Dash Problems

[AndersonSkiTeam]

I have a 2001 Response LX. Quite frequently my dash makes a buzzing sound, the speedo jumps around, and then the whole dash goes dead . Typically happens when I hit a bump and will stay this way until hit another bump or many bumps and then make a buzzing sound again and everything comes back to life. Turning off ignition and restarting does not help. With the bumps I imagine there is a short or lose connection somewhere but I don't know where to start looking or what colour of wire to be looking at ext. Any help would be appreciated. It always seems to happen when I am about to enter the Slalom Course and my wife guesses the speed. Once dash came back to life and showed I was skiing course at 39mph. My next 34 mph pass seemed slow after that.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Just a wild stab here.... but how much experience do you have with boat/car electrical systems? Is taking the boat into the dealer out of the question?

[bigD]

For starters, I'd pull the dash out and check all the connections, then fuse panel, battery.

[JUST-IN-TIME]

that sounds like a bad ground

[AndersonSkiTeam]

Dealer option isn't an option as the closest dealer is a 7hr drive away. Besides, how else am I supposed to spend my weekend while it is to cold to ski if I am not fiddling with my boat.

I'll try pulling the dash. Probably sounds more difficult than what it really is.

I'll check the ground before pulling the dash. Ground should just connect back onto the engine I imagine if like my other boat?

Thanks

[wienrdog]

Grounds should go to ground bus under dash - on hull about where the dash & side panels meet. That in turn should be grounded back to the battery - going thru the ski locker.

Is it the entire dash or just the gauges? The gauges are controlled by a MDC (computer) under the dash that collects all the signals & sends them to the gauges on a shared 5 wire connector.

Could be power to MDC, ground to bus, bus ground to battery. Doesn't sound like it's the entire dash as the ignition is right there too. Good luck & let us know what you find.