Trouble with gauges

[SkifferJim]

I have an DLX a little over a year old. The gas and the voltage gauges have stopped working. I'm not too worried about the gas gauge but I an wondering if the battery is bring charged. I looked for a short or loose connection but didn't find any problem. Any suggestions???

[sportskiff]

I am looking to "improve" what shoddy gauges I got in the boat, "stock"=cheeeeeep , my fuel gauge quit 3'd time out. That and I shure can put a stero in the dash when the tach,speedo,fuel,volt leave.
Reggie

[Harry]

I would take a 12 volt test light, and with the key on and the test lead grounded to a good know source, (AKA) neg battery post, test the hot wire going to each gauge. If you get light you know the hot feed wire is working.

If it is, I would then try running a temp wire from the neg battery post to the GRD side of the gauge and see if this makes the gauge work, if it does, there's the problem. If it doesn't, and the hot wire and the GRD wire is good,(and we now know they are, cause we just tested them,) the gauge is bad.

I will go out on a limb here and say it is a loose, corroded , or bad GRD wire. It is probably a common GRD feeding both the gauges. If you have more then these 2 gauges and the others are working, it could be bad between the ones that are working and the one's that are not......

Also be sure to check for a good clean battery connection.

Does this make any sense ?

[Harry]

Another thing,

Something could be loose at the ignition swicth, But I would try the other tests first as they would tell you if it is indeed getting 12 volts with the key on....

[Fillet1]

The gauges jump the leads from one to another. So if its the fuel and voltage gauges, check the connections on the speedo or what ever is in line before it. Also, check that none of the ring connectors have moved and are contacting other connections. If this is the case, you will likely have a blown fuse in the holder under the console.

Right now I have an issue with the fuel gauge. It goes all the way to full all the time. I havent had time to monkey with it but IMO I dont need a fuel gauge anyway. Its likely the sending unit or one of the wires to the sending unit.

I think most of the gauges are completely uneccessary on the skiff. Unless you have an alum tank, you can see how much fuel you have. A MPH gauge is uneccesary if you have a GPS. Voltage is also displayed by a GPS.
All you need is the tach with the idiot lights. I could have used all that extra console space to flush mount the radio, gps and stereo.

[sportskiff]

Hey Fillit1,
012 012 012 012 30??
Reggie

[Familymanof5]

AHHHHHHHHHHH The piece of mind knowing exactly how much feul you have. My prosport prokatt guages never worked from day 1. I bought the boat brand new and they could never get the guages working. I got sick of the new boat in the shop every week so I decided to live with it. When I got myy CS I wanted the biggest tank I could see through for that exact reason.

GL

TOM

[Willie]

Hey guys, I have an 18 gal aluminum tank and a stick :o marked :P 1/4 :( 1/2 :) 3/4 and 010 full I trailer it so before I go out I check it, when it gets down around half, I fill er up again. Never was out long enough to go through a tank in a day. 010

[Flipper]

I agree with everyone else, check for a open or loose ground . Flipper