Yanmar 315 alarm, what is it?

[Priceless]

tuna fishing Sunday offshore ran 10 hours both engines performed flawlessly. Offshore again today once again no problem halfway home after 10 hours of running two hours at 3150 and eight hours trolling and one of my engine alarms came on. I have no indicator lights only an alarm buzzer. Shut her down immediately oil pressure was normal and so was temperature oil pressure never dropped temperature never rose and there was no smoke coming out the exhaust she was pumping a ton of water out the exhaust as normal. After checking everything looking for leaks making sure oil level was normal and coolant was normal with no obvious catastrophic failure I fired her up again and br,ought her to 2600. Ran fine for 5-10 minutes. Oil pressure and temp normal and pumping lots of water, no smoke. Alarm came on again. Shut her down. When docked oil level normal, coolant level normal. Where do I go from here. Is there any way to check codes to see what was wrong. Engines are 2004, 1800 hrs. Thanks.

[Tony Meola]

You probably need Bruce for this one. Could be a bad sending unit but he will know best.

[Bruce]

The Yanmar 6LP alarms sensors are the following:
a. Battery not charging
b. Coolant water high temp
c. Low oil pressure
d. low coolant level in manifold(float type switch)
e. Exhaust water flow
f. Boost
g. Some years had a water sensor in the secondary filter.


Unless you have the interface with the Teleflex data and control computers(not a common thing) it is an analog system with no code throws.

Most switches are the grounding type. You can disconnect when alarm is on and see if it goes off. The float switch in the manifold for coolant level can hang up if non distilled water is used given calcium deposits. Don't look in the overflow tank for level. Pop the pressure cap when cool for level check. The big nut shaped top with the wire sticking out is the sensor there. Check charging voltage when running to eliminate that issue. Make sure a shore charger is not on at the time or the other engine is cross connected.

[Priceless]

Thanks. That's great info. Will be checking later this week. Will get back to you with the culprit. You guys are a great resource and I appreciate it.

[Carl]

Priceless-

Glad Bruce was able to give you a place to start looking.

While I have a bunch of Pet Peeves one of my bigger ones are Idiot Lights with no feedback.

In a car you blow an engine due to low/no Oil Pressure, overheating whatever...it is costly, but your car stops, you get out look under hood to make sure engine is still there and broken...just like the Check Engine light said. Then call a tow truck and a cab.

In a boat, light/buzzer from engine comes on saying you got a problem. Guess and gamble its a bad charging system and keep running as other engine will carry. Push it and blow motor cause it was something serious and should have been shut down. Motor goes down in snot...it can make for a hairy dangerous ride.

I do not understand the reasoning behind not allowing you to see the error code so you can determine...
-shut motor and cruise back on one....if its twin screw.
-shut down motor...but know okay to start for docking or tight maneuvers.
-come back easy on two.
-leave and don't worry, its something that can be addressed dockside tomorrow.

When my dad got his Steyrs I'd have to go down to boat with laptop to see why he was getting alarm. Almost always a Rack Alarm...rack didn't return fully in time, could be cleared no worries. But for him after shelling out money for motors...you don't want to run back with an Alarm showing in fear you could be doing damage. So a few times it was a putt putt ride home in foul weather on an open bridge instead of running to port quick before weather blew in.

Makes little sense to me...

Rant over.



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[Amberjack]

I had a similar issue with my Yanmar 315's a couple years ago at 650 hours, an intermittent buzzer when I idled down after a long run. My boat has an illuminated alarm panel and it indicated low water flow through the exhaust which was caused by build up in the raw water heat exchanger. The engine temperature didn't change and the only symptom other than the alarm was more exhaust steam plume than usual at speed.

BTW I pulled my engine oil coolers the next year and they also had a good scale buildup.

[Bruce]

Carl,
Most all factory panels have the minimum of lights no matter who the manufacturer is.
Because most of them are about as attractive as Nancy Pelosi, boat manufacturers and repowers use aftermarket guages and no lights.

I on occasion have setup a remote panel with lights when multiple alarms other than water and oil occur. All the harnesses are pre wired for it.

Amberjack makes a good point about steam in the exhaust which tells a lot. If your engines are original 04's without ever changing the elbows, they need to be checked. They are not considered a forever item

[Charlie J]

and sometimes the risers if the lip is rusted away

[Priceless]

went out to the boat today with Patrick Callahan from Worton Creek Marina. Couldn't get the alarm to go off after checking coolant and oil levels ( checked pressure cap, not overfill container) and running her for a while in the ocean. He brought a laser temp gun and we checked all different areas of the engine and the readings were all ok. Came back and pulled the float sensor which was a little balky and changed that, we suspect that was the culprit, and changed the oil and coolant temp sensors as well since he had them and they are inexpensive. Ran her again with no problems. Interestingly my engines do not have exhaust water sensors. This is not unusual according to Patrick. Also was having some issues with my Garmin 7612 and autopilot and we called garmin and they sent us an update for the software which we downloaded to an SD card and put into the unit. Autopilot is perfect now. If anyone needs the update contact garmin customer service or I should be able to post the link.

[JohnV8r]

Because most of them are about as attractive as Nancy Pelosi

LMAO!!!