How to tell if alarms are working

[jasguild]

I have a quick question.

Is there a way to test and verify that if my alarms are working?? Ie the alarm that engine not getting oil or water in gas? As always thanks

2003 Utopia 205, 240 EFI

 

[Dr Honda]

There is sort of a way. Ground the wire on the water sensor, and it should sound.

 

[jasguild]

Hi Dr Honda.

Where would i find t hat wire? and would that test all the alarms or just the over heating alarm?

As always thanks for your assistance

jasguild

 

[Dr Honda]

The wire is hooked to the bottom of the big fuel filter. It's the "Water in fuel" alarm. It won't tell you if everything is working or not... but it will tell you that the buzzer works, and the alarm unit is working. BUT, chances are... if your other sensors are ok... they will also trip the alarm unit.

 

[jasguild]

to be more clear, my real concern is that my cylinders may one day not getting oil and my alarm not working. In terms of over heating, I have connected a water temp gauge on my dash which measures water temp exiting the engine which I guess kinda helps but by the time the engine overheats I am guessing the damage would have already been done. I was hoping for a way to periodically test the alarm for oil issues.

let me know your thoughts.

As always thanks

 

[Dr Honda]

You can also test the float in the oil tank... but it requires you to flip the tank over. (Since you probably have a Gen2 engine) As far as the pump... I've never of the Gen2 pump failing.

As far as over temp... there's no good way to tell on that engine. You would have to replace the temp sender with a resistor that is equivalent to the value at 220 degrees to trip the alarm. THEN>.. you would have to verify that the sender itself is working.

So... as you can see... it's not impossible... but it's not easy to do.

With that said... since your comment is "One day... the alarm won't work"... that may be true, and impossible to know. You could check all the parts, and have something fail the very next trip out.

 

[jasguild]

ok. Just wanted to make sure there is not something I can easily check periodically.

As always thanks Dr. Honda