Thread: Solid Beep when 2001 Mercury 40 HP ELPTO Outboard is started or running

Okay. I'm back again and hating it...

Went over yesterday to Crappie fish and scout for Teal. The 2001 Mercury ELPTO 40 HP fired up finally after I realized the kill switch was on. And, as usual, it smoked a little and I took off to scout first.

However, at first stop I heard the solid beep emanating from under the motor cowl and looked in the oil tank (unscrewed the cap) and couldn't see oil. As I carry some on board, I went ahead and filled it to the top BUT I am not sure if this was the first time that I used the 2-cycle synthetic oil or not - had been using the Walmart brand..

In any case, and this is where it gets foggy for me, either the sensor continued to beep or went off again fairly quickly BUT came back on shortly thereafter.

I Googled it just to make sure what a solid beep was, as compared to intermittent beeps, and confirmed it was oil related. Now I wasn't sure what was going on and called friends but no one has experience with motors that mix themselves, and, I didn't think about whether there are issues with mixing regular 2-cycle with synthetic...

Thinking it was maybe a sensor issue, a piece of junk in oil reservoir, or the like, I would run it a short distance but not too far as the beep would come on and didn't want to harm engine. Kept checking the water coming out for temperature but it never got above warm.

This went on every time I wanted to use motor for the most part. Someone suggested to open the oil reservoir tank cap and I noticed that when I accelerated the motor, oil would squirt out. Not sure what that means...

Didn't think about it till this afternoon but the times I restarted the motor to go a short distance, with or without the beep, I can't recall it smoking at all AND that happened quite a bit in past.

HOWEVER, before I got back to the Ramp I could smell what I normally would smell AND I had vapors behind the motor BUT it had gotten slightly foggy last night by the time I made it back...the trolling motor up front went out 10 days ago but I was using a transom mount now - and that could have been the heavy moisture in the air...

At one point I was going to put oil in the gas tank too but decided not to.

A friend today suggested the motor was gravity feed on oil but not sure. He mentioned it might also be getting pressure from motor to "push" the oil into a mix but neither of us are knowledgable....

So here I am, the Eve before Teal season opens here in Illinois and Crappie are on fire, and my boat motor is doing this.

BY THE WAY, this is a different boat than the post I made about a Steering cable. It's a Lowe Olympic 1656 that I use for hunting AND fishing.

So, first the starter went out.

Then the new MK Powerdrive V2 quits.

And now this.

Thoughts?

Prayers?

Laughter?

Suicide Hotline number???

(Just kidding about last one).

Thank you in advance.

If it's a solid beep I'm thinking it is running hot. Next time it goes off kill 5he engine... pop the hood and put your hand on the flywheel. If you can leave it on there im wrong.

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Originally Posted by catchNgrease

If it's a solid beep I'm thinking it is running hot. Next time it goes off kill 5he engine... pop the hood and put your hand on the flywheel. If you can leave it on there im wrong.

Sent from my E6910 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Darn never thought of checking that. I wondered about it running hot but only checked water coming out pee hole. HOWEVER, I felt the pee hole water wasn't shooting out as well IMHO, so I took a wire to stick it as far as I could to check for obstructions.

I did read somewhere about replacing a waterpump part and have the wheel. But have never tried to do something like that.

Had that happen to my 1999 90HP Merc .... worked fine one day, then when starting out the second day the constant alarm started just as I was starting to take off after idling out past the buoys. When I took it to my mechanic he explained that the oil tank magnet is just glued on & does come loose after awhile, which causes the "low oil" alarm. I had him put a new oil tank on & all's well, now. He even shook the old empty oil tank for me, so I could hear the magnet bouncing around inside.

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

He even shook the old empty oil tank for me, so I could hear the magnet bouncing around inside.

you sure it wasn't a rock?? There are some shady mechanics that would try that. I'm a show me kind of guy.

Different matter but what's the PD doing or not doing?

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We were using it 10 days ago and chasing after a noodle a fish had drug into near shore and I slightly hit mud, resulting in the motor stopping forward progress. Afterwards, the motor would not turn the prop BUT you would hear the click when you hit the remote ON button and two clicks when you hit it again to turn off.

However, the remote would turn the unit right or left still. And the foot-peddle did basically the same thing.

Battery was and is fully charged and the MK shows it when you check.

Let me add two things that a friend just suggested.

One, maybe the motor sensor doesn't like synthetic AND USING SYNTHETIC probably reduced any smoking while running the 2-cycle motor like I had in the past.

Second, and something I wondered last night and that is MAYBE we disturbed the wires when putting the new Starter in two weeks ago. That's a thought BUT I have used the boat and motor since then?

Just adding fuel to the forthcoming discussion...

Is it peeing?
Does the stream increase with throttle?
Is the stream warm?

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Originally Posted by catchNgrease

Is it peeing?
Does the stream increase with throttle?
Is the stream warm?

Sent from my E6910 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Yes, it's peeing AND I believe it increases with acceleration.

It was cool when I first checked it but was Luke warm later. Please understand that the farthest I traveled was maybe 1/3 mile, maybe half. The rest were short hops. I never thought to check flywheel though...