Speedo Tach have gone motionless

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Steveiobst

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Working on my boat this weekend. Ran some stale gas ended up fouling my plugs. While testing the new plugs noticed that both my Speedo and Tach have stopped moving. Got out my multimeter and checked the fuses. Then on the speedo I checked the power, ground and signal wire. When spinning the speedo I was getting voltage reading ~5.5-8.5Vdc. I beleive all is well with the speed sensor but the gauge will not work. The tach also does not work. There is power to the tach and I don't see any issues electrically for the tach. All other gauges are working, as well as lights. Battery voltage is perfect. Does anybody have any input on what is going on or do I need to spend the $600 to replace them? Thanks
 
Try removing the harness where it meets the back of the gauge cluster. Check for any corrosion or loose wires.
 
Try removing the harness where it meets the back of the gauge cluster. Check for any corrosion or loose wires.

If the signal is making it to the back of the gauge measuring off the posts of the back of the gauge could there still be corrosion down the harness?
 
You could be getting a weaker signal than needed. I've read several threads where people experienced similar issues and many times, simply removing and cleaning the connections and re-connecting everything seems to have helped.
 
I just experienced something like this while winterizing my 200 speedster
I popped the rear seat bucket off(Sbd side as that was the side that failed)
and with fuse cover off ran my fingers across the fuses to make sure they all were set while hitting the starter button.
1st Fuse I touched on end made it work then it stopped and reseting the fuse fixed it!

it knocked out the tach, engine check light was on, beep was intermittent...What a fickle thing that fuse block

Ive had previous fail issues with fuses in other locations as well, seat reseat...fixes multitude of failures! GIVE IT A TRY!

theres a block behind ea seat bucket on my boat for each side
 
Tested gauges with my electrical engineer at work. He tested voltage varied signal channel cannot get gauge to respond. Went and bought aftermarket tach today wired it up plugged in the fob and gauge zeroed out then started and RPM working fine. My gauges are dead. Talking to Faria tomorrow to see if they still rebuild this gauge $100 a piece but much better than the $350 for replacement. If Faria doesn't repair this gauge anymore I am going to cut open the gauge and have my electrical engineer see where the failure is. Fix it if we can then plastic weld the assembly back together. I will post whatever happens so I can pay this issue forward.
 
Have you tapped it hard? I find if my boat isnt out for a month the tacs get a little sticcky and tapping them makes them read right until they get about 15 minutes on them...Just a thought, SPeedo does same thing, like the pivot for the needle needs some lube
 
Ok guys. So I have a great success. First I called Faria, they have a gauge repair. After talking to their guy he said you send them your gauges and they rebuild. He said they take your faceplate and needle and install them onto brand new gauges and you get a 3 year warranty on that gauge, this is $100 per gauge. I asked him if it was ok if I took the bezel off and tried to fix my gauge before I sent it in, knowing all that was critical was the faceplate and the needle.

So now I'm on the project of dissembling the gauges. Taking the bezel off was easy if your patient. I used a 10mm combo wrench and used the curve of the head of the wrench to pry up the bezel slowing working my way around. Onece this was removed you have access to the gauge pull the needle off (this took more force than anticipated, be careful). Once the needle is off take off all the nuts on the posts behind the gauge and the board inside comes off. I noticed immediately that all the heads of the post bolts had green brass corrosion. I used 1000 grit sandpaper to clean the contacts on the board. I used a stainless steel brush wheel on a drill to clean the corrosion off the bolts. I then noticed other corrosion on the board so cleaned all surfaces with cotton tip and alcohol. I used a 12v supply to test the gauge. I placed the needle on gently so I could verify movement easier. After the cleaning the gauges both worked!!! I then put the gauges back together using channel locks and a piece of rubber to protect the bezel while re-crimping it back on. Reinstall I to the boat verify all and works. Saved myself $200. If they go out again this year I probably will just have them rebuilt by Faria. Anyway I hope this helps anyone with similar issues.
 

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