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Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:59 pm
by brianrounds
Hey all, i'm just putting this out to the masses of experience we have here. I have a 2006 Cobalt 220 with a Merc 496 Bravo 1. Out of no where the alarm just started going off... beep... beep... you get it. It stops in 5 minutes, very annoying. I took it to my local dealer and the alarm is producing NO code. How odd is that? Everything else is measuring out fine on the boat. All levels are perfect, etc.
Any ideas?
The dealership is calling Merc tomorrow.
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 9:06 pm
by Big Block Power
Not sure but the drive oil level was the biggest head ache on a merc.
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 9:14 pm
by brianrounds
The level in the reservoir inside the engine compartment is at the normal level. I hope Mercury has something to help with the problem. It's really bizarre with the computer not giving a code.
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:35 pm
by Bfun220
Could the beeping be from the depth gauge ?
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:42 pm
by cmattj
Good thinking B. Check that and the merc sender in the bottle can still be tricky. Unplug the sensor on the bottom to bypass the sensor.
Not sure that stores history codes.
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 11:03 pm
by brianrounds
I'll check that out tomorrow. When this all started I was in 3 foot water... thanks - i'll report back tomorrow.
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 11:34 pm
by AsLan7
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Yes....I'm gonna say that's your depth sounder alarm that you are hearing. It beeps like crazy at times unless the defaults are set properly. In fact, I set all my settings on the depth sounder to Zero so that beeping doesn't go off. Very annoying. Units should be to Ft (feet) not Fm (fathoms) ....DP (depth) alarm set to Zero....KL (Keel) setting zero.....
Hope that helps
....and welcome aboard mate!
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Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 7:07 am
by Big Block Power
Bfun220 wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:35 pm
Could the beeping be from the depth gauge ?
Oh the wise one thinking out of the box for us. I think I might be with B on this one!
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 2:51 pm
by Bfun220
Big Block Power wrote: Thu Aug 16, 2018 7:07 am
Bfun220 wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:35 pm
Could the beeping be from the depth gauge ?
Oh the wise one thinking out of the box for us. I think I might be with B on this one!
We're thinking a like ?
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:10 am
by Ytmsn
3 feet of water? Yes, definitely your depth gage. Toggle the switch and it'll turn off. For awhile anyway. Set it at zero and you should be good.
If B and BB are one the same page I'm guessing it's a coloring book.
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:30 am
by AsLan7
brianrounds wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 11:03 pm
I'll check that out tomorrow. When this all started I was in 3 foot water... thanks - i'll report back tomorrow.
BTW,
Here is the link to the thread that shows the manual and instructions for ours. Maybe it will help with yours....
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viewtopic.php?f=21&t=529&p=6554&hilit=sounder#p6554
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Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:07 pm
by brianrounds
Thanks everyone... I was hoping it was going to be that easy... but apparently not. They have ruled the depth alarm out. When the key ignition is turned on you hear the beep - the ECM powers up and a single beep means everything is good to go as far as the computer is concerned at that point. Then when you start the engine a few seconds later there is another beep and all the gauges cycle back and forth and the engine throttles up and back down. This has been happening for about 2 months and the boat has run top notch. Zero problems.
Then last week after the second beep it continued beeping for 5 minutes. This was after I was anchorage in shallow water for a couple hours. Thus, the feedback was a depth alarm.
My dealer has been in contact with Cobalt support and they've recorded several chunks of data off the ECM and sent it to Cobalt and they are troubleshooting different things. They say it could be a faulty ignition and/or a glitch in the ECM software. The ECM might need to be removed and sent to Cobalt for a wipe and software reinstall.
Fun and joy.
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 5:52 pm
by Big Block Power
I would think that's a merc ecu not Cobalt!
Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 6:41 pm
by AsLan7
brianrounds wrote: Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:07 pm
Thanks everyone... I was hoping it was going to be that easy... but apparently not. They have ruled the depth alarm out. When the key ignition is turned on you hear the beep - the ECM powers up and a single beep means everything is good to go as far as the computer is concerned at that point. Then when you start the engine a few seconds later there is another beep and all the gauges cycle back and forth and the engine throttles up and back down. This has been happening for about 2 months and the boat has run top notch. Zero problems.
Then last week after the second beep it continued beeping for 5 minutes. This was after I was anchorage in shallow water for a couple hours. Thus, the feedback was a depth alarm.
My dealer has been in contact with Cobalt support and they've recorded several chunks of data off the ECM and sent it to Cobalt and they are troubleshooting different things. They say it could be a faulty ignition and/or a glitch in the ECM software. The ECM might need to be removed and sent to Cobalt for a wipe and software reinstall.
Fun and joy.
Oooh. Sorry to hear that BR Most fixes I’ve found are normally simple. Occasionally a large one will creep up. Hopefully you get her solved in no time. Thanks for the follow up. Let us know what they find.
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Re: Bizarre Alarm Issue Question
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:09 pm
by Big Block Power
Maybe you could swap out ECU with lstgrt1?