Low Oil Light

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 11, 2006, 10:18:14 PM

Today when I was running to load up and leave. My oil light came on and my motor shut off. I thought my oil tank was empty. I checked it out and my oil tank is over half full. Anybody got any ideas why this happened?

AB · March 11, 2006, 10:23:10 PM

Can you enlighten us with your motor type (year/make/model)?

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 11, 2006, 10:25:12 PM

I guess that would help....2001 150 hp Yamaha VMAX HPDI.

AB · March 11, 2006, 10:31:22 PM

Ok, when you say the oil tank is half full, are you talking about the oil tank mounted in the boat or the one under the cowling?

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 11, 2006, 10:50:41 PM

The oil tank mounted in the boat. The one on the motor is completely full.

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 12, 2006, 03:29:29 PM

My motor starts and idles as normal, but as soon as give it gas to go the rpms go up then the oil light comes on and the motor kicks back down to idle speed.

AB · March 12, 2006, 05:13:10 PM

If the oil tank on the motor is chock full and the tank mounted in the boat has some oil in it, then more thank likely the level sensor in the engine mounted tank is faulty. What is happening is the motor thinks that the reservoir on the motor is low and is putting it into fail safe mode, in which the brain retards the timing so that it makes it harder to hurt the motor since it thinks there is an issue with the oil system. I know what you are going through, went through that on a ProV 150 when the transfer pump in the boat mounted tank went bad and wouldn't pump oil to the engine mounted tank. We stopped at a marina and got some quart bottles of oil. We would run until it went into failsafe, shut it down, refill the reservoir on the motor, and go again....Take the cap off of the engine mounted tank and be sure no junk is on it (any kind of sludge or other foreign debris), if it looks fine, you may want to have your dealer take a look since it will be a high $$ guess to just replace that sender. There could also be a fault with the oil alarm module....

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 12, 2006, 06:34:21 PM

Thanks Awesomebullet, I was also told there might be air in my oil line? My owners manual also said check the spark plugs and a four of them are really black and have a lot of junk on them.

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 12, 2006, 09:38:17 PM

How hard is it to bypass or dummy the system were I can just mix my own gas and oil?

AB · March 12, 2006, 09:42:05 PM

With the right parts, not too bad. I'd hafta go take the cowling off mine and see what exactly I did (it was like 400hrs and 3yrs ago) but I think mainly it was just unplugging the oil module and removing it, remove the oil tank on the motor, remove the oil pump and drive gear and install the Yamaha Oil Pump Blockoff kit, and remove the oil lines and install the rubber caps for the nipples from Yamaha....Don't quote me on that though, been a long time. I'll do some research and get back to ya.

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 12, 2006, 09:43:22 PM

Appreciate ya Bullet! You know your STUFF!

AB · March 12, 2006, 09:55:40 PM

I will tell ya, it is a PAIN IN THE BUTT to premix all the time. I did it and wish I hadn't. The only reason I would remove it rather than fix it is if you plan on turning that thing over 6000rpm. Precision Blend is one of the most reliable mechanical oil injection systems out there. Heck, not having to premix any more is one of the pluses I am looking at in buying a new rig.

silversalmon · March 12, 2006, 10:01:16 PM

Great job Awesome Bullet, thanks for helpin brent out

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 12, 2006, 10:03:00 PM

He's the man to go to when comes to engine problems!

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 13, 2006, 06:55:24 PM

I played around with my engine again today, but still no luck. When trying to get on plane the problem happens, but when I just rev it up past 2000 rpms in nuetral there is no problem. It just has me ticked off since I just bought the boat less than a month ago.

AB · March 13, 2006, 08:09:18 PM

I've got to dig up my manual on this one for ya. But the motor is going into failsafe mode. I understand that it is a frustrating thing, but we will work through it.

AB · March 16, 2006, 08:56:38 PM

Got some troubleshooting stuff for ya.

Kinda confusing, but here goes. Next to the oil tank on the motor should be a black box with a switch on it labeled "emergency switch". Coming out of this box on the upper side should be a 4 wire harness, with a Brown, White, Red and Black wire in the harness. Unplug them, get a digital multimeter, and set it to continuity scale. Make all measurements on the sensor side (not the control box side).
+ = positive probe
- = negative probe

+ White to - Brown: 16-24 ohms
+ White to - Red: 16-24 ohms
+ Brown to - White : 16-24 ohms
+ Brown to - Red: 16-24 ohms
+ Red to - White: infinite
+Red to - Brown: infinite

AB · March 16, 2006, 08:56:49 PM

That should get ya started. Anything further than that you really need to have a Yamaha tech check out and properly diagnose. This is about as far as you can go over the net without me actually being able to see the motor. I would really recomend repairing the system vs removing it, it is very reliable and "should" give you many hours of trouble free use even though it ahs given you some issues early on...

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 19, 2006, 04:10:01 PM

Thanks a ton AB! I'm going to go take a nap but i should get to that tomorrow afternoon, and I'll let you know if it worked out. Thanks again!

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 25, 2006, 01:27:37 PM

Well AB, that didnt do the trick. My motor has a problem that the mechanics cant figure out.

AB · March 26, 2006, 08:12:40 AM

You mean you took it to the shop and they couldn't fix it?

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 28, 2006, 12:15:11 AM

They troubleshot it down to the power wire for my motor had a short in it. My motor calls for a 1000 amp cranking battery, and the guy I bought it from replaced the battery with a 500 amp battery. They said that could've caused it, but its a good idea to put a new 1000 amp battery.

BassBUFF · March 28, 2006, 01:17:21 PM

Quote from: brent on March 28, 2006, 12:15:11 AM
They troubleshot it down to the power wire for my motor had a short in it. My motor calls for a 1000 amp cranking battery, and the guy I bought it from replaced the battery with a 500 amp battery. They said that could've caused it, but its a good idea to put a new 1000 amp battery.

WHAT?

Who did you take this to (PM me if you don't want to mention any names openly)? There is no way a power source can cause a short in the wiring.

ʇuǝɹq™ · March 28, 2006, 04:28:10 PM

I got my boat back. My power wire was barely hanging on at the ECU box. Glad that problem is fixed.

AB · March 28, 2006, 05:19:26 PM

I'm glad it is fixed too, but I would question how it happened? That wire doesn't just come off by itself, somebody didn't tighten it down correctly before. Either way, you are up and running again and that's what counts!