Brand new 2014 Sundeck with dead Speedo

[tpshortstop]

Hi all- I'm a noob from NJ and bought my first boat a little over a month ago. During my orientation I noticed that the speedometer was flat-lined. I pointed it out and accepted the boat with my dealer noting that the speedometer issue needed to be fixed. Now over a month later I feel like I'm getting a total run-around from my dealer. They are claiming that the tachometer is faulty and blaming Faria. They claimed that they got a new tachometer sent to them and when they installed it the problem was not fixed because the tachometer they sent did not have the update that fixes the issue. They are claiming now that Sea Ray has issued a recall to deal with the issue, but I've seen nothing about a recall in all my searches... Being new to boating I don't know if any of this rings true, but in my gut none of this feels right to me. This is a brand new boat and one of the basic functions that has its own gauge on the dashboard doesn't work at all. I understand that speedometers on boats are somewhat questionable, but this one is DEAD. Any thoughts from others out there? Anyone hear of an issue like this with 2014 Sea Rays? Thank you!!

 

[JimG]

Not sure why the dealer changed the tachometer for a speedometer issue... is it an all-in-one unit? Speedometer issues are normally from a clogged pitot. On the leading edge of your outdrive, you will find a small hole that may be blocked by debri. Use a small drill bit (1/16") by hand to clear it.

Welcome to CSR!

 

[spfortjohn]

If that is the same as the 09 sundeck the tach and spedo are different gages.

 

[tpshortstop]

I was wondering the same, but they are claiming that the root cause issue is a calibration issue between the tachometer and speedometer. It's never really made a lot of sense to me, but I was assuming that they knew what they were talking about. On day #1 they attempted to clear the pitot with forced air but it had no effect.

 

[SeaRide]

Well my 230 pre-dates SmartCraft Systems by several years. So, yours may have more than just a pitot tube running from the outdrive to the speedometer. However, there is one more thing to check. Have a look at the pitot tube located just above the forward section of the anti-ventilation plate. It's possible that is was never connected to the lower unit when the outdrive was installed.

 

[Bama Boater]

I have to use a paperclip or drill bit to clear mine. It goes in there a LONG way. Works like a charm. The piece SeaRide is talking about is a little plastic piece that is a quick disconnect.


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[Lazy Daze]

The speedo actually gets it's signal from the tach. The tach is the "brains". The speedo is simply a dumb gauge that repeats the digital speed you see in the tach. If you see a digital speed, but no "analog" speed on the actual speedo, then the speedo or the wire to the speedo is bad/disconnected. The "pitot" in the lower unit that is referred to above feeds to a pressure gauge just inside the boat. This pressure gauge then turns that into a digital signal and sends it to the tach. So, you have a few areas that could be the problem... the pitot to pressure gauge, the pressure gauge and/or the wiring to the tach, the tach, the wiring to the speedo and finally the actual speedo. Obviously this isn't very easy to diagnose over a forum and what may have been the solution for someone else, won't necessarily be the solution for you. For any Mercruiser technician, this should be something they're more than qualified to fix. However, even the easiest of "problems" sometimes becomes a "head scratcher" when wiring and electronics are involved. They'll get it worked out - sometimes it just takes longer than expected.

 

[tpshortstop]

Thank you for all of the replies and suggestions. I'm still hoping the dealer will be able to work through the issue. They tried the second tachometer shipped from Faria today and still no speedometer...

"I have urgent calls and e-mails to Faria to get this issue resolved."

Hopefully that amounts to something.

 

[skolbe]

They will get it resolved that is the one thing you can count on with Sea Ray and their dealer network. It sometimes just takes a long time. A speedo on a boat is worthless unless it is a GPS speedo anyway. They will make it right. I get you want everything to work.

 

[ravill]

Sorry to bring this one back, but was this ever resolved?

I also have a brand new 2014 Sundeck OB that has a non-functioning speedo. I have contacted my sales guy and he says that he has placed the speedo on the "Due Bill". However, I'm not sure what that means in terms of getting fixed?

I'll take a look for a pitot tube on the leading edge of my engine tonight and see if I can see anything.

 

[jason78]

Sorry to bring this one back, but was this ever resolved?

I also have a brand new 2014 Sundeck OB that has a non-functioning speedo. I have contacted my sales guy and he says that he has placed the speedo on the "Due Bill". However, I'm not sure what that means in terms of getting fixed?

I'll take a look for a pitot tube on the leading edge of my engine tonight and see if I can see anything.

Toggle through the difference screens on the TACH until you see the digital readout for speed. If you have speed registering there and not on the analog it is either a bad analog gauge or loose connection. If you have no digital speed on the TACH, that means the speed is not getting from the pitot sensor to the ECM. This means either a bad pitot sensor or clogged/pinched/disconnected pitot tube. Pitot sensor is typically installed on the top rear of the engine for I/O but looks like you have an outboard so someone else will have to tell you the pitot sensor location for that one.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Sorry to bring this one back, but was this ever resolved?

I also have a brand new 2014 Sundeck OB that has a non-functioning speedo. I have contacted my sales guy and he says that he has placed the speedo on the "Due Bill". However, I'm not sure what that means in terms of getting fixed?

I'll take a look for a pitot tube on the leading edge of my engine tonight and see if I can see anything.

"Due bill"... Your dealer is probably the best one to tell you what this means, but I would venture a guess that it's things that they "owe" you when you next bring the boat in. The rest is as stated above in a few of the posts.

 

[ravill]

On my digital portion of my tach, when the speed option comes up, "No GPS" pops up, so I likely don't have a gps?

Thanks for all the help guys/gals!

 

[skunkman]

I have a brand new 330DA that started out with a broken speedo. Mine turned out to be a clogged pitot.

BW -I never look a the speedo -aways GPS

 

[jason78]

On my digital portion of my tach, when the speed option comes up, "No GPS" pops up, so I likely don't have a gps?

Thanks for all the help guys/gals!

If the GPS warning is coming up you probably need to change a couple settings. See pages 17 and 27 inthe link below. You might want to try changing GPS speed to NO and making sure Pitot sensor is set to YES. Sorry, I have a fair amount of experience with Smartcraft, just no so much on Outboards.

https://mercurymarine-gsdesign1.net...62b38bded0/smartcraft_gauges_owners_guide.pdf

 

[jxm99]

As a noob you should be told now, boat speedos are the worst. they barely ever work. That's why i switched my to show the speed off of the GPS. Enjoy your boat

 

[ravill]

I have a brand new 330DA that started out with a broken speedo. Mine turned out to be a clogged pitot.

BW -I never look a the speedo -aways GPS

As a noob you should be told now, boat speedos are the worst. they barely ever work. That's why i switched my to show the speed off of the GPS. Enjoy your boat

Thanks guys. But to remind you guys, I don't think my boat has a GPS, so that's likely not an option. When I go to the "speed" screen, it says "No GPS"

I also didn't get an owners manual (!) as I was assured it was in the boat when I picked it up, but alas, it is no where. The dealer has ordered me another set.

Being a noob is great! I get to learn new things! :thumbsup:

 

[jason78]

I also didn't get an owners manual (!) as I was assured it was in the boat when I picked it up, but alas, it is no where.

If you re-read post #15 I have posted a link to the Smartcraft Owners Manual along with an explanation of what the problem may be. You can download it right there.

 

[ravill]

Jason, thank you for that link. I got it downloaded!

 

[ravill]

It looks like only my tach is a mastercraft gauge and I don't see anything that looks like a GPS under or around my gauges. And after doing much research and my sales guy from the start saying boat speedo's suck (Really Sea Ray? An $80,000 dollar boat with a non working speedo?) I just went ahead and bought a perfect pass GPS speedometer to replace my factory speedo.

I'll post how that works out for me.