HPDI Oil/Fuel Alarm- Help needed

[3.14rate]

Disclaimer I've read a bunch post on GG and THT regarding oil alarm issues and am probably a bit more confused than when I started but I think my issue is fairly simple.

Bought 2001 228 Seafarer with 200 HPDI from family member. I know the boat well but as soon as I purchase it had electrical issues and replaced ECU and Harness and seemed to be running great! Found everything I needed searching this site for help! Thank You!!!

Today I went to replace 2nd battery which required pulling out the Oil Tank to access battery. Not thinking I laid the tank on it's side and probably stirred up 15 years worth of crud in the bottom but put battery and oil tank back in and took boat for a spin. As soon as I went to get on plane alarm started buzzing! Nothing flashing on gauges. Idled back to slip and starting trying to diagnose issue.

Realizing what I did with the tank I'm thinking it may be something simple like filter in bottom of tank is clogged creating alarm? (maybe?) Well, I pulled cowling because engine was beginning to smoke and noticed the reservoir was "overfull" and oil was coming out of top! So i drained some of the oil from engine oil reservoir but still alarms at "on". Oil pump motor is working. Oil pump turns on when I flip the white switch on engine.

Still alarms at "on" and motor starts fine with alarm buzzing. From reading it seems like I should disconnect engine oil tank sensor and then reserve oil tank sensors to see if alarm stops? Is this correct thinking? If alarm stops for one of these disconnects can I assume its that sensor?

Thanks in advance for your input/opinion/guidance. It is greatly appreciated! I can't bring myself to bring out mobile mechanic for $100/hr but not sure of next step.

 

[seasick]

Re: HPDI Oil Alarm- Help needed

Disclaimer I've read a bunch post on GG and THT regarding oil alarm issues and am probably a bit more confused than when I started but I think my issue is fairly simple.

Bought 2001 228 Seafarer with 200 HPDI from family member. I know the boat well but as soon as I purchase it had electrical issues and replaced ECU and Harness and seemed to be running great! Found everything I needed searching this site for help! Thank You!!!

Today I went to replace 2nd battery which required pulling out the Oil Tank to access battery. Not thinking I laid the tank on it's side and probably stirred up 15 years worth of crud in the bottom but put battery and oil tank back in and took boat for a spin. As soon as I went to get on plane alarm started buzzing! Nothing flashing on gauges. Idled back to slip and starting trying to diagnose issue.

Realizing what I did with the tank I'm thinking it may be something simple like filter in bottom of tank is clogged creating alarm? (maybe?) Well, I pulled cowling because engine was beginning to smoke and noticed the reservoir was "overfull" and oil was coming out of top! So i drained some of the oil from engine oil reservoir but still alarms at "on". Oil pump motor is working. Oil pump turns on when I flip the white switch on engine.

Still alarms at "on" and motor starts fine with alarm buzzing. From reading it seems like I should disconnect engine oil tank sensor and then reserve oil tank sensors to see if alarm stops? Is this correct thinking? If alarm stops for one of these disconnects can I assume its that sensor?



Thanks in advance for your input/opinion/guidance. It is greatly appreciated! I can't bring myself to bring out mobile mechanic for $100/hr but not sure of next step.

Since the oil tank on the motor was overflowing, you know that the remote tank and filter is not plugged and that the pump is working.
It seems that the sensor on the main tank (on the motor) is not working or not connected. In rare cases the ECU may be bad. You may have missed a connector somewhere. The alarm is confusing and I am not sure it is from an oil issue especially since the gauges don't show an alarm; They should indicate a low oil in the main tank condition (again, the main oil tank is the small one on the motor. If the sensor on the oil tank (engine) signals no ('low') oil, the motor will revert to safe mode causing it to run at about 1000 revs. The remote pump will pump oil until the high position of the sensor is triggered. The sensor can be tested with ah ohm meter.
The smoking is confusing also. An overfilled main tank will not cause more oil to mix in the fuel so no extra smoke. If the oil runs down into the exhaust housing it can smoke of course.

Let us know what you find and good luck.

 

[3.14rate]

Re: HPDI Oil Alarm- Help needed

Thanks Seasick! I"ll be back at boat tomorrow to start looking at it again. One thing I didn't think about until this AM was that last time out I switched to the AUX tank to try to run the old gas out of it since it's been in there a while. Had stabilizer but still been over a year probably- I'll check the fuel filter for water. Won't explain the high oil in the main tank but could be causing the alarm if there is indeed water in the filter. I'll keep posting what I find out.

Thx!

 

[seasick]

Re: HPDI Oil Alarm- Help needed

Thanks Seasick! I"ll be back at boat tomorrow to start looking at it again. One thing I didn't think about until this AM was that last time out I switched to the AUX tank to try to run the old gas out of it since it's been in there a while. Had stabilizer but still been over a year probably- I'll check the fuel filter for water. Won't explain the high oil in the main tank but could be causing the alarm if there is indeed water in the filter. I'll keep posting what I find out.

Thx!

Yes water alarm is possible. If so, you should see the red ring in the on motor clear filter bowl floating higher than normal. Normal is close to the bottom.

 

[3.14rate]

Re: HPDI Alarm- Help needed

Found thread below that was helpful! So I unplugged the fuel filter on engine turned boat on and No Alarm! I poured out filter's gas into jar and didn't see any water so put it back on and started engine- No Alarm! Great news I thought however when I started the engine again it stalled. Filter didn't fill back up with fuel. Is engine stalling because there's no fuel in the filter? (probably) Shouldn't it fill back up? (Probably) I primed the bulb a bit to see if that would fill it but it didn't. Thoughts? Now that I'm back home I'm beginning to think that if I filled the filter with fuel again it may have created the alarm so the sensor could be bad? I'll head back over tomorrow and try that and see what happens....fun times. Beats $100/hr though!

Also, Seasick I think the smoke IS coming from oil in the exhaust housing because when engine runs it's tossing oil droplets into the water behind the motor from the exhaust......will this burn off over time or is it a major concern? Thx again!

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engine-r ... constantly

 

[seasick]

Re: HPDI Alarm- Help needed

Found thread below that was helpful! So I unplugged the fuel filter on engine turned boat on and No Alarm! I poured out filter's gas into jar and didn't see any water so put it back on and started engine- No Alarm! Great news I thought however when I started the engine again it stalled. Filter didn't fill back up with fuel. Is engine stalling because there's no fuel in the filter? (probably) Shouldn't it fill back up? (Probably) I primed the bulb a bit to see if that would fill it but it didn't. Thoughts? Now that I'm back home I'm beginning to think that if I filled the filter with fuel again it may have created the alarm so the sensor could be bad? I'll head back over tomorrow and try that and see what happens....fun times. Beats $100/hr though!

Also, Seasick I think the smoke IS coming from oil in the exhaust housing because when engine runs it's tossing oil droplets into the water behind the motor from the exhaust......will this burn off over time or is it a major concern? Thx again!

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engine-r ... constantly

Question 1: The clear fuel bowl will not fill up normally. If it does, it has an air leak. There are cases of false water alarms with that system so you will just need to keep an eye on it
Question 2: The overflowing oil will not do serious harm other than perhaps get gummy in the bottom of the cowling. If the tank is still overfilling, the tank sensor or wiring has a problem.

The sensor on the motor has three levels that is signals. The lowest means low oil and that will cause the motor to revert to safe mode.
The middle signal tells the remote tank to start pumping oil and the highest (third) signal tells the pump to stop. So if you tank is overfilling, at a minimum the topmost signal is not getting to the ECU.

This can be checked by taking the sensor out of the tank and holding it straight up and down and sliding the 'float' up to the top (where the wires come out of. When you turn on the ignition, the remote pump should not be running. That can be hard to tell by listening alone.
Note that on many of those motors, the ignition has to be on but I don't think the motor has to be running. If you get an alarm while testing, it may not clear until you turn the ignition off and then on.
Testing the senso's three signals is pretty easy with an ohm meter once unplugged from the harness