2004 BF150 Gauge Replacement

The gauges for my two 150s have been dying one at a time since I bought this boat a few years ago. Port Tilt/Trim and speedo were DOA, then the fuel gauge and starboard tach breifly acting up, then returned to normal.

Most recently the volt meters went. Starboard reading low, now dead. The the port just went dead. Batteries are fine and charging.

I pulled the instrument panel off and tried checking terminals, but i have no idea what terminal is what and decided to enjoy the last few days of my vacation on the boat (with my Fluke) instead. All the wiring looks good: No corrosion behind the panel or in my engine compartments.

I am heading back over T-day and thinking about just changing all of them. I have Faria Analog Gauges and a few questions:
- Are all analog gauges the same?
- Am I safe with any Honda OEM setup.
- Any Faria analog okay? There are a few good ones on ebay.
- Will just any digital display volt meter work? They are kind of cool with the LED bars, and numeric display at pretty reasonable prices.

Or is there a chance I am missing something and there is another problem?

Thanks

I will try to quickly address your questions in order...since I am at lunch

-All analog gauges are not the same. Faria has specific tachs for outboards and others for sterndrives, while Teleflex tachs generally will work with either. Honda trim gauges are different than those used for any other outboard.

-You should be safe with any Honda OEM setup. Allthough, there are a lot of Honda tach's on ebay that can only be used in early model 35HP - 50HP. Any of the gauges listed in this link will work with your motors. http://marine.honda.com/outboards/accessories/gauge-sets

-As I said before, you need to make sure the Faria gauges are for outboards and the trim gauge is for Honda.

-The only digital display that will work with your motor (as far as I know) are the digital ones in the link above. You have too early of a 150 to work with the NMEA 2000 standard.

A couple of other things. Make sure all your gauges are getting 12v. Also, your speedo works off of water pressure, normally picked up from a small hole in the front edge of your lower unit. If there is debris in it, the speedo will not work.

[h=5][/h]Hope that helps

Thanks much for your help as usual Mike. I will get back in about a month with the results.

One thing I did not mention, is that the trim gauge may not work due to the sender being faulty. If you raise your motor up all the way, the trim sender lever is easy to get to. Sometimes it gets stuck or the wires break. Of course, it can also just fail. So it might not be the gauge. See part # 7 http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Outboard%20Engine/2004/BF150A4%20LA%20/STERN%20BRACKET%20%2B%20SWIVEL%20CASE/parts.html

Mike