2018 df30 overheat.

[oldaddy1961]

took the motor out for its initial run. let it warm up for 4-5 minutes. got out of the idle zone and gave it 1/2 throttle felt ok. gave it full throttle to plane it, and it felt weak. looked around and the overheat light was on.
had decent stream from the telltale.checked the intakes...clear. looked at the manual,said to let it idle in neutral to see if the light goes out...it did not. i did not get a warning buzzer.
just a constant light. the water level was well above the water pump.
the throttle was governed like the manual said it would be with the light on..
i never had this light come on while i was running it in the barrel at home.
no other lights were on. can a trouble code be read for this.

any ideas? ......................the lake water was 79 degrees if that makes any difference

thanks.

just found out that the temp light stays on always when the key is on.....engine not running.
that being said...maybe it "was" on when i was running it in the barrel. and i didnt notice it..remember... it was not peeing the first time i ran it due to low water level in the barrel.
surely 15-20 sec of running like this would not turn the light on.

what would make it stay on?

[2014DF25ARS]

Is your motor remote controlled, or tiller steer? I have a DF25ARS, which is essentially the same motor as the DF30A. (The "R" in the model # means mine is remote controlled.) I do have the benefit of an SMIS gauge connected to my motor, which displays messages and error codes, etc if something is wrong with the engine. And displays engine temperature.

I just checked my motor, and I see that when I turn on the key (without starting the motor), all three LEDs light and the remote control (throttle lever) beeps continuously for approx. 2-3 seconds, then the LEDs go out and the beeping stops. The user manual says that on a tiller model, the LEDs should light for 3 seconds when you turn the key, then the LEDs should go out after 2 seconds. So if your LEDs do not go out after you turn the key ON (not START), then I'd say something is wrong with the wiring etc., and it may have nothing to do with the actual engine temperature.

Does only the TEMP light stay on, or all three?

My engine did start overheating when I had about 125 hours on it. It would overheat when idling, but then cool down if I increased the RPMs. I removed the impeller and found the tip broken off one of the impeller blades, which I assume is related to the fact that I ran it dry for about 30 seconds in a barrel when it was new. There are photos of my impeller in another of my posts on this site. When the engine overheats, it will go into "limp" mode and be limited to idle speeds.

These are 3-cylinder engines, and I believe when the engine controller wants to limit the RPM, it does it by killing either spark or fuel (or both?) to one of the three cylinders. Same as when you over-rev the engine. When this happens, my engine starts running very rough. I had expected that it would just run slowly, but instead it runs very rough at any throttle above idle speed (1500 RPM and above, I think).

The user manual says that when the overheat system is activated, the motor controller will reduce the RPM to 3000. If you continue running the motor, it will automatically shut down after 3 minutes.

Your dealer (or someone with an SDS kit) can plug into the engine and see if any overheat conditions have occurred.

[Harper]

Sounds like it's likely a temp sensor gone bad. Most electronics items that fail do so early in their life. Since your DF30 is pretty new that would be my guess. Will take some further investigation, though.

[oldaddy1961]

sorry to waste everyone's time.
i found out that i ran a screw thru the main harness behind the throttle control side panel, and grounded the wire for the overheat light.
as soon i removed the screw the light went out.
took the boat back out today, no light on and it runs great. fishin' sucked though

[Moonlighter]

Might want to repair that wire, if not already done!

Ypu don’t want any moisture to be able to get into it and gradually corrode!

[oldaddy1961]

oh yeah..fixed it as soon as i saw it.