[Fr. Frank]

Try a stator test. I had an '88 Johnson 225 that would run great for a little while, then suddenly the horn would bleat twice, and it would drop back to a max of 3800 rpms. Shut it down, let it cool off, and it would turn up to 5200 normal max for a short while, then repeat the offense.

After lots of carb and fuel work, we began checking the electrical. One day, I replaced the stator with a known good one, and the problem disappeared. The old stator tested good. So for giggles the mechanic stuck the old stator in an oven and heated it to 250 degrees. Suddenly it tested bad. Cooled off, it tested good again. Go figure. We found the problem by accident after over $1000 spent searching for the problem cause.

Still no idea why it would bleat the horn twice (which I was told is s'posed to be oil injection pump failure warning) and still run 3800 rpms. If the oil pump failed, it was s'posed to cut back to a max of 900 rpms according to the mechanic. I just figured it was an OMC.