I have a 93 merc and when I turn on the ignition, the warning horn will beep indicating that the system is working. I had the boat out Saturday and the horn didn't "beep", everything seemed to work fine. The manual says to have the out board checked by a dealer. Here's my question, I'm leaving for Ky Lake on Saturday. Is this like a check engine light and can wait a little bit or does it indicating a problem that has to be addressed now.

I like to wait to have it serviced when I get back but don't know if I can get it check anywhere sooner.

I think the usual color wires for the warning alarm in the control box are a 12V purple, coming from the warning module or RPM limiter on the motor, and a tan or tan/blue one coming from either the warning module, or the overheat sensor via a terminal block...both of which provide a ground (if tripped) to set off the buzzer. I'm fairly certain the warning module will command the initial beep at start up (mine doesn't have one due to a chop job by some idiot who removed the VRO and the other warning circuits, so the buzzer only will go off if the overheat sensor closes to ground when too hot). If If you give me the HP rating, I can look in my seloc (90-00 Merc/Mariner) and tell you for sure. On my setup, I shorted the tan/blue wire to ground and the buzzer went off.

 

big b16- you are correct! Raider

 

big b16, it's a 40 hp

so you think it's a ground problem or a bad module? The beeping I'm talking about is when you first turn the key on. Not when a problem is detected.

I know it's getting plenty of water, strong steam of water. Oil tank was low and I topped it off so, I'm assuming that's not the problem. (If it weren't getting any oil tank would still be full)

What functions does it indicate are working correctly. I can't find anything in the manual?

 

you might need a new horn. i replaced mine on my 40 johnson. ,nery easy just unplug it and plug in a new one.

 

Crappie, there are several 40hp versions (different stators, tiller, etc.) but to see if your horn itself is inop or not, short the tan/blue to ground at the block. If the horn goes off, it could be the control module. The control module takes inputs from the low oil switch, so that likely isn't the problem. If it were the low oil switch, it would either fail open or closed. One would have the horn constantly on or constantly off...you don't have a horn going off now so it isn't the former, if it were the latter, you'd still get the chirp at turn on. If I were a betting man and you were able to verfiy the horn is operational via jumping the tan/blue wire to ground, I'd say the warning module was defective. I'm not sure if there is a test procedure for the module (none in seloc) but if there was, someone in iboats would be able to get you squared away. Short of trying one from another motor (if you've got any acquaintenances with same motor), you might have to buy a new one and see if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't you may be able to return it and just pay the restocking fee. Lots of places don't let you return electrical parts to keep people from buying stuff and returning it after using it and not really needing it. You could fry a new one if there was a problem somewhere else that caused it to go bad...not likely, but it could happen. Good luck.

 

big b16, I will try your suggestions but if I can't find the problem in the next few days, at least I won't have to cancel or delay my trip over this problem and can deal with it when I return from Ky Lake.

I finally did find a diagram in my repair manual showing the wiring but I didn't see any test for the module.

thanks again for your help