Oil injection Problem on Mercury XR4 Outboard - Help!!
Bert Nagy
oil-injection warning on a 1989 Mercury XR4. Perhaps someone might have
experienced a similar problem
On my last fishing trip my oil warning horn went off while I was running about
3500 RPM. As soon as I stopped to idle the horn stopped. I thought that I might
be low on oil, so I filled the remote tank.
Last night, I took the boat out and it ran fine, until I was driving onto
the trailer. The warning horn went off again, at about 2500 RPM. At idle it is
silent.
According to my service manual, I checked the following:
1) Sensor for the tank in the engine checks out OK - It is an open
circuit.
2) The voltage to the sensor module is right on at 12V.
I have not been able to check the coil voltage that drives the module,
the motion sensor, or the drive mechanism of the pump.
I believe that the dependency on RPM may be key to solving this problem. According to
the manual, the only failure modes are: Bad coil, bad warning module, bad drive system,
and bad motion sensor.
Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on the cause? I hate to go swapping
out parts. The warning module is $109.
Please Email any ideas.
Thanks and Good Fishing!
Be
Peter W. Meek
<oil warning on Merc XR4; not caused by usual suspects>
--
Check for a partial blockage of the system; RPM related
problems can often be traced to enough fluid (gas or oil)
getting through to allow the engine to function at low
RPM but starve it at faster speeds. I fill my VRO (Evinrude)
oil tank through a funnel; I've had to make a special
container for the oily funnel or it picks up junk like
it was made of glue. You may have transferred some debris
while filling. Bits of the foil seal are prime suspects, too.
A piece of PVC pipe and two caps makes a good container for
the long, skinny ATF funnels. Cement the bottom cap on; sand
down the outside of the pipe so the upper cap doesn't jam on
too hard. Find a place to keep it upright, or it will leak
oil all over the place. Leave a rag stuffed into the top
of the funnel so it will always be handy to catch drips.
<That sounds just like _Hints_from_Heloise_, doesn't it?> :-)
--Pete <pwm...@mail.msen.com>
The best navigators are not always certain of where they are,
but they are always aware of their uncertainty. <unknown>
Dale Ritchie
>Newsgroups: rec.boats
>Path: ncrcae!ncrhub2!ncratl!bnagy.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM
>From: Bert...@AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Bert Nagy)
>Subject: Oil injection Problem on Mercury XR4 Outboard - Help!!
>Message-ID: <199404081451...@bnagy.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM>
>Sender: ro...@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM
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>Date: Fri, 8 Apr 1994 19:51:00 GMT
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>Oil Injection Problme on 1989 Mercury XR4
A bass club buddy of mine has had the similar problem with his '89 XR4. In
both instances, it turned out to be "jelled" Quicksilver motor oil partially
clogging his oil intake filter in the main reservoir. He resolves the problem
by replacing the filter.
Good luck & keep a tight line!
Russ Poffenberger
If he is using motor oil, no wonder! Perhaps you meant 2-stroke oil.
I stay away from QuickSilver. I use Evinrude or Johnson TCW-III in my
Evinrude. No problems in 9 years.
Russ Poffenberger DOMAIN: pof...@San-Jose.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies ATE UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
1601 Technology Drive CIS: 72401,276
San Jose, Ca. 95110 Voice: (408)437-5254 FAX: (408)437-5246
Bob Rusk
>I stay away from QuickSilver. I use Evinrude or Johnson TCW-III in my
>Evinrude. No problems in 9 years.
Why do you stay away from Quicksilver oil? Do you feel that you would if
you owned a Mercury/Mariner, or are you among those who would never own such
a beast <half-smile> ? Perhaps times have changed, but in the TCW and
TCW-II time frame, we had several customers who insisted that their
Evinrudes and Johnsons idled a lot better on Quicksilver oil than on the OMC
factory stuff. Anybody out there had any problems caused by the Quicksilver
TCW-III?
--
Bob Rusk
rr...@ssd.csd.harris.com
My thoughts, probably not Harris'.
g.bu...@rose-hulman.edu
>Why do you stay away from Quicksilver oil? Do you feel that you would if
>you owned a Mercury/Mariner, or are you among those who would never own such
>a beast <half-smile> ? Perhaps times have changed, but in the TCW and
>TCW-II time frame, we had several customers who insisted that their
>Evinrudes and Johnsons idled a lot better on Quicksilver oil than on the OMC
>factory stuff. Anybody out there had any problems caused by the Quicksilver
>TCW-III?
>
>--
>Bob Rusk
Well Bob, this sounds like the Chevy/Ford debate. I have Merc customers swear by
OMC TWC-III oils, claiming better idle and cleaner burning. A customer and I
did a little non-statistical test on his 150hp Merc. We had two gas tanks, one
with Quicksilver oil and one with OMC. On a dyno , in gear, at idle the OMC
fuel/oil mixture idled almost 100 RPM (digital tach) faster than the Quicksilver
mixture. The wide open RPM with same dyno loading increase almost 400 RPM with OMC.
The Quicksilver mixture also appeared to smoke more at idle.
Now the next guy with a different engine could get totally different results. I do
know that One of the local bass clubs buys OMC oil in 55 gal. drums from me and
the whole club uses it in their OMC's, Yamahammers, Mariners, Merc's, ect.
I can't really say I've seen any major problems with Quicksilver oil, ie burnt pistons
just seems to be the little things.
Gary
Dale Ritchie
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>agnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!news.sinet.slb.com!news.San-Jose.ate.slb.com!poffen
>From: pof...@San-Jose.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger)
>Newsgroups: rec.boats
>Subject: Re: Oil injection Problem on Mercury XR4 Outboard - Help!!
>Date: 13 Apr 1994 16:32:32 GMT
>Organization: Schlumberger Technologies, ATE division, San Jose, Ca.
>Lines: 34
>Message-ID: <2oh6r0$j...@k2.San-Jose.ate.slb.com>
>References: <199404081451...@bnagy.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM>
><dale.ritchi...@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>
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>Dale Ritchie (dale.r...@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM) wrote:
>: In article <199404081451...@bnagy.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM>
>Bert...@AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Bert Nagy) writes:
>: >Newsgroups: rec.boats
>: >Path: ncrcae!ncrhub2!ncratl!bnagy.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM
>: >From: Bert...@AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Bert Nagy)
>: >Subject: Oil injection Problem on Mercury XR4 Outboard - Help!!
>: >Message-ID: <199404081451...@bnagy.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM>
>: >Sender: ro...@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM
>: >Nntp-Posting-Host: bnagy.atlantaga.ncr.com
>: >Organization: NCR Corporation
>: >X-Newsreader: FTPNuz (DOS) v1.0a
>: >Date: Fri, 8 Apr 1994 19:51:00 GMT
>: >Lines: 35
>: >Oil Injection Problme on 1989 Mercury XR4
>: A bass club buddy of mine has had the similar problem with his '89 XR4. In
>: both instances, it turned out to be "jelled" Quicksilver motor oil partially
>: clogging his oil intake filter in the main reservoir. He resolves the problem
>: by replacing the filter.
>: Good luck & keep a tight line!
>If he is using motor oil, no wonder! Perhaps you meant 2-stroke oil.
>I stay away from QuickSilver. I use Evinrude or Johnson TCW-III in my
>Evinrude. No problems in 9 years.
>Russ Poffenberger DOMAIN: pof...@San-Jose.ate.
Schlumberger
>Technologies ATE UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
>1601 Technology Drive CIS: 72401,276
>San Jose, Ca. 95110 Voice: (408)437-5254 FAX: (408)437-5246
Yes, Russ I meant 2-stroke motor oil. BYW, OMC (Johnson & Evinrude) had the
same problem in their '84 to '85 VRO oil tanks. Back then, OMC dealers were
replacing the small oil intake filter with one with about 10 times more
area.
I have been running OMC's TCW III for a little over a year in my GT-200 and
I haven't had any problems.
P.S.: When I owned Mercurys, I always ran Quicksilver oil in them.