Mercury Oil Alarm

[LiveBait]

I have a 1993 Mercury 200HP Offshore. The last time I had it out the oil alarm went off after about 15 minutes of running at 2500 RPM's the oil alarm sounded. I got it back to the dock without a problem. At the dock I did some quick trouble shooting (checked the cap and float inside) but I could not get the alarm to turn off. The engine sat for 3 days in the UP position and it started with no problem and no alarm. I left the dock to run it and it ran for about 15 minutes with no alarm then it alarmed again. I tilted the engine up and let it sit that way for a few minutes and started it with no alarm sounding. My assumption is if it was a float cap problem it would alarm all the time but I have heard that they are a common cause of alarm.

Does anyone have any ideas on where to start trouble shooting?

[justus]

Hey Livebait,

I run a blackbox ('94 225 3.0L)and about a year ago had a situation similar to yours. The only cause was that the oil in reservoir (the small one on the motor) was about an inch low. The alarm sounded and after regaining composure (those alarms always freak me out)I noticed that the oil level in the reservoir was about an inch low and filled it to the top. It never happened again. Maybe because of storing your engine tilted for a while a small amount drained out of the reservoir and after running for a while it siphoned from the big tank and filled up again. Anyway if it is not happening any longer sounds as if that could have been the case. Good Luck!

[LiveBait]

just-us

Thanks for the feedback. That same situation happened to me on and off last year and I did the same as you did by topping off the smaller tank and the alarm silenced. Thst was my first step this time but the alarm didn't silence. I hope its not a precursor of things to come for you also.

Maybe someone out there has the answer.

Thanks again for the response.