Smart Craft Gauge Issues

Densearay

New Member
Dec 5, 2019
3
Boat Info
Searay 300 Sundancer
Engines
Twin 5.0 MPI
I am new to this site and looking for some advice on a smart craft issue. My 2005 Sundancer has twin 5.0 mercs with bravo III drives/400 hours. Over the summer I started the boat and it was running fine, all gauges working etc. I turned off the boat to get a few items and returned to restart her. This time the boat started and ran perfect, but none of the gauges worked. I had several dealers and mechanics look at the boat, and through trial and error they determined the ECM's needed to be replaced, as well as the harness. In addition all the dash gauges were also replaced. This did correct the problem for about one or two months, but then the same thing happened again. The boat runs perfect, but the gauges again do not work. Some believe that the boat may have had a power surge, others believe it may have something to do with the new exhaust manifolds that we replaced last spring. I am at a loss and looking for any suggestions.
Thank you!
 
First of all, did you get some sort of compensation from the mechanic for the possibly unnecessary repairs?

Did you get at least get the old “defective” ecm’s, gauges and wire harness?

I have a 240 Sundeck and had the same thing happen to me. All gauges were dead except for the tachometer. I found that reseating the “cannon” connector (with a little dielectric grease added) behind the dash cured the problem. Sorry but I don't know the location of this connector on you boat. You may have 2 with your twin engine setup.

The picture shows the plug, inside the circle, sort of behind one of the wire harnesses.
72799495-648D-4EBB-A992-809596D27745.jpeg
 
Without getting into a lot of detail, the repair was covered, so I had minimal out of pocket.
I did see the old parts as and had multiple opinions, to include testing the old parts in a similar boat (they also did not work).
I will try your suggestion with the new parts to see if makes a difference. I am open to any other thoughts as well. Thank you.
 
Without getting into a lot of detail, the repair was covered, so I had minimal out of pocket.
I did see the old parts as and had multiple opinions, to include testing the old parts in a similar boat (they also did not work).
I will try your suggestion with the new parts to see if makes a difference. I am open to any other thoughts as well. Thank you.

If it was covered under warranty or you didn’t pay for the repair, then you wouldn’t be entitled to the old parts.

You may have misunderstood my solution. I didn’t replace any parts. I simply disconnected, greased and reconnected the cannon plug.
 
I understand your solution and will try it.
With regards to the old parts. The ECMs, gauges, etc. They were pulled and tested at the Searay dealer before being replaced.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,945
Messages
1,422,741
Members
60,928
Latest member
rkaleda
Back
Top