Mystery shutdown
Hello Afourians,
I'm safely back from my little excursion, snugged into my winter slip (I'm a liveaboard) in NH. Here is the update: Engine ran for several hours while anchored and pushed me home through flat seas at 5 1/2 knots for a three hours. Not even a hiccup. Only thing I did was add oil to the fourth line on the old style dipstick and drain the fuel separator bowl (the gas looked clean).
I added oil on the suspicion that the OPSS was possibly being deprived of oil. I had always followed the original Universal recommendations for filling only to the second mark on the dipstick for a horizontal engine (not installed on an incline), but I share other posters belief that it might be causing the switch to shutdown if deprived of oil on a steep heel. I now have oil filled to the fourth hash mark on the dip stick.-from what I've read here or elsewhere overfill is not much of a risk on these engines.
I still don't know for sure if the oil pressure switch was the cause or not. I think I've at least eliminated oil deprivation to the swich as a cause in the future. If it was the switch though, I don't completely understand how the tach shorted-could a stuttering of the ignition short an electronic tach?
I'd also like to thank everyone for your thoughtful responses. I was in a ticklish spot and all of your input was reassuring as I puzzled over the problem.
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