Need help

[Robertpel9]

I know this was mvoed to electrical but i am hoping more will see it here and with a long trip planned tomorrow i really need your help

Long story, please bear with me as i need your help

There has only been 1 problem with the 1995 Chris Craft Concept 18 i bought a few weeks ago and that was that the stereoonly worked out of one speaker and you had to push in on the faceplate to get it to do that. I noticed that at top spped water would splash onto my leg under the dash and it felt like it was coming out of the stereo, so stupid me thought it was waterlogged.

Tonight I decided to figure out what was really going on and i wish i never did. Good news is that i found where the water was coming from and i fixed it. It was coming from the tube connected to the back of the speedometer and by attaching it as far up the nipple as it would go everything was sealed and no more water. However in doing that (and i got nothing else wet or loose I am sure of it) but in doing that now most of the other guages are F'ed/ Here is the deal

Before the oil pressure guage worked perfectly, now it reads the same as before when in neutral and idling but under load it pegs out at the max level and stays there

Before the horn button worked fine and the horn blew hard. Now no horn noise and when you push the button it makes all of the lower guages peg out (oil temp, coolant temp, gas, voltage)

Before the voltage gauge would sit right at 14 where it should. Now it jitter around at 11 or 12 and is erratic

Before the trim guage worked perfect and the boat would trim out right about 40% up the scale. Now when the lower unit is all the way down the trim guage is laying on the bottom dead and when i know i have the engine trimmed out for top speed (I can tell by performance and sound and feel) it is only 1/4 way up

Before i had just filled the gas tank tonight at the marina and when it was full (before all of these problems) it looked ont he guage to be about 7/8th full. Now it is pegged full. Maybe this is ok, i dont know as this is the first time i have filled her up but who knows

I am really distraught over all of this. I went thru every guage on the bottom of the dash tonight, they are all dry, all have tight connections, all wiring harnesses look and feel new and tight. I do not know what to do

Please advise, i do not want to get taken to the cleaners for repairs as i am sure something stupid has happened that must be a simple fix, it is not like one guage went bad. The whole things i acting nuts and as you can see from the above all in different ways, some dont work (horn), some are erratic)Voltage), some are wrong (trim) etc

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[fishmen111]

Re: Need help

Seeing as all your gauges are acting up, I would be looking for a loose or coroded ground wire under there. Most boat electronics are fairly water resistent. I am thinking you hit a common ground wire while repairing your pilot tube versus actual water damage.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Need help

ditto, and I would also blow out the speedometer tube, air should be the medium to push the gage not water, better yet replace it, I had a tube failure and the thing will just leak somewhere as it is dry rotted.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Need help

I looked all over down there and everything looks tight and perfect and in new condition.

How can this be this issue though, if you look at the trim guage it still triggers and start to "go up" but it happens much later int he trimming process and is off calibration. Wouldnt a ground issue either be there or not. I can understand that causing jumpy readings etc but if you look at the trim for instance it works smoothly but is just way off.

Also with the oil pressure guage, it reads normal at idle and then is just pegged high when under any load, the horn makes all of the jump to the max spot, etc, they are not just jumping around and are all acting different

I am really ticked about this, i know i am going to be spending a fortune at the marina over something stupid, i have gone thru all of the cabling I can see with a fine toothe comb and everything looks perfect.


Please let me know any further detail that may help, this is driving me NUTS

Thanks,
Robert

 

[fishmen111]

Re: Need help

Robert, this is a long shot but have you put a meter on your 12v supply while running. It probably would not be related to your speedo issue, but if your alternator regulator has fried, I have seen excess voltage (15v+) screw with gauges. Just a thought.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Need help

Waht about the 3-4 harnesses down there. Any chance they are the culprit.

This is really eating me up. I cannot understand the trim one in particular. I could understand a ground being loose causing jumpy readings or something not to work but why would the trim guage still"work" but be WAY off on calibration

Also why would pushing the horn button cause all of the guage to peg out.

Any chance the battery has something to do with this. The first battery i put in when it was new had a bad cell. They put in a new marine battery and new battery cables and until my gauges went nuts yesterday it would sit right at 14 on the voltage gauge on the dash. Now it is a little jittery around 11. Also like i mentioned the oil pressure gauge works fine until i give it some throttle and then it just pegs out.

I know i am a broken record but i do not see anything down there out of whack. I spent hours tightening, etc. Everything was already tight and i cannot find anything wrong. Also the tach and speedo work fine.

I am really confused and frustrated??

 

[Dakota47]

Re: Need help

It might be the horn button grounding everything out..disconnect it and see.

 

[tommays]

Re: Need help

There is generaly a 10 pin plug that allows the motor to be removed without cutting any wires


While they look nice on the outside ALL the guages pass through it and they are allways supect in this type of problem , In the past i have just unpluged and repluged them and resolved this type of problem


If the problem is worse i have used q-tips with contact cleaner to clean the male and female pins

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Need help

There is generaly a 10 pin plug that allows the motor to be removed without cutting any wires


While they look nice on the outside ALL the guages pass through it and they are allways supect in this type of problem , In the past i have just unpluged and repluged them and resolved this type of problem


If the problem is worse i have used q-tips with contact cleaner to clean the male and female pins

I think i have two or three of these, how should i differtiate or do i just need to pull all of them apart

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Need help

OK got home tonight and went to work armed with your info

i first disconnected the horn to take it out of the picture, no difference.

Then i went through every damn wire connection back there and unplugged all harnesses, ensured they were clean and dry and reconnected everything - No difference.

I went back to the fuse panel and ensured everything was connected, no difference.

I then went back to the battery, the cables were pretty tight but i could move the negative cable arounf if i pushed on it so i took everything off the negative post, ensured it was clean and dry and then tightened it down very tight, no difference

I then just went to tighen the positive post cabl on the battery and it was already tight and the POS clamp broke, I will need a new one but this was not the issue anyway

Here is the state of the guages

Tach - perfect (Always has been)

Speedo - Perfect and not leaking anymore

Oil pressure - sits at about 55 when idling, with any engine RPM increase it pegs out to the max reading (80)

Coolant - I think this one is actually working propery although it seems to be reading higher than it used to, at least it is not all over the place

Voltage - Sits pretty steady at 12 jitters a little bit - it used to be solid at 14 when the engine was running (Could all of this be an alternator problem?)

Gas - Pegged at full - i did just put $120 in gas in last night so it may very well be full but i floored it for over 20 minutes tonight and it never dropped at all

Tile - Still off calibration from what it used to be - see top of post

Horn - reconnected after testing all of the above and still not functional.
When you push the button it makes half of the guages peg left and half of them peg right


I am at a loss, i do not want to pay a marina to fix something simple but what else can i possibly do. Please let me know if any of the above is helpful and if anyone has any further ideas. The boat runs perfect but this is driving me nuts. I do not feel ccomfortable useing the boat without a oil pressure or fuel guage

Thanks,
Robert

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Need help

Someone suggested checking the ground wire on your guages or on the panel they ground to. Did you do that? You need to disconnect it, clean the connector and the point at which it attaches until the metal is bright.

Ground problems are the usual cause of erratic guages.

 

[JB]

Re: Need help

Really rude, Robert. This is the third time you have posted this problem and you have posted it in the wrong forum (again). Both are very unwelcome.

We get about 100 requests for help a day on a slow day. You are busting in line and demanding more than your share of attention. Please show some courtesy to others seeking help and the moderator team who try to keep things orderly.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Need help

Agree with JB..

But to put my 2 cents worth in,
You have to be dealing with a ground issue as already stated.
On my ChrisCraft all of the gauge grounds are linked from one gauge to the next in line.So with a bad ground at the dash things are going to act strange depending on how many amps or volts it need to function.
The trim gauge works basically on OHMs but still needs a ground.
Things like the horn pull more amps and need a really good ground to work period.
Find the main ground that supplies the dash and follow it back.Maybe just jump a test ground wire from the battery to the dash ground buss to see.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Need help

Agree with JB..

But to put my 2 cents worth in,
You have to be dealing with a ground issue as already stated.
On my ChrisCraft all of the gauge grounds are linked from one gauge to the next in line.So with a bad ground at the dash things are going to act strange depending on how many amps or volts it need to function.
The trim gauge works basically on OHMs but still needs a ground.
Things like the horn pull more amps and need a really good ground to work period.
Find the main ground that supplies the dash and follow it back.Maybe just jump a test ground wire from the battery to the dash ground buss to see.

The grounds are all linked together on mine as well. I tried to follow them all tonight and they all are tightened down, clean and dry but still no dice.

Is there any sire fire trick to locate the exact culprit i am a real novice here and am a little confused

 

[fishmen111]

Re: Need help

Pick the gauge you know is off the most. Run a ground wire directly from your battery to the gauge. If the gauge responds correctly, you have a broken/corroded common ground wire and will need to run all new wire. If not, I am out of ideas (not that that takes long), other than checking for excess voltage on the positive side.

 

[ovrrdrive]

Re: Need help

I agree with the others. It almost has to be a ground issue. Run the jumper directly from the battery to the dash and tie it in and see if that helps. If it doesn't, I don't know that I wouldn't possibly try a different battery.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Need help

when you guys say run a jumper what kind of wire do i use. Will any wire work (Speaker wire, etc or is there a specific wire i need to do.

I think i understand it now. if i isolate a guage (or a horn, etc) , disconnect the current ground wire from that guage and run a new wire from the ground post of the guage back to the negative terminal on the battery and it functions then i know what the issue is.

Does that sum it up?? Please advise as to what type of wire i ned to try and do this, i would like to keep cost at a minimum as well as if it does not work then it has to go to the marina anyway. Also considering the grounds are linked together for all of these guages how do i determine how to isolate or fix just what is needed??

Thanks for the help i really appreciate it,

Robert

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Need help

You can buy wire at any auto parts store.The thicker the better.Just connect to the negative battery post and run to the dash.
Start testing each thing.I bet it straightens it out...

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Need help

You can buy wire at any auto parts store.The thicker the better.Just connect to the negative battery post and run to the dash.
Start testing each thing.I bet it straightens it out...

When i find one that doing this test "fixes" what is the next step. Am i replacing wire all the way back to the engine or just between gauges, etc. As you mentioned the grounds run from one gauge to the next. If i find i am able to fix the gauge with this extra cable test how do i make that a permanent fix??

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Need help

Run the new ground wire from the battery to the dash. Find out where the original ground connected. Or trace the old ground wire if the test wire fixes everything,Then you know for sure the problem.
For the right price i do service calls...