2002 Baja 25 outlaw - Need some help
 

I am a bit new to the boating world and recently purchased a 2002 25 Outlaw. So far the boat has been great, but yesterday we were out on the lake and when i went to start the boat back up a alarm went off. (beep...beep....beep) I checked all of the gauges and everything look fine. I found that the alarm went off when i gave it one or two clicks of throttle. (a few hundred more revs) When i was coming in the marina i noticed that the water temperature was 190 degrees. This boat normally runs in the 170 range.

Any thoughts on why this alarm is going off? Are these issues related. The boat has 200 hours on it and just got a new belt and a water impeller.

I am going to check the coolant level today the boat was obviously hot and it was also raining at the time.

Thanks

i would check your trim fluid if its a little low it will trip the alram. As for the temp mine was runnin a little hot this weekend too might due to the 100 plus weather not sure though.

Drive fluid level will also alarm so check that also.

Water pressure will also cause this. If your housing is wore on the fresh water pump and isn't moving enough water...Impellers go bad if you get into sand or suck in something abrasive. Might want to look there as well if it was running cooler then suddenly jumped up.

check fluilds. thats a good place to start. mine was running around 190 this weekend as well. its because of the 100 degree weather and the 85 degree water. when you start going over 190 is when i would say there is a problem. good luck on stopping the very annoying beeping.

or pieces of the old impeller in the oil cooler

drive fluid, oil pressure, and temp can all make your alarm sound.

Make sure its not your depth sounder..I've seen stranger things happen...what engine is in your boat?

Is has a 496 mag in it. Thanks for the advise. I am going to just drain the drive oil as well as check the level.

Oil pressure looked normal.

Any other ideas please fire away.

Thanks

Well..496 mag is closed cooling..it should not run hotter than 175*..really ever...fluids..also check heat exchanger for any impeller debris..those older engines would catch impeller pieces in there..the newer ones have an open center so the impeller pieces can pass through...make sure on the depth sounder thing..I have seen it happen before.

I think the alarm goes off at 190* or 200* , so that would be about where you were at there...

im glad you said that. i have been told the alarm will go off at at 190 and then people said no its 200. i had my mech. come for a ride with me and put a temp gauge on the motor and brought his computer with him. we ran the boat for about 45 minutes and i got the temp on the gauge to 190 and no alarm. his readings were 170. i cant believe i forgot about this. i need to stop drinkin...

I took the boat out again on Monday for a quick run. Before i went out i looked at all of the fluids other then the drive trim fluid and drive oil. Everything looked good so i started the boat up and no alarm went off. I ran it for about 15 minutes and then parked it for a few hours. When i went to start it back up the alarm went off again (Beep...Beep....Beep...). I could not get the alarm to stop going off. Went i left the cove on my way to put the boat up, as soon as i touched the trim switch to trim out the boat the alarm stopped going off. My thought is that the trim oil is low.

Where is the reservoir located for the trim oil?

I would look in the manual i just don't have one. I made a phone call to Baja to try and get a manual but no luck for a 2002 25 outlaw. Does anyone have any thoughts one where to get one at. I have looked on Ebay, also no luck

Thanks for your help

Reservoir is located high on the top of the motor usually..it will have 1 black hose that comes off of it and will go to the outdrive...do not overfill, it needs room for expansion....

actually I am telling you where your outdrive fluid reservoir is....The Trim fluid reservoir is much larger, it will typically sit on the port side of the engine to the back of the boat..has a big black pump mounted on the top of it, and there are power wires that go to it.

Here is a pic of a trim fluid reservoir..your tab reservoir may also look similar, so do not get them mixed up...the Tab fluid res is usually mounted in the center of your transom, up high...the outdrive reservoir is simply a fluid container with no pump or anything connected to it.

Thanks that is very helpful.

What fluid do you recommend running in both the outdrive and the trim?

Mercury, High perf Gear lube +

I have a 2002 25 outlaw also----I believe if you were low on any fluids--your engine would go into low rpm mode and you would have to go 4 6 mph back to the dock...My alarm also constantly went off one time and the boat ran fine...A engine computer check showed my fuel/air sensor went bad..changed same and it stopped the alarm...
My boat also ran 190-192 went I first bought her...I do my boating the the hot waters of Florida...I changed the thermostat to a 140 or 142 (I forget) and she nows runs between 158-160 degrees !!!! Mike Tampa Bay!!!

I made a rookie mistake my first day out a few years ago "beaching" my boat. I did not realize the water pick-ups were on the very bottom of the outdrive and packed my system full of sand and ruined the impeller. The whole system needed to be flushed, heat exchanger had impeller debris. Went to 200. After the repairs, it runs 175-185.

Every find the problem?

I have a sea strainer in mine, beached it one day and alarm starting going off and temp gauge on the rise. Check the sea strainer only to find it completely, I mean completely full of sand. After removing it all was good. But since that moment It does creep up on the temp every now and then for no apparent reason. Must have done some damage somewhere. I also just replaced the impeller and pump at the beginning of the season.