# Mercury Optimax and water in fuel or ethanol jello



## TUBBLAWNS (Feb 18, 2008)

My boat has sat for a few months with half a tank of gas. Last time I used it, after a while of running, I shut the motor down to fish, and then when time to leave it was really hard to start, after a few starting sessions it finally fired up, it almost seemed like it was not getting fuel. I went out to start it yesterday to run for a while and could not get it to start. I am gettinga beep, beep, beep, beep when trying to start it.I have changed my separator and now am going to change my exposed lines, and drain my fuel chamber and chamber filter. Went ahead and changed the lines this afternoon, and got some rust colored thick muck out of the primer bulb. My question is the beeping. Is it beeping to let me know to do these things I am talking about doing, and does the smartcraft stop the fuel from going into the injectors, to prevent further damage to the fuel system? 2005 200 optimax.


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## User6882 (Feb 4, 2009)

every boat ive been on beeps at start up, not sure though


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## Sequoiha (Sep 28, 2007)

Is the beeping heard as soon as you turn the key on, or after you try to start it... give me a call, ill give you some things to check...


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## DOUBLE "D" & LV (Oct 2, 2007)

One simple thing to check when that happens is the battery voltage. An Optimax will not start if the battery voltage drops below 9.6 volts. It will sound like it is fine while spinning over, but the low voltage will not activate the computer.


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## TUBBLAWNS (Feb 18, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. The beeping continues after the initial key turn on, it used to not do this. My batteries are weak, so I am going to go get a couple of more batteries this weekend, and try it again. I went ahead and drained my fuel chamber and found no water or gel like substance in what drained out. I checked my fuel filter and it had no substance on it either, and looked relatively clean. So far the only part I got water out of was the primer bulb, strange. Anyhow thanks again for the replies and I will call if I need some further assistance, thanks a lot for the offer.


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## gsh (Apr 15, 2008)

YOU SHOULD GET RID OF IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. SELL IT FOR AROUND $2000-3000 TO A LONG TIME FRIEND. TROW IN THAT JEEP AND I'LL GIVE YOU $5000.


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## TUBBLAWNS (Feb 18, 2008)

> *gsh (10/22/2009)*YOU SHOULD GET RID OF IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. SELL IT FOR AROUND $2000-3000 TO A LONG TIME FRIEND. TROW IN THAT JEEP AND I'LL GIVE YOU $5000.


You left out a "0" in those figures!


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## TUBBLAWNS (Feb 18, 2008)

> *DOUBLE "D" & LV (10/21/2009)*One simple thing to check when that happens is the battery voltage. An Optimax will not start if the battery voltage drops below 9.6 volts. It will sound like it is fine while spinning over, but the low voltage will not activate the computer.


Hit the nail on the head. After checking voltage, was not getting enough. Changed out batteries and fired right up. Batteries must have been weak for a long time because I haven't heard it fire up like that since new. I did put old batteries on charger before but still was not getting enough volts, even though it read full charge, but the new batteries was the ticket. Old batteries were 3 years old, I guess their charge time was up! Had me stumped though because it was turning over, but seemed like it wasn't getting fuel or fire. Thanks a lot.


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