Troubleshooting help with gauges

Aldoraine

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Joined
Jul 25, 2014
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2
I've been trolling the forums for a bit just looking up stuff when I have a problem on my 1992 Chaparral 1800SL with the 4.3 Mercruiser. In general, the site has been invaluable and I really appreciate all the informative posts. I joined today because after troubleshooting and reading for hours, I'm stuck. The boat sat for a 1.5 years because I'm in the National Guard and I was gone for a while. I've spent the past two weeks cleaning it up and doing maintenance. Well, it cranked fine and ran great. So, that was a great sign. The trim wouldn't go down so I searched the forums, tried some different things and finally got it working. Two days ago I decided to swap out the fuel gauge. The gauges on the boat are the older kind with the "prongs" you slide the wires onto, and the new gauges are the ones with nuts. So, I cut the old connections and added the new ones to the ground, ignition, and sender. I hooked up the ignition and send incorrectly the first time and all the other gauges quit working along with my fuel pump. It doesn't start humming when I turn over the ignition like it used to. I wired up the fuel gauge correctly and it works now but the other gauges and fuel pump are still MIA. I replaced all my fuses, cleaned my battery wires and replaced the terminals but still nothing. I hooked up the old gauge my redoing everything and now it works(doh!) I just can't understand why that one works and the rest don't. Sorry for the long post. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Joined
Feb 17, 2012
Messages
2,906
you should have a breaker on the engine (push button reset) and a inline fuse under the dash near the key. if they are both ok you may have killed a connection. Do you have a volt meter?
It does seem strange that the fuel gauge works as most gauges are daisy chain from one gauge to the next gauge on ignition and ground..........if there was more than one wire to each terminal on the old gauge are you sure that its connected correctly?
 

sam am I

Commander
Joined
Jun 26, 2013
Messages
2,169
This might be needed/help...........I haven't had a chance to look at it and see how much/if it relates yet(maybe latter tonight), just downloaded it and posted, I read your post thou and it could come in handy for someone that might wonder in......You're in good hands now and :welcome: to iboats

Sry, I just HAVE to go to Krispy Kreme's right now, the sign is lit and those warm donuts are calling to me......


1800a.JPG
 

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sam am I

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Jun 26, 2013
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2,169
So..........

The other gauges and fuel pump don't work when the new fuel gauge was installed and was working?

Then the other gauges and fuel pump all go back to working fine(including the old fuel gauge?) when the old fuel gauge is re-installed in place of the new working fuel gauge ?
 
Last edited:

Aldoraine

Recruit
Joined
Jul 25, 2014
Messages
2
So..........

The other gauges and fuel pump don't work when the new fuel gauge was installed and was working?

Then the other gauges and fuel pump all go back to working fine(including the old fuel gauge?) when the old fuel gauge is re-installed in place of the new working fuel gauge ?


No, sorry for the misunderstanding. The old fuel gauge started working after I hooked it back up, but the fuel pump and other gauges are still not working.

I won't have time to work on the boat for a couple of days, but I'm going to test the fuse beside the ignition next.
 
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