Motor alarm & flashing light on Simrad screen

Bigdaddy74

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Yesterday we had the boat out and after about 15 minutes of riding around an alarm started beeping and a red icon which looks to be some sort of oil alert started flashing on the Simrad screen. The motor was running fine and we never noticed any issues but we put it back on the trailer and let it set for about 10 minutes and checked the oil level. The oil level was right in the middle of the two dots on the dipstick. I went out this morning after it sat overnight and as soon as I turn the ignition key to the ON position the alarm starts beeping and the icon is still flashing on the Simrad screen. Since it sat overnight I know it's not an overheating alarm and it's not an oil level alarm. Anybody have any idea what could be going on other than maybe a bad sensor? I won't be able to get it in to the dealer until later this week but just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas or things to check. The motor is a 2021 Yamaha 250 Vmax SHO with about 15 hours on it.
 

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Dug around as I didn’t recognize that symbol, but had a hunch on the problem (Ihave a Mercury Verado myself…so less familiar with Yamaha).

As suspected, it is a fuel-water filter seperator alert. Water detected with fuel getting in fuel-water separator filter and triggering the alarm for motor shut off. You will want to take care of that before running that motor any further and potentially causing damage to it due to water getting mixed in with the fuel.

Picture from page 50 of Yamaha 250HP Vmax Owners Manual:

601AC79B-4698-4806-BF85-DB0CB5741E93.jpeg

Yamaha 250 Vmax Owners Manual
 
Thanks a bunch, Vikingstaff! That was the culprit. Emptied it out and no more alarm. I’m going to change the remote fuel/water separator as well and keep an eye on it. I should have checked the manual first but thanks for your input!
 
Thanks a bunch, Vikingstaff! That was the culprit. Emptied it out and no more alarm. I’m going to change the remote fuel/water separator as well and keep an eye on it. I should have checked the manual first but thanks for your input!
Glad you are back in business. Happy Boating!
 
Good job Jeff!!! That brings up the question.....,... How often does everybody change their fuel/water separator?!?
 
That brings up the question.....,... How often does everybody change their fuel/water separator?!?

I change mine at the end of every season when I do the annual maintenance.
 
I change mine at the end of every season when I do the annual maintenance.
Likely a good idea. If any water in it freezes over the winter, you have a problem. I know someone with this exact problem. It damaged the seal when the water froze and gas was leaking around the separator.
 
This thread can't continue without a listen to one of my all time favorite performers, Fred Eaglesmith, doing Water in the Fuel. It's a trucking love story :) but is right on point for this diagnosis.

Water in the Fuel
 
This thread can't continue without a listen to one of my all time favorite performers, Fred Eaglesmith, doing Water in the Fuel. It's a trucking love story :) but is right on point for this diagnosis.

Water in the Fuel
How's that R doing John?!?
 
Yesterday we had the boat out and after about 15 minutes of riding around an alarm started beeping and a red icon which looks to be some sort of oil alert started flashing on the Simrad screen. The motor was running fine and we never noticed any issues but we put it back on the trailer and let it set for about 10 minutes and checked the oil level. The oil level was right in the middle of the two dots on the dipstick. I went out this morning after it sat overnight and as soon as I turn the ignition key to the ON position the alarm starts beeping and the icon is still flashing on the Simrad screen. Since it sat overnight I know it's not an overheating alarm and it's not an oil level alarm. Anybody have any idea what could be going on other than maybe a bad sensor? I won't be able to get it in to the dealer until later this week but just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas or things to check. The motor is a 2021 Yamaha 250 Vmax SHO with about 15 hours on it.
BigDaddy74,

Keep a close eye on this after you have the water separator replaced. On my 2020 22SRX, we had this happen twice with under 50 hours of use in the engine. The first time was in 2020, dealer replaced the engine water filter and the carbon EPA filter under port side bunks. Engine ran great. In 2021, same issue again and water in the EPA separator. This time after consulting Bennington and another mechanic at their main marina, they relocated the EPA exhaust that exhaust under the deck of tri-toon. The location initially was sucking up water into the EPA canister. They relocated the exhaust about eight inches over that is protected by the shielding. Bennington is aware of the issue.
 
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BigDaddy74,

Keep a close eye on this after you have the water separator replaced. On my 2020 22SRX, we had this happen twice with under 50 hours of use in the engine. The first time was in 2020, dealer replaced the engine water filter and the carbon EPA filter under port side bunks. Engine ran great. In 2021, same issue again and water in the EPA separator. This time after consulting Bennington and another mechanic at their main marina, they relocated the EPA exhaust that exhaust under the deck of tri-toon. The location initially was sucking up water into the EPA canister. They relocated the exhaust about eight inches over that is protected by the shielding. Bennington is aware of the issue. With 15 hours of ops this should not be happening with you Bennington.
Word of caution in jumping to conclusions. Your issue might not be the same as the OP’s. Most Bennington’s do not have this problem, so it is more of an outlier on their overall lineup.

For the OP, it might be a faulty part issue. Might be a dealership rigging issue. Might be something similar to yours with EPA canister placement, etc. Currently we don’t know what caused the OP’s issue - nor does the OP.

For instance, in year 2 on our 2017 24’ SSBXP SPS 200 Mercury Verado Pro, we had a fuel-water seperator alarm go off and motor went into limp safety mode: almost identical to what the OP described. Happened 4th of July fireworks night while on the lake for fireworks…full boatload of friends and family. Bad timing!!!

Dockside the next day I realized that where/how it was rigged, my fuel line and seperator was inaccessible without removing the entire bracket (should be able to almost plug and play on our Mercury design). Further, it seemed like the electronic sensor wires from the fuel/water sensor were “pulling” back hard on the sensor. Rigged/wired WAY too tight. So tight that the tension had dislodged the sensor causing a gap for water to get into it.

Got it into dealership. The dealership looked it over and basically appologized. They totally agreed with what the problem was, and said that was not a Bennington problem (which was my assumption up to that point as an inexperienced boat owner). They openly said it was them rigging it poorly when it arrived. May apologies followed…

Thus, the dealership had rigged it poorly, and the way they rigged it caused the failure.

As a result, they re-rigged the line, sensor bracket and sensor, and replaced my fuel/water sensor & filter.

It had nothing to do with Bennington, boat construction, EPA canister, Mercury or the filter part(s) itself. Once corrected, no problems since. I think we would need to hear back from OP after it is taken care of and inspected to really know the underlying cause.
 
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