Logo

2006 BF150 Indicators

Robert Pastor

New member
Greetings All,

I have dual BF150's. Everything works perfect on the SB motor. When I start up the port motor, the overheat, and oil lights come on for two seconds go off and the motor runs fine. The ACG amd MIL do not come on at all. Additionally, they don't show on the port digital tach either. I am concerned that I will have no warning should there be a malfunction.

Thanks,
Bob Pastor
 
Well....this could be easy or you have an/a issue/s.

If your 150's are 2004's, then it is possible that the wiring harness did not have the wires in it to connect up that part of the gauges. Likewise, there was very little info published at the time on the digital gauges... they were just introduced....so maybe the cable just did not get connected.

You did not say if they ever worked. I have to assume at this time that they did not...

First, check to see if there is a cable connected to the engine that will pass the light information.

If you look where the wiring harness from the helm goes into the motor, there is a cable about the size of your index finger. If you follow that through the entrance to your motor, the cable should split into two cables. It may also be possible that you have a cable about the same size and a separate cable about 1/4 inch in diameter. You need to follow that smaller cable....it should be plugged into a 6 pin connector....although, there are only three wires in it.

If it is plugged in there, then go to the helm and find the other end of the cable. It may just be a three pin connector there. You are looking for a connector with these color wires....red/blue, white/blue, and yellow/black.

The three pin connector may just not be plugged in under the helm.

Give that a look.

Mike
 
I have two engines. The Starboard engine indicators all work, on the panel as well as the digital gauge. The MIL and ACG lights do not come on when I start the port engine. The ACG and malfunction don't show on the port digital gauge. They are 2006 BF150's
 
Since it did work at one time, here are a couple of places to check for disconnected, broken etc wires.

There is a 4 pin connector (red, yellow, red/blue, and white/blue wires) on a pigtail coming out of the back of the gauge. That is the connector for all the warning lights on the tach. Pull that connection apart and check for corrosion etc. Reseat a couple of times. That connection is part of the gauge wiring harness, which has a 6 pin connector (black, blue, green,red/blue, and white/blue leads) that plugs into the main wiring harness (going back to the motor). Check that connection, also.

Do the same for the connection at the engine that I mentioned in my first post.

If all the connections are good.....hopefully you have a 12v test light or a multimeter. A test light will be easier and quicker.

In reality, you could do this first....if the light comes on, then it is your gauge and you do not have to do anything else.

Connect one side of your test light (or meter) to a +12v source and the other side to either the red/blue or the white/blue lead in the connector that connects to the one on your gauge.

When you turn the key to on, if the light lights, then you have an issue with the gauge...maybe one of its other connections. If it does not, now it is time to start tracing back the motor until you get the two second ground on either of those two wires.

Mike
 
I have some additional troubleshooting information. I have gone through the shop manual and can not figure what could be causing the problem.

1.) Everything works fine on the SB engine.
2.) Port engine starts and runs fine and the Tach works.
3.) buzzer, ACG light, and MIL do not come on when port ignition is turned on.
4.) Port engine data (speed, TTL, MPH, tilt, MPG) do not work on the digital speedometer (31zy3800). SB data shows.

What do all these have in common? Fuses are good.
 
Perhaps you have more than one problem and it's confusing to trace for a common denominator? This has caught me out before. Assuming all the wiring has been checked and exists and this use to work properly you could swap the gauges from port and starboard and see if the gauge issue moves or stays on same engine. It's definitely worth checking the earth and power with a multimeter at several locations behind the gauges and control box while the ignition is on (look at the wiring diagram for what wires are what). In a way you are lucky that you have a good working motor as well so you can compare your observations from your tests with a known good motor, this should help even if you don't know exactly what you are looking for.
 
I find it highly unlikely that two gauges (data link) and the ignition switch assy could all malfunction on the port side. The only commonality that I can see is that the wiring for all of them runs from the ECM. The fault, I am sure, is either in the main engine harness ($600) or something on the engine, possibly the ECM ($350). It's not possible to switch the harness and I am reluctant to start pulling the ECM's. The shop manual doesn't cover the ECM, except how to remove/install it. Does anyone know how to test the ECM?

Bob
 
It seems that the easiest troubleshooting will be to exchange the ECM's of the two motors. If the problem still exists, it must be the harness or the connectors. If the problem goes away, the ECM is faulty.
Herein lies the problem. According to parts lists, the ECM for motors newer than SN#101953 is 34750-ZY6-023, which is, indeed the part number on the malfunctioning motor. The functioning motor, serial number 1201355, has an ECM labeled 34750-ZY6-013. Are these two ECM's interchangeable? I can buy the 013 for a lot less than the 023, but time is of the essence.
 
Yep, swapping the ecm was my next suggestion. I just wanted to start with the easiest tests to help you narrow it down. Sometimes the most unlikely things happen but I'm no expert on your model. Seems like you have the process of elimination all under control, best of luck and merry Christmas.
 
Wow...still working on this problem?

I am not sure if the ECMs are interchangeable. I do not see that one supercedes to the other in the parts program. I would be hesitant to swap them.

You do have a place where much of these come together with 12v on the black/yellow lead behind the switch. When the switch is on, it supplies 12v to all of the gauges through a 10 amp fuse and it also daisy chains from the switch to the warning lights and buzzer. The ECM supplies the grounds to light the warning lights and buzz the buzzer. Since the motor runs good and the ECM supplies different grounds to each of the lights, the ECM would be the very last thing to change.

You can swap the connections to the wiring harness....essentially disconnecting all of the key switch, warning lights, buzzer and gauges from the starboard engine to the port engine. It should just be 3 maybe 4 connectors to swap.

But....check for that voltage first....it is much easier to do.

Mike



Check for 12v on the black/yellow lead at the warning light cluster. If 12v is not there, you will just have to trace it back to the key switch to see where the problem is.
 
I agree, I thought all the grounds and battery+ wires were checked already, if not then definitely start there and trace back to each plug and then to the motor and ecm. Swapping gauges would eliminate them from the equation. You can use a multimeter to look for the light and buzzer signals coming straight out of the ecm too. I originally thought they were the same models and years and swapping the ecm over would be the last ditch effort to remove it from the equation. Obviously not that easy if a direct replacement is not at hand and I don't know if they are interchangeable.
 
I have already checked ground/power. Gauges get power, just no data. As I said, everything works except for the lights and the data from the port engine. I changed out the entire ignition switch panel because the SB ignition switch was broken and a pain to get working. Then MIL and AGC still do not come on when starting. I switched the connectors port to sb and sb to port. The sb MIL and AGC then didn't work. I have pulled/cleaned every connector I could find used dielectric grease and reconnected. This is what led me to the assumption the either the harness or ecm were the culprit. The reason I wanted to switch the ecm's was that it would be easier/less costly than replacing the harness.

I will check the yellow/black ground as soon as it is light out.

I am now faced with another question. If the ECM's (013 vs 023) are not interchangeble and both engines are well past the serial# cutoff, and one engine has the 023 while the other has the 013, is it a problem. I have the maintenance records and the ECM's were never worked on. Both engines were well maintained and lightly used (300 hours in 8 years).
 
MIL lights and AGC lights power gets through separate wire, simply you can check the voltage on this wire,when you on the ignition switch their should be 12V between Y/BL and W/BU,R/BU,this voltage you can check at the engine side and light side, If no voltage at the engine side connector it must be some problem in the engine wire harness or ECM, ECM supply ground connection to this lights.


wajira
 
Last edited:
New update:

The problem has existed since I got the boat. When I replaced the ignition switch panel, it came with a pair of harnesses. I did not use these, but simply connected up to the existing connections. I decided to put them in. On the new harness, the grey lead goes directly to the connection. On the existing harnesses, there are extremely thin wires (white from SB, blue from port) coming from the grey lead that were very obviously put in after market. The grey to grey connector still exists, but has a blue wire coming out of it. I tried to trace them but they disappear into a cable bundle. The only grey wire that I can see in the wiring diagram goes to the tachometer. Why would someone want to run a lead off the tachometer wire?
 
can you post some pic, i think this is something after market wire harness,gray color is for tachometer signal wire, those 4 lights on Honda engines,new modals all 4 lights come with control box,and old modal engine MIL and AGC lights are separate,no any connection with ignition Sw or meters,

wajira
 
Yes, the ACG and MIL lights are part of the ignition switch panel and are functional. I haven't finished checking yet, but the problem may lie in the indicator light harness which goes from the engine to the AGC and MIL lights as well as the digital tach. The fuse at the other end is good. I am going to check for voltage at the panel end of the harness (two 3P connectors) then at the engine (6P connector). That will narrow it down. If it turns out to be the harness, I can get a new one for $40.

Bob Pastor
 
Only thing I can think of as to why one would tap the grey wire is to add a separate engine hour timer (or another tacho?) I did something similar as my engine doesnt come with an hour meter. Just guessing though.
 
Well, changing the harness did the trick, sort of. Thanks for the help. All the lights and indicators come on now for both engines, YIPPEE! I did not reconnect the small blue wire as it just pulled out of the connector. That hasn't seemed to affect anything.

I have engine data screens on my MFD, including a tach, but I don't see how that wire would connect there either. I guess I am just going to have to open up the wire bundles and trace it.

I am still not getting any fuel consumption data from the port engine. This info appears on the digital speedometer which doesn't work either. I don't think the blue wire has anything to do with that.

Anybody know where the fuel consumption data comes from? This includes GPH, MPG. The manual says that both engines have to be hooked up to the speedometer in order for it to work. Since the port engine isn't showing up on the gauge, that makes sense. Try as I might, I can not find any kind of wiring diagram or troubleshooting info for the digital speedometer.
 
Maybe someone out there has a better diagram. For some reason this one got cut off on the left, but most of it is there. Double click on it.
 
I think that might help. This looks like a hookup for a single engine, though. I have two. Is there a diagram for twins?

It looks like the fuel consumption information comes through the indicator harness to fuel pulse 1. Would the second engine go to fuel pulse 2 through it's own indicator harness?
 
Progress is good.

Light blue wire usually goes to trim switch if in the Honda cabling.

Blue is also the conventional color for the lights in the gauges (if something other than the Honda gauge harness was used). It normally loops from gauge to gauge and goes to the nav light switch.....it sometimes is wired to other switched power.

The speed is picked up by either a speedo pickup on the transom or the pitot hole in the front of one of the engine gearcases. A small tube then goes up to the speedometer. Basically, it is measuring water pressure as you move. May be a clogged hole in the lower unit or a kicked hose.

Mike
 
Thanks Mike,

This is a blue wire, not part of Honda cabling, that somebody attached to the tach signal wire (gray on honda cable). There is also a similar white wire attached to the SB tach signal wire.

What reason would anyone have to do that?
 
Looks like it is time to trace....

Do you have an engine synchronizer or something else that needs to sense when the engine are actually running....like an hour meter, as Skronkman suggested?

Mike
 
I believe the Orange wire in the harness on the second engine needs to be connected to fuel pulse 2 on the gauge. Also the black wire if your grounds aren't already common, best to just hook it up anyhow. Pretty sure these are a PWM Pulse from an injector signal. If you know the injector flow rate at the pressure in the fuel line, multiply it by the number of injectors and then multiply it by the "pulse on" percentage then you know your consumption, that's how the gauge does it. Obviously you need to know this for both engines if you want accurate total consumption readings.
 
Hi all,

Has anyone been able to decode the ECM's fuel pulse signal (green wire to speedometer)?

I bought a boat with 2006 BF150s last fall. Over the winter I upgraded all the electronics and added two Noland RS11 converters to digitize certain things (RPM, trim, temps, fuel level, fuel consumption). Late in the project, I learned that the Nolands can't read the Honda fuel pulse signal, they can only read pulses from a flowmeter. So I built a circuit that can convert a PWM signal into a variable frequency, simulating a flowmeter (I was trained as an electrical engineer years ago and felt up to a challenge). Problem is, now that I'm finally commissioning everything, I can't seem to get a readable signal on the green fuel pulse wire.

-My Fluke meter reads 0 volts, 0 Hz frequency, 0% duty cycle on on the green wire, even at moderate load (~2,300 RPM, underway)
-The Fluke meter should be able to read this if its a PWM signal. When building my converter circuit I also built a PWM generator to simulate the engine (with 12V or ground pulses as short as 2-3ms and <1% duty cycle, resembling idle conditions), which the meter had no trouble reading
-Test LEDs in my circuit can be switched on to flash the input and output action, and they show no input
-The wiring between my circuit and the ECM connector is correct and solid, for both engines (and yes, I have the shop manual and have tested the correct pin on the ECM connector)
-Unfortunately, I was so over-confident in my design that I made a big mistake and already sold my digital speedo, so I can't use that to rule out bad ECMs. That said, the speedo worked fine, at least as far as fuel consumption is concerned, last fall before I started this project and I can't imagine that this function would have failed on them between now and then (I haven't done anything to short the green wire to ground or 12v, etc)

My last idea, which hopefully I can test today, is that perhaps the fuel pulse signal is TTL (transistor-to-transistor logic, which was used in the 1980's before modern CMOS technology was prevalent). In other words, I thought it would output 0V with 12V pulses, or possibly 12V with 0V pulses, but perhaps it outputs a current sink instead. Hopefully later today I'll try hooking it up to a crude, weak current source (the middle node of two resistors connected in series between the Black/Yellow ACC wire and ground, forming a voltage divider with a tiny amount of current flowing) and see if the green wire can pull it down to ground.

Otherwise... does anyone know how this works? It would be a shame to capitulate at this point and buy NMEA 2000 flow meters.

Ben
 
Well, I made a voltage divider and weak current source by attaching two ~1k ohm resistors in series between the Black/Yellow wire and ground on the port engine side. The full voltage was ~14.45V when running, and the voltage in the middle of the resistors was ~7V. When I connected it to the green Fuel Pulse signal it dropped down to ~3.1V and stayed there (with minor ripple from the alternator via the divider). So that signal was sinking some, but not all of the current. I think I need to get my hands on another digital speedo to 1) rule out a bad ECM and 2) ensure I'm not missing anything (perhaps the ECM only outputs the fuel pulse signal if it detects other wires are connected to the speedo??).
 
Back
Top