Utopia Optimax 250 engine issue

[Ironmikea]

Greetings,
I have an issue with my 2004 Utopia 205 Optimax 250. I had the engine rebuilt last year so I took it to a shop that had the Mercury software to check it out. The engine checked out fine and was reset to show 0 hours. Here's the issue. The engine starts and idles fine. I take the engine up to higher rpms and I get a beeping. The first time it happen when I backed off the throttle, the beeping stop. The tachometer wasn't working so I didn't have an indication of the RPMs when the buzzer started. I installed a smartcraft gauge that I had since the tachometer wasn't working and took it back out. This time I was able to see with that once the RPMs hit about 1750, the alarm/buzzer went off and did not stop when I pulled back the throttle. In addition to the buzzer, the smartcraft gauge showed the bell and the engine icon. I drove the boat back to the dock, shut the boat off and restarted and the alarm went off. When I look at the smartcraft operational manual, the code bell and engine icon means engine malfunction. Not sure what this means since the smartcraft operation manual doesn't have anything in it to indicate what this is. It appears it could be like a check engine light. Any idea how to troubleshoot?
Thanks in advance.

 

[dblackstone]

That Light could mean several things.

Low oil in small tank on motor. is it full?
Sensor in that tank could be bad. This is common. When we bought ours the sensor went off first trip, got a new tank and solved

Water in fuel.
was water separator changed?

These are the 2 most likely reasons so start there

Have you got the Shop manual?

 

[Ironmikea]

Thanks for your response. I do have a Mercury Optimax 250 manual but I didn't see any reference to beeping codes. I looked at the smartcraft manual and it's showing a bell and gas pump icon for water in the fuel. At any rate, I will change the fuel/water separator. Also, I will check the oil tank next to the motor. I know the remote tank is full. It looks like the sensor is separate so it may be worth changing the sensor as a test.

 

[dblackstone]

Seadoo used the light for both oil and water issues

If you look at the small oil tank and it is low then just add oil, it could be there was enough air that once it bled the tank is low enough to set the sensor off, if you top it off make sure you put that on tight as it needs a tight seal. Page 3c-12 of shop manual has the steps to check the oil sensor. Very common this goes bad, easy to check sensor, if bad easiest to order new tank with sensor and just replace it. can also bypass the sensor so it doesn't set off the alarm and put the motor in limp mode

for fuel filter start with draining the vst tank into a can or cup and you can tell if there was water in it, I can't remember the wrench size at the moment. If there was water then change fuel filter as there is likely water in that too

 

[Ironmikea]

Thanks. I will look at it. I haven't had a chance yet but will report back what I find.

 

[Ironmikea]

Quick update with this issue. Ran the boat again and discovered that the smartcraft gauge showed the charging system was only putting out 11 volts. The issue was the fusable link cable (cable connecting the alternator to the secondary solenoid had blown. This thing has a 100 amp fuse so I not sure how this happened. At any rate, I changed the cable and the alternator and this fixed the issue. Apparently, everything on the optimax 250 needs voltage > 12V so at higher RPMs > 1100, the alarm sounded because of the low voltage. The smartcraft gauge is a worthwhile upgrade since I would need to have computer diagnostic equipment without it.

 

[dblackstone]

The Opti motors need good voltage to run correctly. If you don't have a dual battery setup they are easy to install.

I run the vessel view mobile on ours for that reason as well. Might as well get all the info the computer on the motor is designed to give out.