Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

[pjeffries]

I just had my engine top end redone and now the gauges don't work. The shop admitted they have NO knowledge of the VDO gauges. They were working when it went in. They have checked and there is power at all the right places on the connector under the dash. Is there a breaker or something that could have been missed, or something that was not attached back on the engin when they had it down?



This is a 2000 Four Winns with the VDO instrument cluster.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

Pretty obvious they did not connect something back up at the motor.
They knew nothing about it but do rebuilds?....I would be ticked off..

 

[pjeffries]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

They just had not run across the VDO gauge cluster before. Still looking at ground and power to the cluster.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

Ayuh,... The gauge cluster has Nothing to do with the sending units on the motor...
Other than they gotta be hooked up...
Are the gauges powering up,..??

 

[pjeffries]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

I am done for the night but here is what we did. I believe the instrument cluster was sent by previous owner to CDI Electronics and had a ground wire added to the circuit board (which from my research is one of their fixes). That ground was directly grounded to the engine. I checked for conitnuity and it is fine. There is battery power at the # 23 and switched power at # 22 as it is supposed to have. The gauges ae not powering up at all. I checked the oil sending unit and the water temp and they are both hooked up.

I have the gauge cluster out and am preparing to send it to CDI tomorrow. don't know what else to do.

 

[6meter]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

I had heard that VDO is out of business so thats why they don't work .................lol
You got some wire loose or missing, or it got shorted out.

 

[boat127]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

check to ensure all your battery cables are hooked up to the battery.
chack the main harness plug on the engine the one the boat harness connects to. and check your connections on your ignition switch

 

[pjeffries]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

Went over all of that twice. I have power up to the connection on the panel everywhere I am supposed to, both battery and switched. hard to believe it is a coincidence that the cluster goes just when the engine went too! 75 bucks to get the panel checked at CDI so going that route.

A day in the life of a boat owner . . .

 

[pjeffries]

Re: Four Winns VDO gauge cluster

I have the option to have CDI electronics install a new board in the VDO cluster for four hundred dollars in 10-15 days, or I can wait until gauges become available from Four Winns They will not give me or one of their dealers a date when the gauges will be available to sell me. The new gauges are 645 dollars.

Any suggestions???