First, may I suggest folks search for and continue the thread should they find their topic in an old discussion, rather than start a new thread. That keeps all the great advice in one spot. In this case, the original thread is
http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4480 where more information can be found. A pet peeve, but that's why we have continuous threads on the same topic that sometimes span years.
Stuart on
Spirit of Gratitude has an 2010(?) R-29 with a BY6 engine, whereas I have an 2009 R-25 with a 2011 engine (remember that little oil pipe problem?), with what I think is exactly the same problem as Stuart's–the year of the engine will become relevant later.
My Problem: Upon turning the key to the first position, the glow lamp lights and then goes out and the ear splitting audible Engine Alarm comes on with the display saying "Check Engine" even though the engine is not running. The display offers no other help. The alarm stays after I start the engine until it heats up. Once the temperature reaches exactly 120 degrees (or more), I can turn off the engine and restart it without the alarm going off. Won't work if I try this at ≤119 degrees. I can run the boat normally, start and stop the engine all day without problem as long as the engine temperature does not sink below 120. Trying to restart the engine while its temperature is ≤119 results in the Engine Alarm coming back on until it warms up to 120 and I stop and restart. I live with the ear splitting alarm for up to 10 minutes until 120 is reached, but this certainly isn't working right. In the original thread on this subject (see link above) you can read how the alarm indirectly caused me horrid embarrassment in Edgartown in 2013 (involved a fashion failure) for which I am probably still remembered!
Here's what I've learned: Mack Boring was convinced it was a bad heater module, but replacing it was no help. They no longer do service work (bummer) but Norman is still there to provide advice. Disconnecting the battery pack or resetting the computer (ECU) were no help. The good folks at Niemiec Marine travelled to Cape Cod from New Bedford and they replaced my glow plug module which was no help. However, with no glow plug module attached to the ECU, no alarm! They're coming tomorrow to look over the wiring, but the problem is almost certainly in the computer programming. Mine ran OK for a number of hours after the re-power until it just started alarming, and it sounds like Stuart's problem occurred after many hours of normal operation.
The solution: The mechanic tells me the glow plug module does
nothing else but mediate this alarm–I don't even know why it's there as we have a glow plug lamp indicator on our dashboards, I guess it is supposed to indicate some kind of problem but what use is that if we don't know what the problem is? The module was not on the older engines, so I'm guessing they started using it in 2010 given Stuart's situation. I can't recall when Ranger switched over to Volvo's (?2012-13) so maybe there aren't enough BY engines out there since 2010 for this problem to erupt more often. Anyway, it seems this problem is starting to occur more frequently as our boats and we age.
The past: Here's a message I got from another R29 owner (I don't have permission to reveal their name) but it may shed further light. Note the clever method to silence the Yanmar Display alarm (which didn't work for me) in bold, but would be very cool if it works for you:
We have the same issue and the codes that show up on the scanner are all related to the glow plugs and the glow plug controller. When the engine temp reaches the set point for the glow plugs the alarm drops off the display but the event is still recorded by the engine ECM. Our tug is at the Yanmar dealer's shop and we hope to isolate the issue. It is likely a connection that is not making adequate contact. I am not sure what glow plug controller you have but if you can disconnect it, do so and see what happens. Also when the alarm sounds depress the first and next to last display buttons simultaneously to see if you can silence the alarm. If your alarm light glows at a low level even when everything is O.K., Yanmar has a bridge diode plug in that will correct that condition.
Anyway, I'll try to snap a picture of that glow plug module thing that is likely buried under the computer tomorrow and post it along with what happens. I'm also installing an Aqualarm system to alert me if there is low water flow out of the sea water strainer to the engine due to cloggage (or I forgot to open the valve) and an exhaust temp alarm. I'll take some pictures of that and post them
on the old thread on that subject, rather than create a new thread, here on Tugnuts...