1999 Mercury Optimax warning alarm

Good guy syndrome….
So my motor was working perfectly fine! A good guy next to my camper was getting the (4) beeps every 2 minutes on his Optimax. I told him it was probably his sensor in his oil reserve. I quickly pulled the sensor out of mine and put it in his and “His” problem went away. He purchased a new sensor and all was good. I put my sensor back into my boat and went out on the water. Low and behold “MY” perfectly running boat now beeps (4) times every 2 minutes….. I purchased a new sensor, no change. I purchased a whole new reservoir (comes with new sensor), no change….

Is there some way the alarm needs to be reset on the motor? What the hell could I have done?

not sure if this will work for you but you can give it a try,sometimes unhooking the battery for at least ten minutes might clear the code for you.
if it continues,the module that controls the alarms may have went bad,if it did,I would believe it was coincidence and not something you did.

it may be necessary for you to take it to a dealer to clear the code,but usually unhooking the battery will do it.

I had same problem,fill oil full and unhooked battery over night and….good.!

After the leads are disconnected, touch them together, this will drain the power from any resistors or diodes or whatever those things are called that store power and the computer. Also check the oil reservoir on the motor under the hood and fill it right to the top, not a 1/2 inch below, right to the top. If that don’t work, call Eddie Lyback, 320 676-3611 at Lyback’s marine in isle MN, he is a top notch opti mechanic. He is the one who told me about the oil reservoir under the hood that needs to be FULL to the top.

puddlepounder wrote:

After the leads are disconnected, touch them together, this will drain the power from any resistors or diodes or whatever those things are called that store power and the computer. Also check the oil reservoir on the motor under the hood and fill it right to the top, not a 1/2 inch below, right to the top. If that don’t work, call Eddie Lyback, 320 676-3611 at Lyback’s marine in isle MN, he is a top notch opti mechanic. He is the one who told me about the oil reservoir under the hood that needs to be FULL to the top.

puddlepounder,they are called capacitors,and its amazing how long they will hold a charge!!

thanks IB, I sometimes know what I am doing, I just can’t explain it

puddlepounder wrote:

thanks IB, I sometimes know what I am doing, I just can’t explain it

story of my life!!
was never cut out to be a teacher.

Sounds good guys! I did unhook the battery but only left it for a couple minutes.

Well…. That didn’t work……

I could not figure this one out. I brought it to the shop. They just called back and they are telling me they believe the ground is fried and it possibly wrecked the ECM????? WTF?

How did I go from a perfectly good working motor to swapping oil sensors and getting a blown ECM….

get another opinion,something does not sound right here,to quote you,they THINK THE GROUND IS FRIED???

I would want to know for sure,JMO

Update…
They are keeping the boat for a couple weeks to look for a ECM donor to check it out….

Update…
Things slowed down for the shop and the put some thought into it. Apparently it was the wrong reserve tank and sensor that was installed. Give a different signal back to the computer. All fixed in the middle of December!

thanks for bringing this back around sand-burr!!
I wouldnt have guessed that as it is too easy to assume you were given the correct part to begin with.

sorry it took so long for them to figure out for you,geeze,but at least it isnt going to keep you up at night next season!!