1999 Four Winns VDO instruments Cluster Fix

[JScott75]

1999 Four Winns 220 Horizon with 5.7 gsi.

Instrument gauges on the cluster have gone stupid. Most importantly the temp gauge fluctuates and operates sporadically. Sometimes it shows nuclear meltdown but when IR temp gun test, fresh water pump flow test, and hand on headers test all prove the engine is not overheating. Tested the sending unit, changed the tstat. Verified not sucking air. Headers are free from debris, all hoses disconnected and tested and verified good flow.

The oil presssure gauge is all over the place and generally on the high side. The speedo barely moves. Trim gauge is pegged to 'up'

All these symptoms point towards the bad ground issue at the VDO board.

I read about 10 threads concerning this same issue but I cannot find a difinifive response on how to DIY fix. The most recent posts I've found were in 2012.

Anyone have a link to help?

Where do I attach the new ground to the cluster?

Am I supposed to remove or disconnect a ground?

Should I just take it out and ship to CDI for repair? http://www.cdielectronics.com/dash-panel/

This is a Hail Mary attempt. Thanks for anyone that has input.

 

[tpenfield]

When you Google search it there seems to be a few places that will repair the cluster, but I have not seen anyone post info or pictures about repairing it themselves.

If I were in your situation, heck, I'd try repairing it a La DIY. I got a soldering iron and a bunch of electronic 'stuff'. I do recall discussions about the 'ground' going bad, so maybe that is a track on a printed circuit board that was too narrow for the current and eventually fried. Would be pretty easy to jumper it though . . .

If you DIY, you might be one of the first, if not the first. :thumb: Post some pictures as you go

 

[RichRab]

Do the lights on dash work? Every gauge probably has a stud on it that connects all together. I would run a test ground wire from battery or maybe radio if that is close and you can use a test light to see if you power and ground. Gauges are probably lower than 12 volts if I remember correctly. Good luck.

 

[JScott75]

No Title

Thanks for the responses.
​Yes the dash lights work but unfortunately that has nothing to do with the gauges. ​I wish I had individual gauges like Rich is referring to.


You see, these Four Winn boats were installed with a cluster of gauges manufactured by VDO. Essentially a giant POS, the gauges are all connected to one control board with the grounds and all other wiring integrated. There is a wiring harness that groups all the signal wires from the engine and connects to the control board via wiring harness. The boards have a history of having ground issues that make all the gauge readings unreliable.

Posting pictures for anyone that might stumble upon this issue.

The gauge cluster disassembled showing the POS control board.

Testing the wiring harness with an ohmmeter to make sure the cluster was getting the right signal from the motor. This sounds difficult but is very easy. Let me know if you need help or a detailed explanation, but basically you will need to find the ohm/temp or ohm/pressure graph for your sending units and measure resistance across the wire and the ground on the harness with a multi-meter.

At ambient (hot texas July day) the resistance showed around 400 ohms which corresponds to 100F. I started the engine and watched the ohms fall until they settled out around 130 ohms which would correspond to 160F at the motor (I have a 160F thermostat).

​Oddly enough, once I reassembled everything the gauges went back to normal. But within one hour of use on the lake that day, the gauges went stupid, again.

My next step might be to send this board off with some electrical engineering interns. That might be interesting. Will try to keep the thread informed.

 

[taylorw529]

JScott, I know that I am digging up an old thread, but I was wondering if resolved the issue? Two years later, there still is not much on fixing these instrument panels. It appears that at some point Four Winns offered a retrofit panel to use standard gauges.

Thanks.

 

[JScott75]

Hello, Taylor. I routed a new ground wire from the battery terminal up to the control board. This fixed the problem. I ran the wire through the side panels so it is not noticeable. I did this a few years ago, so I cannot remember exactly how I connected the ground. But it definitely fixed the problem, which is a bad ground issue.

 

[jbcurt00]

JScott, I know that I am digging up an old thread,.

Dont post to inactive topics
closed