? for Jim Lively

[Rob LaMoy]

Jim,
I just want to say that it's good to have you back. Hope you and your family are doing ok. My question is about my GT150 again. My tech found that the tach didn't work because it needed a new voltage reg. He said I could use it for the weekend just so long as I didn't push the boat hard since neither of us knew where it was running at on the tach. So I ran this weekend, and it ran great. I kept it under 45mph, which this motor wasn't even working hard. A couple of times if I tried to surpass 45mph, the boat would do it no problem, and rather quickly I might add, but it the motor would begin to chirp or squeak. It's hard to explain the actual sound, but as soon as I dropped below 45mph, it would stop. Any ideas?
thanks,
Rob

 

[Jim Lively]

Rob,

Thanks for the well-wishes.

What your most likely getting is a feedback through your alarm system from the bad voltage regulator. In most cases, your mechanic is right. Running it with a bad voltage regulator doesn't really hurt anything. It just won't charge your battery and the tach won't work. On the other hand, in some instances, the regulator isn't completely burned up and will pass some really funky voltages to the electrical system.

I wouldn't run it anymore until you get the regulator replaced. Once that's done, the funny sounds should go away.

Jim

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Thanks Jim. I'll let you know the outcome.
Rob