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Couldn’t leave well enough alone, now I have gauge problems.


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Hi all.    I think I may have screwed something up on account of my OCD.   
 

I’ve got an 02 XTI 23 I picked up last fall.   Been a great boat for us and we’ve put about 100 hours on it.   There were some very minor issues with it that were quickly fixed and I’ve enjoyed improving little things here and there.    The tach didn’t work when I got it but the PP did fine.   I was able to fix that and was pretty happy all gauges worked as they should, except one thing.   The speedometer pickup and adjust switches didn’t work.   Why would I care you ask?   Am I towing competition skiers?   Nope.    I’m just an OCD fool who knows enough to mess it up when I try to fix.    In switching some wires that in my infinite wisdom have surely been attached wrong,  I burned up my speedometer.    Ugh.  Why did I do that?   Why couldn’t I have left it alone?    Well, a generous member here sent me a used speedo with no guarantees of it working.   Well, he was right,  it didn’t work.  That is until after I hooked it up to see that it DID work fine until it suffered the same fate as my previous one!     Seriously.  What the hell is wrong with me?    Well, as if that’s not enough.  I now have a gauge cluster that randomly does a reset, my PP screen has started to go on the fritz, and occasionally when I start the engine, I get some very fast cutouts of the starter but it does start.   I did cover all of the open connections of the speedo adjust switches with heat shrink so they are 100% isolated off the switch.     I’m thinking I may have a ground problem but I think it’s time to consult the professionals since I am clearly not one.  
 

thanks for any suggestions.  

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Gauges operate correctly (except speedo which is my doing) but they will randomly go through a reset.     Also, when I star the engine,, I’m getting the solenoid clicking while the starter is engaged. It’s very quick but noticeable.    All of this started after I fiddled with the speedometer adjust switches which I do not need whatsoever. 

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Have you load tested the battery?  Also, the random reset suggests loose connection, bad ground, etc. so clean and tighten every nut and bolt  and wire you can find under the dash.  The buss bar is a notorious source of issues.  Dielectric grease is your friend.

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There is a couple online fuses that power the gauges under the dash. On my boat the holders had broken and the fuses would lose connection randomly. May want to check that.

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3 hours ago, ROFF said:

Hi all.    I think I may have screwed something up on account of my OCD.   
 

I’ve got an 02 XTI 23 I picked up last fall.   Been a great boat for us and we’ve put about 100 hours on it.   There were some very minor issues with it that were quickly fixed and I’ve enjoyed improving little things here and there.    The tach didn’t work when I got it but the PP did fine.   I was able to fix that and was pretty happy all gauges worked as they should, except one thing.   The speedometer pickup and adjust switches didn’t work.   Why would I care you ask?   Am I towing competition skiers?   Nope.    I’m just an OCD fool who knows enough to mess it up when I try to fix.    In switching some wires that in my infinite wisdom have surely been attached wrong,  I burned up my speedometer.    Ugh.  Why did I do that?   Why couldn’t I have left it alone?    Well, a generous member here sent me a used speedo with no guarantees of it working.   Well, he was right,  it didn’t work.  That is until after I hooked it up to see that it DID work fine until it suffered the same fate as my previous one!     Seriously.  What the hell is wrong with me?    Well, as if that’s not enough.  I now have a gauge cluster that randomly does a reset, my PP screen has started to go on the fritz, and occasionally when I start the engine, I get some very fast cutouts of the starter but it does start.   I did cover all of the open connections of the speedo adjust switches with heat shrink so they are 100% isolated off the switch.     I’m thinking I may have a ground problem but I think it’s time to consult the professionals since I am clearly not one.  
 

thanks for any suggestions.  

Try the NL2  GPS  thing. Otherwise what did it do to make you think it burned up?

smoke, smell? Zap sound?

Absent some clear  indication it got smoked, there is a good chance that the MDC has been injected with water by the pitot tubes and the gauges are ok

Edited by Bozboat
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10 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

If the speedo(s) smoked AND the MDC, this is a great time to go old skool analog.

So many things I have done in wrong order. Absolutely would go the mdc replacement with something else option. Unfortunately that was not available or I was not aware of that option 8-9 years ago. 

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1 hour ago, Bozboat said:

So many things I have done in wrong order. Absolutely would go the mdc replacement with something else option. Unfortunately that was not available or I was not aware of that option 8-9 years ago. 

Yeah, it just took a while.  My guess is that shortly we will see a full retrofit kit for those atrocious touchscreens.  The new stuff is pretty amazing. GPS, analog, etc.

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4 hours ago, tbullard said:

There is a couple online fuses that power the gauges under the dash. On my boat the holders had broken and the fuses would lose connection randomly. May want to check that.

When we got our boat the gauges would die and reset often. It turned out to be one of the 2 inline fuses under the dash. 0.75 amp and 2 amp 

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Ah yes.   Forgot to add that I did smell the telltale smell.  Both Speedo’s have that smell.   I’m familiar with it.    
 

MDC is fine for the cluster, tach and I presume speed.     Just the intermittent reset it does then back to normal.    I’m pretty sure there’s a short somewhere.    Caused by my fiddling.  
 

everything was perfect before aside from the speed adjust.   

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Your PP speed comes from a paddlewheel installed through the hull unless it's Stargazer, in which case you have a GPS puck hidden somewhere.  If you have the combo tach/pp gauge, you don't have Stargazer.

Unless you have a failing key switch (unlikely), you must have a loose connection somewhere.  As others said, check grounds well.  Check all terminals on the back of the key switch.  Check your lanyard connections are snug and the button is depressed completely.  Check the positive stud on the starter and the negative stud on the engine block.  Check both battery connections, then disconnect them, sand them clean, and re-tighten.

As for your issue with speedometers, if just the speedometer is frying but your tach and multi gauge are fine, you may have a weird short in the MDC speedo circuit.

Edited by UWSkier
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