Trojan Boat Forum

with the instruction of a MUCH MORE experienced boater/mechanic type person than i, i changed out my tachs and temp gauges on the bridge yesterday. we started it up, and all seemed to go fine.

however, this afternoon i took the boat out for a short romp, and the temp gauges didn't appear to budge at all. nada, zip.

i went downstairs once back at the dock, and the starboard gauge was waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy over there....just about at 200. (the port gauge is bad which i was going to replace this weekend). i've never seen my gauges get past mid point..so either my starboard engine was really overheating (although, when i touched it with my bare paw, it didn't seem too hot, nor did the exhaust steam more than usual when underway), or my lower temp gauge is funky now as well.

i guess my questions are: 1. are there fuses which affect the bridge gauges? 2. could i have mucked up the lower helm gauges when installing the bridge gauges?

first thought i had was wiring. but the guy who installed the first one of the tachs and temp gauges (i followed his lead and installed the second of the sets) triple checked both his work and mine and said it was okies. so, what gives?

i want your old guages if you are throwing them out

did you also replace the sending units for the guages? what brand of guages did you install? double check your wiring and the grounds

The gauges are designed to be two in parallel? If they are the type that are for single display you will get what you saw. Disconnect the lower helm gauge and see if the upper works correctly.

TrojanF32 wrote:The gauges are designed to be two in parallel? If they are the type that are for single display you will get what you saw. Disconnect the lower helm gauge and see if the upper works correctly.

Its the sender that are made for dual or signal gage use . But the gage must be matched to the sender and if its the wrong type gage/ brand up top it can effect the lower gage as can miss wiring it .

I would disconnect the new gage and see if the lower reads correctly

the down side to dual station helm when replacing use the K.I.S.S. and replace all of. sender and all 4 gauges

as i had THE wife with me today, i only had time to run by and turn the engines on to check the gauges when i know what the reading should be...i.e., cold.

i cranked the engines, and sure enough, the starboard gauge...the one which was reading wayyyyyyyy hot, was already up to almost 180...in other words, it wasn't even close to be accurate.

upshot is i know something went goofy after we installed the gauges on the bridge. whew...at least i know the engine wasn't overheating...so that's something.

hopefully we'll get it resolved tomorrow.

Most likely issues would be wiring problems or gauge mismatched with sender. What make / model of gauges did you remove, and what did you replace them with ?

earlier i asked that too but i think he's ignoring me. maybe you will have more luck captainmaniac

g36 wrote:earlier i asked that too but i think he's ignoring me. maybe you will have more luck captainmaniac

you caught me! i was going to lure you into a sense of security...ala he's not gonna bug me anymore...then YOU'D forget about me. then, i was gonna sneak up there and snag your step and rear deck enclosure, and bimini, and you wouldn't have had a clue who did it.

oh well, so much for that plan.

the guy who helped with the gauges called me this moring on the way to work, actually, and said he'd found out what it was...and yep, it's the newer gauges with old sending units not working together. he's going to have to order the units and hopefully will have it all fixed up by the weekend.

i must runneth before my bosseth walks into the office and sees me mucking about.

make sure you get the senders to go with the dual stations and you will have to change the other helm gages to match