opti going IN

[Rip Lips]

Was in tourney last weekend and at wot I heard 2 beeps and a second later Went from 58mph to 39-41mph.I shut the engine down and used kicker to get in.The engine starts but has no power,what do you guys think what happend.Ill be bringing it tommorrow to get looked at.Its a 2001 200hp and has 70 hours on it.At least its a Merc and get parts for it!!!!

[Brian/MN]

Sounds like the Engine Guardian system sensed a problem and did what it was supposed to, keep the engine at a safe RPM level to allow you to get in safely without damaging anything. It can either limit your revs down to where you saw it, or it will hold the motor at idle if the alarm is serious enough. There are any number of things that could have happened, low water or oil pressure, engine high temp, etc. If you don't have Smart gauges to tell you the alarm, your dealer will be able to pull the diags and tell what happened.

[Nofish]

Hey Rip Lips,

It could also be something as simple as a plugged fuel filter or fuel tank pickup.

A friend and I had this happen once in a tournament as well. It was my partners new boat and the motor kept going into alarm and then would only operate at idle speed. It was a different brand of motor, so the warning beep sequence wouldn't compare. (and I cant remember anyway...;-) )

We took the boat to the local dealership and he stayed open late after dropping everything to help us. The long and short of it, pun intended, had to do with the fuel tank pick up.

The pick up hose in the tank was about two inches too long. When the hose was installed it was bent. It eventually kinked and severely choked of the fuel delivery. Motor freaked out and went into safe mode.

Not sure in your case, but you never know. The Opti mechanic should have an idea in short order after hooking up the diagnostic computer.

Good Luck.......R

[River Dweller]

My EFI did the same thing and it was the water pump. Sucked something up and it wouldn't go over idle speed.

[Butch]

You do have to love technology though!
In the old days you would have to replace
quite a few $'s on these problems...

Of course how many 2-stk 30hp motors could I buy for the price of my 225 Opti??????

B2

See ya on the water!

[Rip Lips]

Thanks for the input guys,hope its something simple.

[Al]

Good luck. Hope it's nothing big. And don't think you're all hunky dory with Merc on parts. The word is there was a shortage(make the nearly none) of powerheads at the last BASS stop, and there was need for them. Ain't technology great. I hope my max holds on.

[Rip Lips]

Got great news today,all it was is three plugs foled out,I guess this is common with 2001 optis with over 50 hours I was told.What a relief,since powerheads are on back order Iam told,BACK TO THE WATER<YAAAAAA.

[Mark Lindsay]

I had a similar problem with my 150 Opti. The plugs fouled and I wasn't getting near the performance I was prior to the problem.

A few weeks prior to this problem, I had my boat in for a recall and when they put the engine cowling back on they knocked off some sort of oxygen sensor hose - so back to the shop it went. I believe the short time I had it on the H20 without that hose connected caused the fouled plugs. The dealer hooked it up to the diagnostic unit and couldn't find anything wrong. I hunted down a set of plugs and replaced them myself and she was back to normal.

What type of plugs did they recommend for the 2001. I had to hunt all over the place for replacement plus for my 1998 opti. They were NGK PZFR5F-11 (I think) - they are pretty high dollar platinum plugs. Just wondered if Merc is still using those or if they switched to something different.

Was your dealer able to tell you why the plugs fouled in the first place?