Speedometer / Water Leaking while on plane ?????

[Donewright]

Greetings,

Took my 1990 Astro bass boat boat out yesterday and, while on plane, water started rapidly dripping from under the dashboard. I think the water is coming from the speedometer tube. It's kind of hard to lie under the dash and drive on plane, so I am using my best guess. I looked under the dash and verified that the water was definitely coming from the dash components, the water was dripping from the steering box, but I don't think that is where it is coming from. The speedometer is above the steering box and out of easy reach.

After getting the boat back in the garage and really crawled up under the dash, I could see that the rubber tube is the original rubber from 1990 and is pretty loose on the back of the speedometer. So the question is, If the Speedometer end of the tube is not sealed, could water travel all the way up the tube and leak out ? While the water was dripping, I noticed the speedometer was maxing out at 40 mph and I was still accelerating. The water did not leak when off plane.

Any one else have this happen? If water reached the speedometer, would it ruin the speedometer ?


Thanks,

 

[guyjg]

Remove the hose from speedo and plug it. Take it for a run to see if it leaks. No leak? Replace hose or just the end using a plastic coupler found at most auto parts stores.

 

[Donewright]

Thanks for the advice. I'm a couple hours from the lake, so I'll have to test it creatively. Perhaps I'll see if I can blow through the line with my mouth and have somebody just see if the line is leaking at the gauge. I was just curious if it was possible for water to travel all the way up the tube from the lower unit to the dash. My gut tells me, yes!, because a pressure is being created by the water, so if there is no air in the line to compress and just an open end, then the water will travel all the way through the tube to the dash and out onto my lap.