queensland Great Day Out Turned To Crap.

[Ed.]

Well the stars aligned today, the weather was great, sunny day, sea was flat, the missus wasn't working so we left Bribie Island headed out to Hutchinson Shoal. Got to Morton Island and headed out to the Shoal, about 15 minutes from reaching it, the motor just went into limp mode. No warning or alarms, wouldn't go over 1600RPM, temps were fine, water coming out of the tell tail, plenty of fuel and oil, nothing. So radioed the VMR and told them we were returning.

So did a U turn and limped home, at a blistering speed of 3.5-4.5Knots all the way back, at that stage it wouldn't rev past 1200RPM, my missus reckoned she could walk home faster, you know the saying "are we there yet!" 3.5hrs later we reached the ramp. Not happy Jan!!! We had the motor checked out about 8 motor hours ago and also the impeller changed, pulled the cover off it at home but no obvious clues, oil bottle full and no loose cables or anything, so looks like it will be back to the mechanics. Even threw out some lures on the way home but no takers. The only alarm we got was about 2 hours in on the way home and it was a single long beep of about 5-8 secs and then nothing else.

[GregOug]

5 minutes ago, Ed. said:

Well the stars aligned today, the weather was great, sunny day, sea was flat, the missus wasn't working so we left Bribie Island headed out to Hutchinson Shoal. Got to Morton Island and headed out to the Shoal, about 15 minutes from reaching it, the motor just went into limp mode. No warning or alarms, wouldn't go over 1600RPM, temps were fine, water coming out of the tell tail, plenty of fuel and oil, nothing. So radioed the VMR and told them we were returning.

So did a U turn and limped home, at a blistering speed of 3.5-4.5Knots all the way back, at that stage it wouldn't rev past 1200RPM, my missus reckoned she could walk home faster, you know the saying "are we there yet!" 3.5hrs later we reached the ramp. Not happy Jan!!! We had the motor checked out about 8 motor hours ago and also the impeller changed, pulled the cover off it at home but no obvious clues, oil bottle full and no loose cables or anything, so looks like it will be back to the mechanics. Even threw out some lures on the way home but no takers. The only alarm we got was about 2 hours in on the way home and it was a single long beep of about 5-8 secs and then nothing else.

I would guess at a blocked fuel filter or fuel line but who knows. Anyway, sorry to hear about your terrible trip. We’ve all had them. Unfortunately yours was today.

[Junky]

What motor have you got? 

[Ed.]

2012 Optimax 150 XS Pro 2 stroke

[Drop Bear]

Bugger. Sorry you had a bad day but glad you got home safe and sound.

Let us know if you work out what it was. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Ed.

That's no good, hopefully the motor is easily fixed! 

Sorry to hear about the bad day. Real pity...

Cheers Hamish  

[ellicat]

No good, Ed. I could imagine that sinking feeling in your gut. Lucky there was no bar to cross on the way home.

Hopefully it'll be a simple fix.

Let us know the outcome.

[Ed.]

Yep will do, it most likely will be some sort of sensor that played up and caused it to go into limp mode. Prior to that I was doing about 3900 RPM and travelling at about 29knots. These high tech engines age getting way too smart and the slightest glitch  and they do the protective mode bit. I had a similar problem with the 26ft boat i had. Towed it all the way to Rosslyn Bay, put it in, anchored for the night at the marina, went to fuel up in the morning and it died about 100mt from the wharf, chip glitched  and motor just shut down Had to get towed to a berth, had to wait for a  few days for a mechanic to come down and  tell me that the main CPU module is cactus and a replacement is about 6 weeks away. So back on the trailer and towed it back home again! I am starting to think that I must have run over a black cat or something! I am jinxed.

[Junky]

I wonder if these have the same issue as the four stroke. 

 

There are 2 issues causing limp problems on four strokes that I have heard of. 

 

The gear selector mechanism is not adjusted enough and the motor thinks it's in neutral.

Simply remove the gear selector cable from its housing under the engine cowl and wind the little black cylinder 2 rotations in the direction that would cause the shift cable to pull the mechanism further into gear.....or push it further into gear.

My 150 four stroke played up after a big long drive back in one day. This fixed it. Hasn't faulted again. 

 

 

The trim sensor on the tilt tube. 

The engine thinks it is tilted up and in turn goes into limp mode. Haven't had any experience from this particular problem but others have. 

 

 

Could be the first one though. It's an easy 2 minute fix. My engine hasn't played up again. 

[Ed.]

These do sound like  interesting solutions, I will have to look into them, thanks Junky.

 

[Ed.]

Took the boat in to the mechanic at Brisbane Marine, he connected the computer to it and found the problems and they can be be fixed without me having to sell a kidney. Two faults found, first one is a faulty alarm speaker hence the reason for not having heard any alarms and the second  one which actually caused the problem was the sensor in the reserve oil bottle in the motor. Bottle was full of oil but the sensor was faulty and so reported that there was low oil hence the reason it went into limp mode.

Ordered the parts and will cost a total of $537 for parts, labour and today's diagnostic check. So a doable repair, will bring the boat back to them next Wednesday as the parts should be in by then.

So at this stage, 1770 is looking good. Better get my gear ready, also need to build myself a burley bucket, do some maintenance work on the trailer and lastly find a spare battery.
 

[The Mad Hughesy]

great outcome mate. good luck at 1770

[Ed.]

Thanks, will be looking forward to it, providing the weather is good. Last time we went there, we tried to get out to the reef (Tourist Charter boat) but the wind howled all the time we were there so all the trips were cancelled.

[ellicat]

Good news !

[kmcrosby78]

Good to hear mate, good luck at 1770.

[Hweebe]

I had an opti on my last boat. Alarm and limp mode triggered a couple of times due to low oil (Always seemed to underestimate oil burn or think i had enough for another trip)

To avoid this issue I just topped up oil for each trip and always had a 1L bottle of oil spare on board.

Needless to say next boat i was only ever going to get a 4 stroke to remove this step.

[Ed.]

Mine was a different problem, I had plenty of oil but as the sensor was faulty, it told the motor there was little oil, as the alarm speaker was also faulty  it did not give me any sound alarms either, it's a bit like if the engine temp sensor was faulty and reading hot when your motor was really normal temp, it would do the same. The modern engines all rely on sensors so when one gives an incorrect reading, the motors are designed to try to save themselves. On the other hand should the temp sensor fail completely and if the motor did over heat for some reason then it would allow the engine to keep running till it seized up.  I supposed mine was the lessor of two evils!

All these newer motors have a heap of sensors which can go faulty.

[Drop Bear]

Man those sensors are buggers for not working.

I can't wait to see a photo of you with a nice trout up at 1770.

[Ed.]

That's makes 2 of us. , although I am a bit hesitant in eating Coral Trout as I had a dose of Ciguatera about 20 years ago and once you have had it you are always susceptible to it, and Coral Trout, Queenfish and Spanish Mackerel  frequently have it especially the large ones, but a nice Red or Spangled  Emperor I wouldn't say no to!

[Drop Bear]

On 03/08/2020 at 3:28 PM, Ed. said:

That's makes 2 of us. , although I am a bit hesitant in eating Coral Trout as I had a dose of Ciguatera about 20 years ago and once you have had it you are always susceptible to it, and Coral Trout, Queenfish and Spanish Mackerel  frequently have it especially the large ones, but a nice Red or Spangled  Emperor I wouldn't say no to!

Trout is overrated IMHO.

Give me a hussar any day. I would also eat trevally over trout. 

[Ed.]

I just hope the wind dies down by the time we get there, as that will put a real dampener on  fishing if we can't get out, because that will restrict us to the inlet.

Been doing a lot of work to the boat getting it ready, got the motor fixed, put a new extra  battery in and wired it up to a two way switch, made some extra heavy battery cables for both, added an extra bilge pump in at the front of the boat, made an extra fuel tank. Redid the bottom of the seats and lastly replaced the live bait tank pickup pump and added a float switch, replaced one wheel bearing and checked the others, replaced two of my  canopy cover fittings as they had cracked. Built a Burley tube and now just need to get my fishing gear together.

So pretty much did all the maintenance, and hopefully the boat won't play up otherwise I will not be a happy chappy, but at the end of the day can't do anything about the weather!

[ellicat]

You've certainly been busy, Ed. Almost no time for fishing. haha

Hope it goes well for you and the weather plays ball.

[Ed.]

Thank you, definitely haven't had time for fishing, still have to do maintenance on the house before we go ( we live on two acres ) so cutting the grass, clearing, etc., does takes its toll in time and effort, I was hoping to take the boat out for a test drive before we head up north but due to my wife's work commitments and the windy weather, it doesn't look like I will be able to.

Anyway it should be good, looking forward to going up there, last time I towed my 26ft  boat to Rosyln Bay it died the next morning on the way out to get fuel to go fishing, faulty computer chip, had to come back without fishing as it would take 6 weeks for a replacement to arrive.

So hoping there will be no more jinxes to worry about apart from the weather that is and aim to put some fish on ice to take back home.

 

[natang]

lad its all fixed now! I'm living in Childers at the moment and the amount of big boats coming through town the last month is amazing. Must be all heading to 1770.