just started this issue recently where if im in drive position idling for more than 4 minutes the alarm goes off. This alarm is not a beep it goes on forever! I will kill the motor and wait a few minutes and try again as soon as i turn the key on its still going off! The boat is in limp mode i guess, but heading back to ramp with less than quarter throttle after a minute or so the alarm will go off and the boat runs fine. This only happens when i idle for like i said about 4 minutes. The pump is new too. Is this a overheating issue? There is good water pressure coming from pee hole too. What do you think the problem could be. Thanks

Do you have plenty of oil in it? Oil alarm?

I had this issue with my VMAX when I got a new lower unit, took it to the shop a number of times before it got fixed. Could be a clogged water line that needs to be blown out, I had this done 3 times but was also the issue that finally resolved the problem. Other things they checked were the impeller, as some aftermarket impeller just dont work. What all did you get done recently? Was it just the pump?

Yes its full that was the first thing i checked

A few months ago it got new pump, took it out then i didnt have water comi g out pee hole so it went back to shop and they just pushed a wire through. It worked for about a hour then water stopped flowing so i did it and thats fixed now. My first thought was impeller but its new. I think i will take all line out and flush everything and i just bought a poppetvalve so i will change that out too

I had the same thing happen to mine. It's probably leaking water somewhere at low RPM. Mine was twofold. I was getting a warning alarm at low idle especially once the water temps and air temps started to rise. As long as I would run higher RPM than just idle it was fine. We finally identified a crack in the block and water was leaking. There wasn't a way to fix it beside replace the block. It was either rebuild motor then or run it until I finally needed to rebuild it later.

I ran it for a about 3 years like that. It finally blew at the end of February. However, when they were rebuilding it they also determined that the water pressure send tubing had cranked and was leaking additional water. I did notice additional water coming from the cowling when I titled up after getting off the lake on recent trips. At that time, I didn't put two and two together.

BTW, water pressure from the pee hole was always fine. Even after I killed a couple of cylinders.

If you blow out all the lines again and it has the same issue, I would check the impeller next. If you lower unit is the same as it has always been (because some aftermarket lower unit have offset screens), then the last thing to check is the thermostat, it could just be false alarms.

I dealt with the issue for 3 months, 2 shops (both of which I trust), and in the end it was just gunk in the lines - over and over again.

I appreciate yalls input its just frustrating that we all have been to shops we trust and nothing works but my debit card lol

May need a full water pump kit. Not just the impeller.

I know nothing about a Vmax but I had the same issue with a Merc and it was a thermostat issue.

What’s your water pressure? You should be 20+. If not, do a complete water pump rebuild. Change everything including the bottom plate. I’ve had similar issues and was surprised how much my pressure jumped up when everything was replaced.

My son has a VMax OX66 that was doing this. It was due for a service so we replaced the impeller. Still alarmed when idling after impeller change. We then replaced the poppet valve and that solved the problem. I am not a vmax expert by any means. My son bought this boat used and it is the only 2 stroke VMax I have ever been around. Not sure how similar the VMax OX66 is to your particular model. Probably worth looking into though. It's a cheap part. Little tricky to replace because it's in a tight spot.

Poppet Valve.....same thing happened on my 150 VMax 2-stroke.

When the alarm goes off, feel the water coming out to see if its very hot. If its not its the poppet valve not opening

Poppet Valve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQC-fSia18Q