2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

[Moose_25_2500]

2002 Bayliner w/ 3.0 Mercruiser I/O Alpha 1. Tachometer gage not working. Should I replace the gage first? Also do I have to buy it from a bayliner dealer or is there an egual product that will fit? The Teleflex gages get a pretty bad rap on the iboat reviews. Any help would be awesome

 

[achris]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

A few things to verify before buying ANYTHING!

Get a test light or a multimeter and verify you have 12 volts and a good ground on the tacho. Also verify the gray lead is connected at both the tacho end and the engine end. Also verify that there is a good path all the way from the engine end of the gray wire to the tacho end. (sometimes the 10 pin plug for the instrument harness can be a little resistive and the tacho will stop working).

The next question is, what gauges are they? Merc make several different series, and there are a few aftermarket manufacturers... Post a photograph of the instruments and we can tell you what you have.... (BTW, Bayliner don't make ANY gauges, they just buy them, either with the engine or from a vendor, like Teleflex, VDO or Faria)

Chris.....

 

[Moose_25_2500]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

A few things to verify before buying ANYTHING!

Get a test light or a multimeter and verify you have 12 volts and a good ground on the tacho. Also verify the gray lead is connected at both the tacho end and the engine end. Also verify that there is a good path all the way from the engine end of the gray wire to the tacho end. (sometimes the 10 pin plug for the instrument harness can be a little resistive and the tacho will stop working).

The next question is, what gauges are they? Merc make several different series, and there are a few aftermarket manufacturers... Post a photograph of the instruments and we can tell you what you have.... (BTW, Bayliner don't make ANY gauges, they just buy them, either with the engine or from a vendor, like Teleflex, VDO or Faria)

Chris.....

Thanks Chris . I will test the Tacho this weekend and verify the gray lead is connected on both ends as well as take a picture of the gauges. Thanks for the help

 

[Moose_25_2500]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

Thanks Chris . I will test the Tacho this weekend and verify the gray lead is connected on both ends as well as take a picture of the gauges. Thanks for the help

Where exactly does the gray wire attach to the engine? Only with the purple in the plug into the coil and then the lead goes back to the tach. See attached?

 

[achris]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

On the ignition coil are 2 connectors. One goes to the distributor, the other has a purple wire and a gray wire. That gray wire is the one in question.

I would get a multimeter and a long length of wire. Disconnect the gray off the back of the tacho and connect the length of wire to that now freed gray wire under the dash. Run our jumper wire to the back of the boat, near the engine.

Set the multimeter to the ohms (resistance) scale, use the lowest, usually 200Ω, and connect the jumper wire to either of the multimeter leads. Pull the connector on the coil with the purple wire and the gray wire off the coil. Probe the pin connected to the gray wire with the other lead of the multimeter. You should get a very low reading (ideally 0Ω, but in practice you'll see a few ohms. Any more than about 5Ω is cause for concern)....

Chris...

 

[Moose_25_2500]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

Ok. just to make sure ...when you say probe the pin you are talking about the pin in the coil where the gray wire attaches? can I use any low voltage wire? and does the key in the boat need to be turned on or running? thanks

 

[achris]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

No, you are looking to test the resistance of the gray wire between the engine and the tacho. Probe the pin in the connector with the gray wire attached... Key should be OFF....

Yes, any low voltage wire....

Chris....

 

[Moose_25_2500]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

got it . I will report back in the next few days . thanks again

 

[Moose_25_2500]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

Chris. So I followed your instructions and used a multimeter to test the ohms with the jump wire. I had to do it in reverse because my gauge had a 3 prong connector on the back. (2 purple & 1 gray wire) see the attached picture of the 3 studs after I removed the connector. So i attached the jumper wire to the gray wire prong on the connector on the engine side and tested the wire on the gauge side. anyway I got reading like you said from 0.5 to 2.9 and i tested the power as well which come out as 12V. I also attached 2 pictures of the front of the gauge - US Marine is the brand. So what next? Is it the gauge itself?

 

[achris]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

Ok.. So you proved the wire is good and you have 12 volts to the gauge (you checked that against the tacho case, yes?)

If all those things are good, then the most likely problem is the gauge itself. It could also be the connection in the coil itself. I would meter from the pin in the coil that the gray wire plugs into to pin that the purple wire plugs into. Your should read about 1 to 2 ohms.. (I think. Never checked that, just working on the theory of how the circuit works)... If that checks correctly, then it's the gauge....

US marine gauges... From my research it looks like they are made specifically for Bayliner..... by Faria...

Have a look at this Faria gauge and see what you think. I suspect you'd get it quite a bit cheaper than Bilgeliner would be asking!

Chris.....

 

[Moose_25_2500]

Re: 2002 Bayliner Tach Gage not working

Yes I checked the volts on the tacho case. really glad the wire is ok. that would not be fun changing it. Ok so I will check the ohms on the coil before i buy the gauge. thanks for all you help. I really appreciate it.

 

[Moose_25_2500]

Achris,

So I have a crazy update to this post. I did buy the faria gage you suggested but, it ended up being on backorder so I did not install it until early October just before I put the boat in storage for the winter. I seemed to be working fine when I ran it on muffs in the fall. So now I am ready to put her back in the water and now that new gage will not work. I have 12v of power and it lights up so I decided to run that jumper wire again to test the gray wire for resistance. I got nothing on the reading or on the multimeter.... it displays a 1 for an over range indication or open circuit. Can I run a new "gray" wire from the gage to the coil and splice it right before it goes into the connector at the coil? Do you think that is the problem.?