Looking at installing some new dash gauges

[Al Gagnon]

Looking into installing digital gauges on the dash. port temp dial fluctuates (maybe bad ground)and the stbd reads Hi. I already changed out the senders. John Bensen said get the ohm reading on the senders and match the VDO digital gauge, that matches the sender. He said maybe Speedo tach is out of business. Anyone hear if they shut down or moved and or who would be the VDO reps in San Diego. Those guys were good at answering the questions on gauges. Just changed out main bilge pump and bothfrwrd and stern float assemblies, bilge breaker and all the wiring. New bilge switches replaced. They are a hair bigger so had to file out the previous cut outs. Hot weather has sure helped me to lose some excess pounds. Hopefully take out the boat again this weak for an other shake down. John said the engines should run at 180. I thought they were running at 205. All water stuff has been changed, rotted out etc. Not sure what would cause th estbd engine to overheat or run hot at WOT. Old engines, I dont rung them over 3200. Work fine at that speed. Some people say I should open a deisel up once in awhile to blows out carbon, etc.

[NoSlack]

There are a million things I'd do before I bought new gauges.

Verify what temperature the engines are running at and compare that to the gauges. There are some hand held temp guns around that you can point at the housing the temp sender is in, and get a reading. Do you know any air conditioning contractors, they might have one you can use.

Find the loose or bad connection on the fluctuating gauge (on the engine, gauge or harness).

In the past I've drained some coolant out so I could pull the sensors. Once you have them out, hook the wires back up. If they have two wires each the next test is a lot easier. If they have one wire you need to run a wire from the base of the sensor back to the block to get it to read when it's removed from the engine. Boil a pan of water or use a hot plate in the boat to heat the water. Hang both sensors in the water so the wires are above the water level. If you're using a hot plate, start heating the water with a cooking thermometer hanging next to the sensors. Stir the water so the temp is even and see how everything compares to the cooking thermometer from 150 on up to 200. This will give you a good health check on the gauges and sensors. If you can verify the gauges are accurate with this test, you don't need to use the temp gun. Once you know the gauges are correct you'll need to start looking for the reason one engine is running hot.

Raw water pump impeller, on engine circulating water pump impeller, thermostats, heat exchanges need a good cleaning, to much prop on one engine and the list goes on and on.

Mike

[Al Gagnon]

Thanks for your input Mike. These are the things I have done, but not recently, on both engines.. Replace both engine sensors. Verified voltag was good at the gauges. Traced all wires and could not see anything loose, except port engine sender was lose, surprised I did not lose any antifreeze. I recently replaced raw water impeller, rebuilt the fresh water pump, hot tank and rodded the heat exchangers, I have a heat gun because Imy trade is HVAC, I am going to verify temps in and out of exchangers . I will have to use the heat gun on each engine and write down the rpms and the temps on the engines in various spots and maybe I can idedntify were the hi temps might be generated. I am sure I can figure out what the problem is it is just having someone with you , whjile the boat is in the water and someone is running the engines throgh tghere paces. Any advice is always appreciated Mike
.

[NoSlack]

Sounds like your on the right track. Knowing those gauges are close to actual temp is a great piece of mind.

When you use the heat gun, shot the area as close to the sensors as you can and see how close that is to the gauge readings.

Mike