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Boat Center FLL - Shout Out to Mike and the team


Wanaflatsfish

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Always lots of discussion around buying stuff on line and not using a local dealer.

I'm a big DIY'r and yes, sometimes I buy stuff on line to save time, but, for the most part, I buy all my parts, etc. from my local dealer..

As well, they did a great job on my lower unit rebuild and carb tune up....the guys at FLL Boat Center - MHP dealer are very professional and the most important attribute, HONEST !!!

CASE IN POINT TODAY:

During my last trip to Choko I was getting a low oil alarm on the 2 stroke, 1995 yamadog 115 HP.

The oil system seems to be not working properly...I had to do an on-water diagnosis, by taking off the cowlings and I saw the on-engine tank was out of oil....

The result was I had to idle back across Choko-bay and back to the dock....I ran back to Everglades City and bought couple of quarts of oil, filled it and off we went to finish the trips.

I called over Capt DonH and today we decided to figure out what was going on.....It was a PIA - we had to take out the battery and clean things up...during the exercise, we found some gunk in the RACOR (Again !!! from Circle K fuel - NO MORE EVER AGAIN - NOW I'M BUYING MY FUEL FROM SHELL HERE IN FLL).

We took out the tank, all the floats, switches, took off the wiring harness at the engine and the onboard float sensor...

We tested the on-tank oil pump motor and then carried our plastic bag of goodies to see our friends at BOAT CENTER...

Mike behind the counter is a great mechanic and knows his stuff....

He told us how it all worked together and said, since it appears the oil motor is running, and you are getting a low oil alarm, it must be somewhere in the following places:

1) at the on tank float

2.) the connections for each of the sensors

3.) oil filter on the tank clogged

4.) some gunk in the lines which is not allowing the oil to be pumped.

HIS RECOMMENDATION.....

BLOW OUT THE LINES

REPLACE THE INLINE OIL FILTER ON THE OIL RESERVE TANK

BLOW OUT THE LINES ON THE ON ENGINE TANK AND RESERVE TANK

BLOW OUT THE MOTOR

CLEAN ALL THE CONNECTIONS AND USE SOME ELECTRIC SPRAY TO INSURE GOOD CONTACT AND RE-CONNECT WITH A SOLID SNAP.

He said, if it doesn't work, come back and we'll diagnos some more.....

WELL, IT WORKED !!!!

After we re-assembled the entire system...we turned the key, and the on-engine oil tank immediately began to fill, we heard the on-tank motor running, and it stopped filling right the the appropriate oil fill level.  We cranked up the engine - first turn - va-voom !!!

NOW,  he had a $360 new tank and wiring harness with a new motor and sensors in stock and showed us how it all worked together....had he not been ethical he would have said - you gotta have this, etc. etc.  he didn't and said, let's do this one step at a time...Wow !!!

 

End result is I think because I had to take off the on-engine sensor on the water, something became loose, I had been working in the bilge and could have knocked the connection to the wiring harness...Mike said the in line oil filter needs to be clean and flow...and any blockage can result in not a good flow rate.

 

Anyone who needs work from Miami to Broward, even Palm Beach....it's worth knowing you are dealing with an honest 5 star team....now are they not cheap when they do the labor and they charge retail for the parts....but, you have a dealer who is someone you can trust.

Here's a bit of the fun with oil Capt Don and I had today :)

 

IMG_5171.thumb.jpg.cfa6ed406223961537dafc2dbd124122.jpg

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Can you do away with that oil pump system altogether on the motor and mix the oil directly with the fuel? That's what I did with the Merc on my old 17MA and it was one less failure to worry about dealing with. I love my F90 but I sure do miss the smell of oil burning upon start up in the mornings. 

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2 hours ago, conocean said:

Can you do away with that oil pump system altogether on the motor and mix the oil directly with the fuel? That's what I did with the Merc on my old 17MA and it was one less failure to worry about dealing with. I love my F90 but I sure do miss the smell of oil burning upon start up in the mornings. 

The oil system is much more reliable on the Yamahas. Although that 50:1 at idle at the choko ramp might help with the skeeters like Coto says!

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You wouldn't be implying that old Mercs are unreliable, would you?? xD 

Regardless of motor manufacturer, I do away with any system that I don't need which could fail. 

Ya'll should've seen my Merc smokescreen at Flamingo when I would launch back in the day. Everyone else needed to be covered up and peppered with deet except me!! Coto may have actually seen it once or twice. I know he remembers the smell of my Merc from me towing his old 18RF into Flamingo marina. I should've claimed salvage!! :D

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13 hours ago, conocean said:

Can you do away with that oil pump system altogether on the motor and mix the oil directly with the fuel? That's what I did with the Merc on my old 17MA and it was one less failure to worry about dealing with. I love my F90 but I sure do miss the smell of oil burning upon start up in the mornings. 

i've seen a few youtube videos on the subject....yes, it can be done....but, until i have another failure..since it's now working properly, why bother with it....it's really only about getting the oil to the reserve pump on the engine...it's gravity feed after this....from what I learned from the boyz at boat center..it seems to be just a clogged line or loose connection...

Don't fix what ain't broke is what I heard from the Yamaha guyz...

dc

 

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6 hours ago, conocean said:

Agreed! But bypassing and/or removing all non necessary parts that could fail on a boat is my thinking.   

I'll look into it...but, if I do, I'll have the Yamaha guys do it and not me alone.....

but, for now, based upon what we saw....it's working perfectly and now I understand the entire system....and failure points.

The guys at the BC believe it had to be some gunk in the line or a loose connection, because all the other components were working.

dc

 

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On 11/16/2017 at 1:56 PM, conocean said:

Coto may have actually seen it once or twice. I know he remembers the smell of my Merc from me towing his old 18RF into Flamingo marina. I should've claimed salvage!! :D

Yeah buddy, I won't forget that you were my knight in shining black Mercury. I also remember that exhaust but I was happy to smell that than pole another yard back. 

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On 11/17/2017 at 5:58 PM, Coto said:

Yeah buddy, I won't forget that you were my knight in shining black Mercury. I also remember that exhaust but I was happy to smell that than pole another yard back. 

I love the smell of "napalm" in the morning....errr two stroke oil....reminds me of.......reminds me of ................."fishing" :)

 

dc

 

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