Hoping there is a Suzuki expert here before I take mine to the dealer. Not that I don't trust dealers
During a charter yesterday, the "no oil" alarm sounded and the "no oil" light came on. Suzuki has a "reminder" system that causes this to happen and since the hours were exactly 350 I figured that was the issue; I checked the oil level and it was full. I then performed the "cancel alarm" procedure, expecting the alarm beeps to stop (as it always has in the past on "reminder" alarms) but they didn't. The beeps continue even with the engine off. The engine is not limited to the 3000 rpm that the manual indicates will happen with true low oil pressure and the beeps actually stop at 4100 rpm. I think the alarm system and/or sensor has failed because the clearance procedure doesn't work and the alarm doesn't clear.
Could one of the AAB outboard experts offer some advice to me? Thanks in advance
There are 22 different engine fault items that can activate the warning system and the flashing pattern of the warning light will indicate what the problem is. All the patterns start with a single or multiple flash, a short pause then another series of flashes. Some problems will cause the fail safe system to activate and some won't. You need to count the number of flashes before and after the pause and post that info then I can tell you what is going on.
I have the "commander" tach and all it says is "no oil". I don't remember if it flashed at different rates or not. Since I have had several drinks tonight, I won't be able to look at it until tomorrow to see what it does.
thanks for your quick response.
This gets more and more interesting. I just put the boat in the water from my boat lift. I had turned the key to "on" before starting to lower it to see if it was still beeping, it wasn't. But when the lower unit got into the water about 2 inches above the cavitation plate, it started to beep. Lifted the boat back up a couple of inches and it stopped, down into the water and started again???? Funny thing, if I tilted it out of the water, the beeping continued but with the motor in normal running position, the beeping stopped as soon as the cavitation plate was out of the water (actually a few inches above cavitation plate).
I ran the boat a short distance and it continued beeping intermittently (maybe on plane got the lower unit out of the water high enough??).
The "commander tach" is not showing a warning of any type now, just normal operation. I do believe the original "warning" was just oil reminder at 350 hours (it was exactly 350.1 when I looked at it and the engine did not limit to 3000 rpm.
Couple of questions:
Not sure what you mean by Commander tach. Do you have the tach with 4 indicator lamps?
Oil warning system indicates at 100 hour intervals, are you sure that's what was going off at 350 hours?
What is the pattern of the beeps when they are heard (how many, how frequently)?
I'll try to answer your questions, I am only moderately mechanically inclined.
The motor is an 2006. It came on the Black Lab I purchased that year
The "commander tach" is the name on the small manuals that came with the motor. It provides fuel consumption, engine hours, etc. It doesn't flash lights, it has words on a small led screen. It showed "no oil" when the buzzer went off. I cleared it and now it doesn't flash "no oil"; it performs the normal functions. The buzzer is just two beeps that sound in a pattern of "beep beep" pause "beep beep" pause etc.
Not sure why it went off at 350 hours, it could be a co-incidence, but sure seems like long odds that there would be a problem at exactly 350 hours. The words "no oil" flashed at that time until I "cleared" the system by "turning key on and then pulling the "cutoff" button out three times. The system "beeped" like described in the manual to indicate it has cleared and the flashing "no oil" stopped, but the warning "beep...beep" continues.
Like I said in the previous post, the beeps (with motor off, but key in the on position) do not start until the motor is in the water about two inches above the cavitation plate. I have no possible idea why this occurs unless it is some sort of short, but that doesn't seem very likely to me. The system performs its normal "check" flashing all the warnings and beeps as soon as the key is turned on.
My local dealer who did the initial maintenance after the break-in period, has gone out of business. As a side note, when I later replaced the water pump myself, I found the bolt that is internal to the lower unit had not been tightened. I will go talk to another local dealer and get their opinion before I take it in this week.
Any insight you can provide before I go in is greatly appreciated.
OK, with the key on but engine not running, two beeps with a pause then repeat is your 100 hour oil change interval warning. On a standard tach you would also get a continuous flash of the oil pressure light. If you cleared your oil interval alarm and you are still getting the two beeps then I'm not sure what is going on. The deal with it not beeping until the lower unit is in the water doesn't make any sense as well as there are no engine sensors on the LU
One thing that might be a part of this issue is on the V-6's built prior to model year 2007 there was a factory recall/replacement of the ECM (large black brain box). I don't know what they changed, could have something to do with your problem. Did your dealer or Suzuki notify you of that recall?
Thanks for the info, I appreciate you taking the time to help me.
I don't remember receiving a recall notice, but I was remodeling my house for about 12 months and it may have slipped past me in all the "excitement" going on.
I guess it is time to trailer it to the local dealer.
And time to put more hrs on that boat.......350? Dang Tom, if we do a meet & greet I think you'll have to come on down here.
Mines at about 1000 plus already.
Hope it all goes well for ya. Did Jay make it up yer way with the RS?
