496 HO Electrical gremlins
 

I have a 496 HO Mercury engine in my 2005 Baja 25 Outlaw that has an error code that can not be cleared, and it remains in Guardian mode. My mechanic has gone through Mercury for help, including changing ECM, checking grounding and wiring harness. Anyone else have a similar problem? It all started when I hit a wake of another boat and had a moderate jolt.

I've missed one poker run already, and if it isn't fixed this week, I'll me missing another.

Thanks for any suggestions

What exactly are the symptoms/alarm, and the error code that's popping up?

sounds somewhat familiar to the problem member " Haulinvols " had with a Baja 245......I am almost sure they had to replace the harness......maybe you could pm him and get his thoughts....good luck

Reckless - The mechanic said the initial error code was low water pressure for the sea water pump, he replaced the impeller and has good pressure now. I do not know the code.

Showdown - I will try contacing Haulinvols

Sounds just like a problem I had, there was a connection behind the dash that wasn't fully snapped together. I hit a wave and it would shake it enough to cause it to miss. Just might be the same thing.:eek:

Without knowing the active Guardian code its not going to be possible to play "1000 guesses" here. Get the complete Guardian code as well as Guardian history, then you can be helped.

Ray @ Raylar

Yup, been there and done that.

It started like any other day, the sun shining and the birds chirping. The wife and I were going down the river and the alarm sounded, went into guardian mode. I checked everything. All was perfect. Started back up, and ran fine the rest of the day. The next week, same thing, only this time it happened twice. I took it into the shop, they hooked up the computer and it read low water PSI. I knew that was not the case as I had a brand new impellor, and while running the computer showed perfect pressure within limits. This was the last time we got an error code. From that point on, every time it happened, there was no error code saved.

My tech called Mercury for assistance with the issue. They said that we were loosing 12volt to the computer. We checked the wiring and that was not the case. They then said that we were loosing ground. Once again, a check showed ground was fine.

My tech and I drove out in the boat once again and we were finally able to get a trouble code with the computer hooked up as we ran, it showed a bad relay. We replaced the relay but it did not make any difference.

A month has gone by now and nobody can find out what is wrong. The Mercury people want to keep throwing parts at my engine and I am getting pissed. I made a call to a friend of mine that was a VP for Sea Ray and he got me in touch with some higher-ups with Baja customer service. By this time we had decided that there was a short in the main wiring harness somewhere as the problem kept getting worse and worse. Baja Customer service had Mercury overnight a new wiring harness to my tech. After they replaced the harness, everything ran flawlessly after that.

Good luck

Did you have your guy reseat & check the main harness connection @ the engine.. I had a new boat last year that the connection looked ok, but the terminals were not seated all of the way in from the factory.. Once it was reseated it was ok..

Just a thought, although your guy may have already checked this... You may want to check & make sure the bung that your psi sensor threads into is clean/clear.. If something is restricting or blocking the sensor it can/will give you an issue like this..

Hope it helps.. :) Jamie / Lakeside


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An active code should be an easy fix. But as Ray said, without more details it's just a guessing game.

Dave

The latest from the mechanic said Mercury was approving a new wiring harness since they have tried everything else possible they know of. Hopefully it will be done by this weekends poker run.

If that doesn't fix it, I'll have the codes so the rest of you can help the mechanic.