Long story short, bought this boat and almost immediately ended up replacing the motor. 4.3 Mercruiser. Alpha 1 Gen 2.
Upon getting the boat back. hooked it up to the hose in the yard and noticed tach and temp gauges were not working at all. Turned our thermostat sending wires were backwards, switched them around and temp gauge worked again.
Still no tach but wanted to get the boat on the water and make sure she ran ok so I took her out and everything seemed ok for about a half hour and then suddenly gauges went berserk. PSI went from 40-80, temp suddenly maxed out, fueled went from 1/2 tank UP to 3/4 tank. It scared me a bit and I shut her down right away. Then noticed that 3 of the gauge needles were still bumping and wiggling even with the boat turned off so I figure there is possibly a loose wire or a ground issue somewhere? Started her back up and headed back to the dock, halfway there the gauges went back to "normal" (still not 100% functional but reading normal temp and PSI at least).
So I've got 2 issues:
1. How do I troubleshoot my tach?
2. How do I troubleshoot this apparent wiring/ground issue?
Upon getting the boat back. hooked it up to the hose in the yard and noticed tach and temp gauges were not working at all. Turned our thermostat sending wires were backwards, switched them around and temp gauge worked again.
Still no tach but wanted to get the boat on the water and make sure she ran ok so I took her out and everything seemed ok for about a half hour and then suddenly gauges went berserk. PSI went from 40-80, temp suddenly maxed out, fueled went from 1/2 tank UP to 3/4 tank. It scared me a bit and I shut her down right away. Then noticed that 3 of the gauge needles were still bumping and wiggling even with the boat turned off so I figure there is possibly a loose wire or a ground issue somewhere? Started her back up and headed back to the dock, halfway there the gauges went back to "normal" (still not 100% functional but reading normal temp and PSI at least).
So I've got 2 issues:
1. How do I troubleshoot my tach?
2. How do I troubleshoot this apparent wiring/ground issue?