Link to causes of limp mode in 2005 DF 200

[Xerictime]

I'm new to this forum. Greetings to all and happy to be here. I love my twin Suzuki 2005 DF 200's on my 25' CC Hydrasport. Awesome performance.

I'm looking for a link to info concerning causes of limp mode in my 2005 DF 200 outboards.

---The reason for the need of this info is at idle the the beepers will intermittently come on and the motors will die and on restart they're in limp mode. It runs GREAT when throttled up. The boat sat for 11 months before being run again here in Deep South Texas and had some water in the fuel that my son and I cleared by constantly draining g the water separator/ fuel filters on board while underway. After that they ran great with the exception of during idle. On a hose both engines sound good with no sign of cylinders missing until one will start the alarm beep and the engine heat light comes on. Then the other engine follows suit. Tattle tell water pressure is strong at idle while in the water so water pump pressure isn't suspect and at cruising speeds there are no performance issues.
Anyway, what I'm looking for is a link to a rudimentary checklist of trouble shooting items surrounding limp mode symptoms. --or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[artdf175]

If you are going to do he work on these I can only highly suggest getting the full service manual ..
the book covers the reasons for the limp mode to be activated
it has a list of scheduled maintenance items that need to be checked at what engine hour intervals.
now the water in the fuel can be a big headache
couple of things I can think of.. fuel stabilizer that will remove water
keep changing water/fuel separator with new ones
cleaning the fuel filter-the one inside the cowling before the low pressure fuel pump
did you drain and flush the high pressure fuel pump and it reserve?
could be the fuel injectors are in need of cleaning
when was the water pump impeller replaced?
have you checked the thermostat?
have the valve clearances been checked at regular intervals?
do a cylinder pressure/leak down test.
these are some of the things that come immediately to mind
Art..

[Harper2]

To expand on what Art said, the impellers should be replaced, in spite of your obvervation of adequate tell tale stream. The impellers are more susceptible to deterioration when left sitting, dry, for extended periods than when in use at reasonable intervals. It is not at all unusual to see plenty of water being pushed out the pee tube, and still not be flowing an adequate volume to cool the engine. While it is true that a weak pee stream might give a warning that you might have a problem with the cooling system, the inverse is not necessarily true. An strong tell tale stream is not a reliable indicator of adequate engine cooling (you can have blockages in the water jacket or a bad thermostat causing the engine to overheat and still have a strong stream), so also at least check the thermostats and water pressure valves if the problem persists after impeller replacement. Art is correct about cleaning all the fuel system components, but there is no "stabilizer" made that will restore fuel that has degraded into phase separation.

I don't think you have a fuel problem anyway, based on your description of the limp mode occurrences. The limp mode is likely due to the overheat condition. But without any other codes that might or might not be accompanying the incidents, one can't be absolutely certain.

And as Art said, you'd do well to purchase a factory service manual.

[Xerictime]

Thanks Art and Mike for the perspectives. Last year before I parked the boat in the barn I installed the nmea200 engine interfaces from my engines to my Lowrance HDS10 GenII unit. I forgot about the engine info that can be displayed on screen. It should give me engine temps. I don't recall if if it displays water pressure or fuel pressure. But this info if available should be diagnostic help. ??

[Harper2]

Your HDS unit probably supports the fuel and water pressure, but the Suzuki outboards do not. The only engine info available from your outboards (without added Lowrance sensors) is fuel flow, engine temp (water temp), RPMs, engine trim, and engine hours.

[noelm007]

Without trying to send you off track, you are more or less answering your own question, but then going off in a different direction, the engine is telling you it has a temperature problem, and is alarming and putting the motor into your "limp mode" Fix the cooling problem, whether it be a water pump, the bypass valve or what, but fix it, and lets be VERY clear here, the motor does not go into "limp mode" so you can continue driving to "limp" home, it is telling you by a very noticeable system that something is wrong, and for some reason, you ignored the alarm, do NOT limp home when you have problems.

[artdf175]

You say the alarm goes off when you are on a hose and running both engines
Does this happen also, say at the dock?
There have been some posts where low water pressure from a hose has been a problem - if you are running both engines off the same hose I would suspect they are not getting enough water
Does this problem show if you only run one engine at a time?
You say on a restart it goes into o a limp mode -what action takes it out of limp mode?