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OPTIMAX - SMARTCRAFT - CHECK ENGINE ALARM - ENGINE TEMPS
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OPTIMAX - SMARTCRAFT - CHECK ENGINE ALARM - ENGINE TEMPS
While fishing last night the "Check Engine"alarm appeared on the Tach of the SmartCraft gauges. Here is some background:[*]2006 Optimax 200, 120 hours, 100 hour service @ 105 hours[*]Air Temp: 53° F, Water Temp: 54° F[/list]
I left my dock and the engine got up to temp (122° F) while idling out. At this point I turned the troll control on the gauges on and set the RPM to 550. I was fishing a 4 rod spread and when I finished getting the spread out the alarm beeped once and "Check Engine" appeared on my Tach. Bear in mind the engine has only been on for 20 minutes max at this point. I immediately shut down and pulled all 4 rods in. Engine temp at time of alarm was 118° F. Restarted engine andno sign of an alarm. Idled around for 5 minutes, engine temp @ 120° F, then proceed to get on plane (I hadn't got on plane all night until this point). Engine temp goes to 113° F and stays there for the duration of my run (15 minutes). I come back down to idle, set troll control back to 610 RPM and start fishing again. I fished for an hour and the engine temp would fluctuatebetween 120° F - 127° F. Is it normal to see this type of fluctuation while trolling? I stopped fishing and ran engine at 4200 RPM and the engine temp maintained 114° F for that run. Stopped and began to troll again but this time the temps fluctuated very little and finally settled in on 123° F. The "Check Engine" alarm never came on again nor did any other alarms. At no time was I warned that the engine had overheated.
Questions:
What does the "Check Engine" alarm mean? Ican find no documentation on it.
Is the engine temp fluctuation I experienced considered normal?
Opti's can be voltage sensitive and sometimes a check engine light is a "phantom" alarm (nothing wrong)... just low voltage - do this..
wait a hour or so after running and operate something for a minute that is a big drain like a bilge pump or radar...this takes the surface charge off the batt. turn it off and wait 5 min or so. Turn the ign switch to "on" but not the engines running, and read the volts off the tach... and here's the readings:
Glen - Good point. While trolling my volts are typically at 13.8. While running, they are at 14.2. I'll have to check with engine off.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit this but I am using the same battery the dealer gave me and it is crap. An Interstate Group 24 that meets the CCA/MCA requirements of an Opti. However; it is 16 months old. It's time to go ahead and upgrade to the Cabelas batteries. I think I'll order 2 today.
Glen - Good point. While trolling my volts are typically at 13.8. While running, they are at 14.2. I'll have to check with engine off.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit this but I am using the same battery the dealer gave me and it is crap. An Interstate Group 24 that meets the CCA/MCA requirements of an Opti. However; it is 16 months old. It's time to go ahead and upgrade to the Cabelas batteries. I think I'll order 2 today.
Any thoughts on the temp fluctuations?
load test the batt.....any parts/marine store will do it for you...
my guess is the temps have nothing to do with it.....if you have a good pee stream and are not getting any overheat alarms, you're fine...but check engine lights are pesky - Merc has agree with my saggestion that they change the alarm to "check engine soon" when it is not a fatal alarm....but next time you flush, flush for 20 min or so to make sure you don't have a blocked passage with a piece of leaf or something....
Never payed much attention to temps while trolling until last night. The fluctuation only occurred during the one series of trolling. I'll pay more attention in the future. Man, I looked at the PSI as well and I think at 600 RPM it was around 3.8 - 4.2 but I could be wrong. I did watch the PSI at various RPMs and the more RPM the more PSI, the less RPM the less PSI. The t-stat certainly seems to be kicking in at 127 but I don't expect 7 degree fluctuation. I think of a t-stat as an on/off switch. Either it is fully open or fully closed, not in between. Maybe my thinking is wrong.
Opti's will also throw a Check Engine if the thermostat or poppit is broken open and it is running to COLD. The ECM will set a t'stat fault. The thermostat is not on/off unless it is sticking. (broken)
At $55 Each, last time I took one apart and washed it out. You squeeze the hooks together and take out the spring to open the valve and wash out the junk.
HardLivin - 12/22/2006 9:07 AM
Man, I looked at the PSI as well and I think at 600 RPM it was around 3.8 - 4.2 but I could be wrong. .
Check that for me if you can. my last day out at idle was yielding just under 3psi (2.8). I now have 220 hours and 2 season on the water pump and my dealer suggested doing the pump next year. I was surprised because I was willing to do it this year.
in 54 degree water anything at idle between 115 and 130 degress is normal, IMO... - I think it's something else....put it on the box and find out...otherwise we're all barstoll guessing....
HardLivin - 12/22/2006 9:07 AM
Man, I looked at the PSI as well and I think at 600 RPM it was around 3.8 - 4.2 but I could be wrong. .
Check that for me if you can. my last day out at idle was yielding just under 3psi (2.8). I now have 220 hours and 2 season on the water pump and my dealer suggested doing the pump next year. I was surprised because I was willing to do it this year.
Just checked it out and PSI at idle and not in gear was 3.8. I'll chart it later today running at various RPMs.
Opti's will also throw a Check Engine if the thermostat or poppit is broken open and it is running to COLD. The ECM will set a t'stat fault. The thermostat is not on/off unless it is sticking. (broken)
At $55 Each, last time I took one apart and washed it out. You squeeze the hooks together and take out the spring to open the valve and wash out the junk.
So it's possibly a thermostat? The Check Engine and temperature fluctuation occurred early for me. Later that night no alarms and the temperature fluctuation did not occur. Could something have gotten stuck in the thermostat or somewhere else and got flushed out? I'm going fishing later and will post engine behavior.
in 54 degree water anything at idle between 115 and 130 degress is normal, IMO... - I think it's something else....put it on the box and find out...otherwise we're all barstoll guessing....
If it were only that easy but if I have to, I have to. What I need is a mobile mechanic. Currently, I don't see any reason not to run the motor. It's not alarming on anything and the temps are in check.
in 54 degree water anything at idle between 115 and 130 degress is normal, IMO... - I think it's something else....put it on the box and find out...otherwise we're all barstoll guessing....
If it were only that easy but if I have to, I have to. What I need is a mobile mechanic. Currently, I don't see any reason not to run the motor. It's not alarming on anything and the temps are in check.
Ok guys,were is a good place to read up on optimax motors?Looks like I will be buying two come Tuesday if they pass survey and don't know anything about them!
Ok guys,were is a good place to read up on optimax motors?Looks like I will be buying two come Tuesday if they pass survey and don't know anything about them!
whay year and how many hours? - with or without DTS? what props on what boat?
Opti's can be voltage sensitive and sometimes a check engine light is a "phantom" alarm (nothing wrong)... just low voltage - do this..
wait a hour or so after running and operate something for a minute that is a big drain like a bilge pump or radar...this takes the surface charge off the batt. turn it off and wait 5 min or so. Turn the ign switch to "on" but not the engines running, and read the volts off the tach... and here's the readings:
anything less than about 12.5 and it could be low volts. With engine running it should be between 13.8 and 14.5 - mine never moves from 14.2
also make sure you batt is at least 1000MCA size...any less and opti's can act funny.....
Just finished the this volt test. Ran the boat in my cove for 30 minutes. Never exceeded 1000 RPM. Volt reading was 13.8 - 14.2. No problem there.
Parked boat up to dock, shut down engine, went inside for about an hour. Came back down and turned on some lights for about 3 minutes. Turned off and waited 5. Turned key to on but did not crank engine. Volt reading = 12.3 VDC. This may not be THE problem (if there is a problem) but it certainly is A problem.
Any reason not to run the motor? I ordered 2 Cabelas AGM Group 27 batteries and they won't be here until next week. Price for the 2 batteries including shipping = $305.73.
Opti's can be voltage sensitive and sometimes a check engine light is a "phantom" alarm (nothing wrong)... just low voltage - do this..
wait a hour or so after running and operate something for a minute that is a big drain like a bilge pump or radar...this takes the surface charge off the batt. turn it off and wait 5 min or so. Turn the ign switch to "on" but not the engines running, and read the volts off the tach... and here's the readings:
anything less than about 12.5 and it could be low volts. With engine running it should be between 13.8 and 14.5 - mine never moves from 14.2
also make sure you batt is at least 1000MCA size...any less and opti's can act funny.....
Just finished the this volt test. Ran the boat in my cove for 30 minutes. Never exceeded 1000 RPM. Volt reading was 13.8 - 14.2. No problem there.
Parked boat up to dock, shut down engine, went inside for about an hour. Came back down and turned on some lights for about 3 minutes. Turned off and waited 5. Turned key to on but did not crank engine. Volt reading = 12.3 VDC. This may not be THE problem (if there is a problem) but it certainly is A problem.
Any reason not to run the motor? I ordered 2 Cabelas AGM Group 27 batteries and they won't be here until next week. Price for the 2 batteries including shipping = $305.73.
run the boat, you'll be fine....after you replace the batts, do a load test on the old ones....I'll bet you find some weak cells that are not holding/taking a charge...the opti likes strong batts....the cabellas will certainly solve that problem.
It's definitely a whole system that matters. This may sound like overkill, but not for me when I am offshore. Here's my receipe for a robust , rugged, dependable electrical storage system.
1. AGM batteries in a quantitiy that none are drained more than 25% in any situation.
2. All batteries replaced every 3 years no matter what the condition.
3. A 3 stage smart charger that is powered on and connected to the batts 24/7 - anytime the boat is not being used, the charger is maintaining float level
4. A dash mounted battery monitor gauge that tells me when I should switch batts to fresh ones, again to not deplete any one battery too much. I use a Newmar DCE Energy Monitor. http://www.newmarpower.com/digitalin...sturments.html
5. Battery switches in off postion anytime the boat is in storage.
6. Miantenece of all terminals every 60 days - all terminals loosened , cleaned and dielectric grease reapplied
7. Nice addition: a battery combiner between banks that connects all the batts when it sees any type of charge (engine or shore) and charges them all. This allows you to troll on one motor and charge all the batts in the entire system.
And everyone needs to read "The 12V bible" - get it on amazon....
I did read all post about opitmax motors here,but that only came up with problems with them,not a operational manual or any insight.Just hope he has them(Manuals).The owner lost his house in Katrina.I did see that I will be able to buy them from Mercury on there web site.Oh,they are 2001 225hp opitmax cxl with under 50 hours.They were install July/2005.
2001/2002's had some problems - compressor and fuel rail problems, I beleive...see if you can email "sosmerc" - he has a good handle on that year, I think....I'm sure you know this, but 50 hours in 5 years is alsmost worse than 1000 hours.....
OPTIMAX - SMARTCRAFT - CHECK ENGINE ALARM - ENGINE TEMPS 
