Tach not working

[J&K]

My tach is not working.
Does anybody know if you hook up a tester to the gray wire will it flash with the rpm signal?
I have power to gauge and good ground
So far I have tried with a light tester and a multi meter, and no sign of a pulse or signal.

I was hoping it was just a dead tach but not sure now , nobody really can say one way or other and the merc mechanics are keeping it close to there hearts.
2003 larson V6 MPI

 

[Nandy]

Re: Tach not working

If you hook your voltmeter and check for ac you should see some. However I dont know what value you could see...

 

[J&K]

Re: Tach not working

no reading in ac or dc?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Tach not working

JK, You might identify your motor. Sterndrives take the tach signal from the ign coil hot primary connection. Outboards take the tach signal from the AC side of the stator. Since the coil on an sterndrive is pulsing DC, you should see some reading on the AC scale of your multimeter. Ditto for the stator coil. No signal means you have a break or short in the signal wire.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Tach not working

Sorry about the delay. Like chris states, you should be able so read some ac no matter what motor you have, afaik. It does sounds like you are either connecting the wrong point or the cable is open. If you can tell us what is your tach model/manufacturer and what is your power plant it will make it easier to troubleshoot. If you will, use part of that info in your title. For example, "Teleflex Tach not working, Evinrude 70 hp" That will bring this post to the attention of members familiar with this setup. Then you can be more specific about your set up in the body of your thread.
Is this an existing installation? Sounds to me like it is. Let us know.
At this time the troubleshooting will be to check the cable to make sure is not open. If the tach was working before either your cabling gone bad or the tach died. Since you dont have signal at the tach I will suspect your cabling.
If this is a new install and you installed the cable then you need to check for pulses at your power plant to make sure you are connected to the right point.
Either way, if you can check for pulses at your connection point at your power plant you can always run a temporary cable direct to the tach and see if it works. It will help you much if you have the diagram of your power plant electric system.
Good luck!

 

[J&K]

Re: Tach not working

I finally got serious and tested the gray wire and found a 15 ac volt signal with my multimeter.
So got a new tach from Larson dealer
All is good
now we just need some SUN

Jeff