May 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 8 hours ago, Capt. Troy said: Battery at 11.8 -12 volts is not good. Could be causing your problem. Should be at 12.5 to 12.8 volts. when I Initially start the boat the volts are right around 12.. but once I idle for a min or two the volts go up to 12.4-12.8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VS-MasterAngler Posted May 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 4 hours ago, Lap it Up said: Yamaha alarms are either overheat or low oil. What does your multi function gauge flash when the alarm is going off? Is the alarm going off with the engine cold or hot? You mentioned you have oil in the remote tank in the boat. Have you checked the main tank on the powerhead? Is it below the required line? How are you reading battery voltage? Thru the multi function gauge or with a multi meter? Are you getting that voltage at rest or is that the drop you see while cranking? The gauge doesn't flash anything when the alarm goes off. I turn the key, alarm starts to go off, motor tries to turn over, and when I let the key go then the motor and alarm shut off. The alarm is going off on a cold start. When we made it back to the dock yesterday (warm motor) I turned the boat off then turned it back on about 30 seconds later and it started up no problem. I haven't checked the oil tank on the motor itself yet. I have a multi meter and got the voltage directly from the battery terminals and to my surprise it matches the multi function gauge on the dashboard pretty much exactly at neutral and 1300rpm. The 11.8-12V is what I'm seeing as soon as crank the motor and my gauges come on... the volts go up to about 12.4-12.8 once I start idling through the canal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VS-MasterAngler Posted May 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 3 hours ago, whichwaysup said: Have you replaced the poppet valve? The old style are shaped like a "T" and get stuck easily. The replacements are shaped like a mushroom and dont actually go into the hole, so they dont get stuck. Mine usually gets stuck if I run in silty water. Running the engine above 1000 RPM for a few minutes will usually clear it. If you arent familiar with it, do a little research on it and you will see itnis oftem the culprit. easy fix! http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/021261.html I haven't hear of this but will look into it. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whichwaysup Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 34 minutes ago, VS-MasterAngler said: The gauge doesn't flash anything when the alarm goes off. I turn the key, alarm starts to go off, motor tries to turn over, and when I let the key go then the motor and alarm shut off. The alarm is going off on a cold start. When we made it back to the dock yesterday (warm motor) I turned the boat off then turned it back on about 30 seconds later and it started up no problem. I haven't checked the oil tank on the motor itself yet. I have a multi meter and got the voltage directly from the battery terminals and to my surprise it matches the multi function gauge on the dashboard pretty much exactly at neutral and 1300rpm. The 11.8-12V is what I'm seeing as soon as crank the motor and my gauges come on... the volts go up to about 12.4-12.8 once I start idling through the canal. Ahhh - 10 bucks says your remote oil tank pump isn't working. If your engine tank is low, there is a button on your engine that will start the pump. If you push it and oil doesn't pump in from the reserve tank in the boat, your pump is dead. you can test this by filling your engine oil tank, then running it (stay close to the dock). No alarm = no problem with the engine. The problem is with your reserve oil tank - probably the pump, could be a clogged oil filter though. so: - check engine oil tank to see what the level is - if low, push the emergency fill button on the back of your engine under the cowling (can't remember what it's called) and see if it fills reasonably quickly. - If not, open the hatch where your reserve tank is and see if you can hear the pump running when the button is pushed. No noise - pump not running, either bad pump or not getting power. If the tank on the engine is full and/or if the pump on the reserve tank is working, check back in. Caveat- there are people a LOT more educated than me on this site, but I went through this on my MA when I first got it. Ended up replacing the entire oil tank assembly for about $300 - very very easy job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 Battery Check the voltage above idle speed. You should be over 13 volts and as much as 13.8 at speed Improper voltage at cold starts can bring a host of issues. Your engine is charging I think. A bad or shorted battery is not being seen when the engine itself is running off it's own power at speed. The low voltage at start will effect every component on your engine. Sensors and all. I would eliminate the possible battery problem first. Think about it. You get the motor off idle speed and all your problems go away. The only difference between cold and idle starts are the output of your charging system is when you raise the RPM. I would not go further than the battery at this point not knowing anything more than you have posted. Not saying i'm right by any means. But I would start there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 That could be something with the kill switch, it sounds kinda like how it works. If you pull the kill switch, turn on the key the alarm will sound, the motor won't start but it will turn over. If it was overtemp or low oil you should have something flashing on the gauge like said above. Might wanna check the key switch and kill switch. Low battery shouldn't cause alarm, but like Troy says 11.8-12v is low. And while running you should see as much as or close to 14.4v. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VS-MasterAngler Posted May 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 12 hours ago, hurricane said: That could be something with the kill switch, it sounds kinda like how it works. If you pull the kill switch, turn on the key the alarm will sound, the motor won't start but it will turn over. If it was overtemp or low oil you should have something flashing on the gauge like said above. Might wanna check the key switch and kill switch. Low battery shouldn't cause alarm, but like Troy says 11.8-12v is low. And while running you should see as much as or close to 14.4v. Hurricane I think you are on to something... I spoke with Brian over at Fort Myers Marine late yesterday evening and he said it sounds like possibly a bad kill switch and explained what you just did. I went over to the boat this morning to try some troubleshooting recommendations from the other posters above (thank you all!), took cowling off, oil tank on the motor is full, Battery was at 12v when turned on then up to 12.4v at rev 1300rpm Which does seem low so I am going to get a group 31 dual purpose AGM battery (Thanks Capt. Troy). Before I tried starting the motor this morning I messed around with the kill switch then hooked up the lanyard and turned the key to start the boat normally... It started right up no alarm, stayed on, idled fine like we were good to go for a day of fishing. Hmm I turned the motor off and tried to start it again... Back to the original problem, alarm, motor tries to turn over but no start, try again same thing, neutral rev and get the motor to start and run fine. Then I tried to start the boat with out the kill switch lanyard attached and it gives the same original symptoms... Alarm tries to turn over and the shuts off! Brian was nice enough to do me a favor and squeeze me in first thing tomorrow morning at 8AM, so I should know exactly what the problem is tomorrow (hoping the kill switch is the extent of the problem). Thank you guys for all your help so far, I'll keep everyone posted after we figure out what the problem is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drummer Posted May 31, 2018 Report Share Posted May 31, 2018 Try bypassing the kill switch. If you need a new one, they are cheap and easy to install! You could have a bad connection at the switch. Corrosion can do that. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 By all means post the fix. I hate when problems arise and we all chime in. Then, the OP gets fixed and never comes back to post his results or findings. This is a great forum and most of us are here to learn, not teach or preach! I have been guilty of the above before but not on purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin-addict Posted June 1, 2018 Report Share Posted June 1, 2018 On 5/30/2018 at 2:12 PM, Lap it Up said: Yamaha alarms are either overheat or low oil. What does your multi function gauge flash when the alarm is going off? Is the alarm going off with the engine cold or hot? You mentioned you have oil in the remote tank in the boat. Have you checked the main tank on the powerhead? Is it below the required line? How are you reading battery voltage? Thru the multi function gauge or with a multi meter? Are you getting that voltage at rest or is that the drop you see while cranking? just recently had my alarm go off. thought overheat or low oil, it turned out to be water in fuel. drained till gas was gin clear, started engine, no alarm. found this out by mechanic who came out to check problem of alarm. point being, alarm will sound for water in fuel also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VS-MasterAngler Posted June 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 Ok Guy's, So got the boat back from Fort Myers Marine... They did some troubleshooting- oil alarm good to go, overheat alarm good to go, kill switch was going bad... New kill switch and ignition switch/key and we're back in business! I did buy a Optima AGM blue top dual purpose group 27 from them for $270... Put it in the boat and ran it a little last night to make sure all was good. Motor starts right up no alarm or anything:) but the battery seems to be putting out the same or less than the volt output of the standard deka group 24 flooded starting battery. When running 2 livewells, and Simrad Go series gps my volts on the dash gauge were 12-12.4v, on the Simrad 10.8-11v and on the battery terminals with multimeter 12.54v... I really do know what it could be? Maybe wiring? Maybe now that I have both batteries I can use the deka for starting and the Optima blue top for all accessories? Is that something I can do on my own? Or would it be expensive to have a shop do for me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneyB Posted June 2, 2018 Report Share Posted June 2, 2018 You can do it if you are somewhat handy. Buy a blue sea add a battery kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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