Engine alarm sounds, and Engine cuts out for a split second
 

1998 Baja boss 252 454 mag fuel injected. When cruising at any given rpm the engine alarm will sound, and the engine will cut out for a split second. The boat then returns to running perfectly fine. Oil pressure, water temp and volts gauge are all at normal readings. Engine oil and drive oil reservoir are full. This all started after the boat sat outside in a massive rain storm for about a half hour, and the bilge filled with water.

i've had the spark plugs, wires, cap/rotor, and ignition part replaced, but this did not fix the engine alarm sound and the engine cutting out problem.

anybody have any ideas on what could be causing this intermittent engine alarm to sound? Many thanks

The alarm should be for Oil pressure, drive oil height, and water temp. I would start by removing the brown lead from each sensor one at a time until it doesn't occur anymore.

Ck your ground. Cutting out is strange.

When was the impeller/sea water pump last changed?

I had the identical set of circumstances when I first bought our Outlaw with a 1998 fuel injected 454 MAG. It would happen at any RPM range, sometimes when I bumped the drive trim, and it was a true gremlin.

I never saw the temp gauge move, and there was no indication of an overheat, but I haven't had it happen since I replaced the impeller and sea water pump housing. That was 8 or 9 years ago and I've put the impeller and sea water pump on a regular replacement schedule ever since.

If you don't know when the impeller/sea water pump was last changed it is probably a good maintenance item to get a baseline on anyway.

Hope you get it figured out.

Check your ignition switch. Its cheap enough to replace and sometimes there are issues inside you can't see and it will cause some of the same issues you are describing.

Sounds like the ecm could be detecting knock, retards the timing for a sec, put some higher octane fuel in it and see what happens

Also dump the water separator filter and refill with fresh fuel

Any update here UB? It's always interesting to see how these situations end up and the knowledge passed along is valuable.

Hoping you've got it licked and are enjoying your summer!

It turned out to be a loose wire connection to the alternator. The ring terminal and alternator stud got hot, and they melted together. Once the alternator was replaced the engine ran perfectly fine, without any more alarm sounds.

Thanks for poster the fix.

Ken

Same dumb junk that happened to me a couple of months ago. Boat woldn't restart hot, crank only and never turn on. Wound up being loose grounding terminal on the starter. Glad it was easy but chased for a long time which was frustrating. Being the boat is 21 years old I'll being going through all wiring and connections this winter.