1994 Evinrude 70HP Alarm after two mins or so
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URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=90844
Printed Date: 04 Jun 2026 at 6:36am
Topic: 1994 Evinrude 70HP Alarm after two mins or so
Posted By: Softbaiter
Subject: 1994 Evinrude 70HP Alarm after two mins or so
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 2:57pm
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Hi there I have just purchased a boat with a 1994 70hp Evinrude. The motor starts and runs beautifully hot/cold and sounds good at idle. However on the maiden outing after warming up the motor for a minute or two and leaving the beach an alarm sounded with a "beep beep beep beep" So I shut the motor down and waited a min. I started it again and drove for 1-2 mins slowly before the same alarm sounded, Again I shut it down for a minute or two then started and went back to the beach. I bought the boat home and put some earmuffs on it and ran it up on the trailer, it took about 2 mins before the beeping started again and as soon as it did I shut it down, All the while the tell tale is shooting a good stream of water and it is by no means hot. I believe this motor was VRO but the oil tank has been disconnected along with the line going to the vro pump and it is running a 50:1 premix with quicksilver premium oil. There is a cream wire and another wire by the harness going to the vro pump that has been disconnected, if i connect them with the key on I get a solid beep so Im guessing the beep I have is an overheat warning Could this be the thermostat or am I more looking at a faulty Temp sensor? I guess my next things to check : Faulty Temp sensor (hopefully) Does anyone know if the sensor is testable by say putting it a jug of hot water to make it go from a open/closed circuit or measure resistance or something? ? Impeller needs replacing (which is possible as although the telltale is strong it takes 15 seconds or so to start pumping) Is there any rules of thumb to check this ? Don't mind replacing it but would rather not Faulty Thermo (heres hoping haha) The water coming from the tell tale is lukewarm but im wondering if the thermostat isnt opening can the water in the head still be too hot, though the temp of the telltale is fine? Thanks in advance |
Replies:
Posted By: Softbaiter
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 6:11pm
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have done a bit more troubleshooting and supposedly if you disconnect the tan wire from the temp switch the alarm should sound with the engine running, it doesn't - Does that mean faulty sensor? |
Posted By: Durban
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 6:48pm
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the VRO being disconnected & the alarm still sounding start looking at the thermal heat sensor , being an open circuit sensor possibly the thermal disc inside playing up as the heat increases the circuit should close at +/- 84 to 87 degrees & your closing a little to early , a heat sensor gun should give you some idea what temp your motor running at then compare that heat on the gun to temp sensor closing circuit temp |
Posted By: fishermans friend
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 7:10pm
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If you are getting a warning beep that turns on and off (pulses) it can only be a signal from the vro pump. There is plug that can be hard to see with four wires going to the vro pump, the colors are Grey, purple, brown, and black. If this is connected it will sound a horn that goes beep pause beep pause and the higher you rev the engine the faster the beep will pulse. If you are running premix you can safely disconnect the plug and the rest of the warning system will work fine. there is normally two wires coming from the oil tank that gives a level warning in the tank (tan which goes white when the engine gets older) and a black. this connects up between the oil tank and the engine to give a level warning (one beep every 40 second to say oil is low in tank) it is most likely that this has also been disconnected when the oil tank has been removed The overheat signal is a continuous beep with no pause at all. The engine will also not rev above 2500rpm as it will trigger a system on the engine called slow (speed limiting overheat warning) If this is the case there is a few important things to check with this model Perhaps you can post the exact beep you where getting and check the four wire plug going to the vro and I can advise you what to do from there cheers Karl  Mastertech Marine |
Posted By: Durban
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 7:14pm
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bare in mind a faulty thermostat can cause this too your motor having poppet valves , if there is insufficient water pressure & the thermostat not opening , this means that it is not allowing cold water in while the poppet valves are still closed due to insufficient water pressure , poppet valves only open up if the rpm is increased as you throttle up to WOT [WIDE OPEN THROTTLE ] |
Posted By: Softbaiter
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 8:33pm
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Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah its a fast beeping, like 1/2 second on 1/2 second off so Im 99% sure the beeping is the VRO warning like Karl has described and yeah, if you increase RPM it seemed to pulse a bit faster, though I thought I was imagining that at first. seems to happen consistenly about 90 seconds after the motor has been running. I have noticed the VRO pump does not have the oil inlet fitting blocked off.. Assuming this will cause it to suck a bit of air, Will try and find a blanking cap and cap it off tomorrow Rang the guy I bought it off from Tauranga(yesteray) today and he reckons hes never heard any alarms.. Was serviced not long ago down there. Have taken a pic of the wires going to the VRO pump and the tan and black wires that were disconnected and cable tied to the loom.. Is this tan wire the VRO alarm wire, cause its not connected to anything ? FYI - I had a moment of stupidity earlier before posting all this and while still seeing a little red and connected the black and tan wires and a constant beep sounded with the ignition on, It hasn't seemed to effect anything or change anything so that was lucky - I know it was retarded but I best be up front when asking for help haha  Thanks again for your help on this  |
Posted By: Softbaiter
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 8:50pm
 by the way model is a E70TLERV if that helps **Just went out and took the cowl off again and found the VRO Loom exactly as you describe it Karl. I have circled the suspected loom plug that has the color wires in it as you describe. It appears the brown/tan wire is still plugged in, looks like the loom enters the VRO pump on the carb side of the pump ? To test can I earth the brown wire to the block and see if that triggers the alarm ? then disconnecting it will hopefully fix the beep beep beep? |
Posted By: fishermans friend
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 9:25pm
| the plug you have put yellow box around is the vro plug. Disconnect that plug and the beep beep will go away. The vro should have a little cap put over it on the oil inlet if you can. The vro pump will function no problem with a 50:1 premix with the wiring unplugged. The warning horn is working so make sure the temperature switch is connected back up (looks like it is in the photo above). The overheat side of the warning system will still work. The wires you connected are the ones that would have gone to the oil tank, by connecting them together you have completed the circuit and effectively tested the warning horn so no harm done just leave them as you found them. thanks Karl |
Posted By: Softbaiter
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 9:28pm
Thank you Sir! You are a true scholar and a gentleman!  |
fishermans friend wrote:Posted By: Softbaiter
Date Posted: 13 May 2013 at 10:05am
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Thanks so much for your Help Karl. What do ya drink? This morning I ran the motor for 5 mins with no beeping after disconnecting that VRO loom. I did notice no beep when I turned the key on today and then completed the low oil alarm circuit with no beeping, so perhaps the horn is actually faulty too, which makes sense as the previous owner never heard the beeping (so he told me) so im thinking, intermittent horn issue, which then started working after being jittered through road works from Tauranga to Clarks Beach and then the horn has gone bung again this morning, explains why the previous guy never heard the VRO alarm with the loom still connected.. for a moment there I though I was going to have to remove the fence from his house with my landcruiser :P |
Posted By: fishermans friend
Date Posted: 13 May 2013 at 7:31pm
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Cheers I do have some spare horns from later model engines that will work just fine but wont self test when you turn the key on. It does sound like the horn in the remote box is bung and would be a good idea to replace it. Make sure your connections on the battery are spot on with no wing nuts , they must be bolted down well as loose terminals create lots of problems. I can sell you a horn for $40 (brand new but new model horn for later model engine) but the one that self tests is about $150 for pretty much the same result. I am at the boat show this week but give the boys a call (07 579 4240) if we can help. p.s landcrusiers are great trucks very capable of destroying a fence if required
 !!!!, thanks Karl |