arrover

Hey guys! UPS brought my Rinda code reader this afternoon so I used it. My boat is a 2001 Formula 260BR with a 496 Mag. The engine/boat has 109.2 hours on it. I just bought it used so I'm still learning this engine. I took it out a few weeks ago and got a couple hard alarms. After reading on the forum I realized that it was probably low drive lube or low coolant. I topped those off and also fixed a small gasket leak in the heat exchanger from when I winterized it. I then took it out again and it would run along for about 20-30 seconds and get on plain and then the power would drop off and bring me back to idle. The alarm did not sound at all in these situations. After that I changed the water pump impeller, and spun on a new fuel filter/water separator. While working next to the engine I discovered that a spark plug boot wasn't actually on the spark plug but wedged in between that and the head....

Took it back out and now I can not get on plain before the alarm sounds for about 2 seconds and brings be back down to idle. At that point I can idle back to the dock and I do not get any further alarms as long as I stay at idle. The boat starts great and idles great.

As you can see I've had multiple issue with this engine at the same time. Here are the codes that I was able to read:

Fault 94 - PITOT CKT LO - 109.2Hours (count 888)
Fault 118 - Steer Ckt Hi - 109.2H (count 34)
Fault 9 - Guardian - 109.2Hours
- Guardian
-706rpm
-Engine Load 17.9%
- Available Power 6%
-3.8psi sea pump pres
-oil level 0.0%
-demand 11.6%
-manifold air temp 86f
-barometric pres - 14.1
-manifold pres 9.4psi
-coolant temp 156F
Fault 144 - Low Drive Lube - 108.9H
Fault 150 - PRT EMCT OVHT - 108.1H (coolant temp 163F)
Fault 57 - Est8 Open - 105.5hours
Fault 45 - Est2 Open - 105.5h
Fault 49 - Est4 Open - 105.5h
Fault 43 - Est1 Open - 105.5hours
Fault 47 - Est3 Open - 105.5h

Also, all of the lake/sea water temps are listed as 402F - 404F for these faults. I thought that was strange.

I need any help that you guys can give me with interpreting these codes. Thank you so much!

monstaaa

pitot circuit low, steering circuit high are normal if you dont have them hooked up to the factory harness leads. pitot for speedo and steering for the merc type of steering sensor input for auto pilot.
150= is exhaust manifold hi temps. could have a restriction. or may be an indication of cooling system blockage or malfunctions such as, cloged coolers or heatexchanger, raw water pump impeller.
the other codes may be a default setting if guardian occurs along with said codes.

Dave_N

Well, the most recent (significant) fault set is Low Drive Lube. Sure you got that taken care of?
The next most recent one is PRT EMCT OVHT. What is the port manifold temp when reading live data? It should set a hard alarm at around 210 degrees.

Things may be clearer if you clear the freezframe memory and fault history and then take it out till you get an alarm and then immediatly read the fault codes.

arrover

Morning guys! Thanks for your posts. This morning I cleared all the codes and ran the boat again. It ran fine for a few minutes and then sounded the hard alarm so I read the codes:

Fault 94 (standard)
Fault 118 (standard)
Fault 150 PRT EMCT OVRHT
-lake/sea temp 404F
-FPC Total 19.9#
-Engine load 5.8%
-Available power 6%
-sea pump preasure 5.2psi
-Demand 2.1%
-Throttle 2.1%
-Manifold Air temp 77F
-Barometric Prs 14.1psi
-Manifold Prs 5.7psi
-Coolant temp 152F

I forgot to read the live data..... I guess the thing to do now is compare the port and starboard manifold temps when the alarm sounds. Is that correct? If its above 210F then it sounds like I have an obstruction in the cooling system. The water pump impeller is brand new.

I appriciate the help!

Dave_N

Now you know what the problem is. I would still check the live data to see if the starboard side is getting warm too. The port side is usually the first one to heat up on a 496, and it would be helpful to know if the starboard side is getting warm too.

arrover

Thanks for the help Dave and Monstaaa. This was a saltwater boat that I just transplanted to my freshwater lake. Maybe that has something to do with it?

arrover

Hey guys. I'm back. Sorry!

I took the boat out this morning and ran it with the reader hooked up. Man that reader sure is cool.....

The temps were about 55 here last night. When I started the boat the starboard exhaust read 65F and the port read 125F. That was immediately after startup. As I idled out of my cove the port exhaust read about 100 degrees hotter than the starboard exhaust the whole time. When the buzzer went off the port side was at 210-215 and he starboard was at 105ish. I took my temp gun with and measured the exterior temps. The port exhaust manifold was in the 100-110F and the starboard was 85-95F.

I'm thinking that the port exhaust sensor has gone bad since it was already 60 degrees to hot at start up and 100 degrees hotter at running temps. What do you guys think?

Should I swap the exhaust sensors port to starboard and see what happens? I didn't even look to see how hard that would be. Should I skip that and just order a new sensor?

Thanks so much!!!!

Dave_N

Order a new sensor. They almost always break when you remove them, so trying to swap them may not be a good idea.