1200 rpm warning light

The warning light that says to not operate boat if the light stays on above 1200 rpm stays on when the engine is over 1200 rpm. What is the most likely issue and are there possible "false positives" that would cause the light to stay on? Please help brand new boat and I want to get this figured out ASAP. Thanks

That's the Vdrive oil pressure sensor light. If it's on the Vdrive isn't seeing oil pressure. Not really a false positive, but if it's low that would cause a lack of pressure. You want to have that checked out because Vdrives aren't cheap.   

The v drive oil was a little low, got that where it needs to be and the light still is on. I am a little confused, is there a v drive and a transmission? I thought the v drive was the transmission. Please let me know if there is anything else I can try and eliminate before having to drop $ with a professional. Everything else looks great, temp, oil levels, the sound, no weird vibrations or anything.

btw, I have had this problem with the Walter's in the past, does the light stay on all the time or does it eventually go off....this pump on the Walters does not effect operation of the Walter's, it is a lube, cooling pump, and its purpose is just that, it lubes and cools the bearings....I normally put the boat in gear with someone at the helm and crack one of the rubber hoses on the back of the trans to insure oil flow....its not much flow, but the sending unit is pretty sensitive and will fluctuate and creats problems. the biggest thing is if the light goes out, then you know you have oil flow

they are completely seperate units, with their own oil sumps, the front transmission will be a PCM 1:1, that is where you get forward and reverse.
The Walter's is merely a gear connection to get the v-drive configuration, no clutches, just a circulatating pump, as I stated earlier to check if you have oil, you need to run the boat in gear and pop one of the rubber hoses on the back of the Walters and see if you have flow. really when everything is correct you only truly are getting about 5lb.s of oil pressure there.
im going on a Walters call this morning on a 35 carver, not that it matters, but, it would appear to me that your sending unit is acting up

When you say you added oil, did you add pink Dexron III? or 20w oil, and confirm where you put it.

I failed to mention that the 2 bigger lines going into the top of the Walter's are raw water for cooling, dont pop those lines, there should be 2 seperate dipsticks, one for the pcm which takes Dex/Merc and one for the Walter's SAE 30W, that dipstick is on the top cover of the Walter's. actually you could pull the sending unit on the Walters and see if oil comes out there.
the boat i was on yesterday is identical to what you have and it appears to me that the owner stepped on his sending unit and broke it off and the oil pumped to the bildge and smoked the V-drive.
you gotta remember, any time you are adding oil it means a leak, oil doesnt just dis-appear or evaporate, so also if your Walters is low, the oil is going somewhere. its hard trying to convey at this point of what you have going on and i really dont mind taking phone calls 877-369-6693

i really hate to see you get hammered at the dealer, i feel at this point that it may be a pump problem, a relatively inexpensive repair...out of site out of mind,
do you know anyone that could pull the Walters section? this could turn into a 3k repair if not monitered.you dont know the times with the same scenario that i will buy the trans because it was replaced and i find a pin or something like a 5 dollar part from keeping the transmission from working...not saying its a simple repair but........

drtybrdy9 wrote: from discussions with the dealer, i was under the impression that the oil pump was inside the walters. does that sound correct to you?

Yes and the reason Eric asked if you could or know someone who could pull the Walters out. If so, then you could ship it to him. Better than the 3K at the dealer!!! Plus, the dealer will probably "rebuild" the box using Walter's "available only from them super special not made for anyone else in the world" bearings!!!

the dealer called me back, the bearings are shot and there are metal filings in the v-drive. He said that we are looking at $2200 total to get it rebuilt. Does that sound resonable or are we getting screwed?

lets put it this way, on the same trans with replacing 2 gears and all the bearings im normally at 1200.00 total....so you tell me, someones going on vacation with that extra g-note your giving away.
typically i am usually right under a thousand with bearings u-joints.
you'll feel better after a while, its probably a better rebuild because of the price difference

Mason,
Have you used this dealership before? Do they specialize in inboards or even more important V drives? Where are they? I'm also curious if they told you how long the colonoscopy proceedure would take?

We have used the dealership before. They sell new and used inboard boats as well as other boats. Their name is Island City Water Sports located in Cumberland and Clear Lake, WI. In regards to erics question they are sending the walters out to have the rebuild done and there was a couple options. First, they could send ours out and get all the work done and sent back. Second, and they weren't sure if this was possible, they would send ours out and replace it with an already rebuilt Walters, cutting down on the time the boat would be unusable.

I'm guessing its too late to stop the process, but having looked over my Vdrive I think that would be very easy to get out.

Eric, do these things have a life expectancy, or do they just occasionally go out. I hate the light thing on the dash, I'm not sure I would notice right away if mine had a similar issue. It gets your attention at first, but after awhile you don't even notice it. I would rather have one that came on when there were issues.

Spoke with Eric today. The dealer already has taken out the Walters, since he was sending it out to be rebuilt he doesn't really care where it goes. So hopefully today it will be on its way to Eric.