New Tachometers

[Blown284]

My tachometers were not functioning properly so I decided to replace them with newer "Digital" (digital on the hour meter at least) gauges. Here are a few pictures of the gauges and what the wiring looks like behind the panel:

Please note. The wiring is a bit different (differnt spots) from "stock" to these. In fact, the "ignition" and "send" sides are opposite so please make sure you look at the wiring VERY carefully if you do this install yourself.

BTW, I ordered these new gauges from "Flounder Pounder" and I thought it was a pretty good deal and they arrived within a few days tops. Very good service indeed! Yay!

-Tim

 

[Blown284]

Wow all these views.... guess no one likes this install, eh? LOL. :grin:

 

[Stray Cat]

Tim, you've left everyone speechless...looks like you have those 454's idling nicely. Well done on the upgrade.

 

[Blown284]

Tim, you've left everyone speechless...looks like you have those 454's idling nicely. Well done on the upgrade.

LOL. I just started with my upgrades. Glad I have lots of drag racing experience under my belt. guess when I add the superchargers, nitrous and turbos' I'll get more reaction hahahahahaha...... Seriously though, thanks. I wasn't sure if I posted this in the wrong section or not.

 

[fwebster]

We aren't ignoring you. I think it is just that this is a change most of us made 2 sets of tachs ago. The ones with the digital hour meters do seem to hold up better, but they still get flakey after a few years. Most Sea Ray owners I talk to go to a fully digital Aetna Engineering tach when they go thru the second set of Sea Ray/Teleflex replacements. They are plug and play as well.

http://www.aetnaengineering.com/8905-LCD-tachometer.asp


Like this:

 

[Blown284]

Darn wish I had known lol. I just bought this boat not too long ago so I'm working through annoying things that don't work or don't work like they should since I'm going on a fairly long trip soon thanks for the tip

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[fwebster]

You have 5-6 years before you have to dress the tach issue again, so carry on with your list.

 

[Blown284]

All,
I'm REALLY frustrated right now. I installed these two tachs and thought for sure that I wired them up correct but they would NOT register any rpms for some reason when I started up both engines.

Can someone please confirm the "Purple" wire vs. "Grey" wire? One is "SEND" and the other is "IGN". Looks like they are swapped on the new gauges vs. the old (stock) gauges. HELP!

thanks,
Tim

 

[Boat Guy]

See if this helps you:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/howtos/Large/837g.jpg

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/document.do?docId=837

 

[Blown284]

Thank you. I shouldn't have said didn't work. The lights came in and they stated pegged right between the 6 and the 1 in the rpm dial and did not fluctuate with the actual rpm. When testing I had to go.back.to.mu pier because my port side.engine was overheating for some odd reason (doubt it's tach related)

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[Boat Guy]

I'm confused, how is it pegged between the 6 and the 1? Maybe take a picture of it?

Does your boat have separate controls for the throttle and transmission? Why can't you test the tach in neutral?

So you are saying the tach is revving all the way past the 6 and pegged?

 

[fwebster]

Some tachs built for gas powered boats have either dip or rotary switches on the back to select the number of cylinders you have. The tachs work on ignition pulses so if your switches are set on 4 for a 4 cylinder engine and you have v-8's then the tach is going to read about 2x the correct rpms. Try looking for a cylinder selector switch on the back of the tachs.

 

[Blown284]

I made sure selector reads 8 like the old tach.

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[Blown284]

I'm confused, how is it pegged between the 6 and the 1? Maybe take a picture of it?

Does your boat have separate controls for the throttle and transmission? Why can't you test the tach in neutral?

So you are saying the tach is revving all the way past the 6 and pegged?

My boat has separate controls for throttle & transmission. i can test it in neutral and same thing..... the pointers just sit between the 6 and 1 numbers. Weird, eh? I had to re-read and have made sure purple is on the IGN and the grey wire is on the "SEND".

 

[Boat Guy]

Do you see a dial, like Frank mentioned, that switches the ratio? It looks to me to be to the right of the IGN connection. What position is that dial in?

 

[Blown284]

Do you see a dial, like Frank mentioned, that switches the ratio? It looks to me to be to the right of the IGN connection. What position is that dial in?

Yes. I made sure it was/is in the "8C" position.

 

[Boat Guy]

Hmmm.... Then I'm stumped. If you are sure that the dial is in the proper setting and double checked it, and the wires are correct, it really should be that simple. I changed mine out to the Aetna Digitals and it was just about as simple. Maybe if you shoot a little video from powering on the helm and running them up we will notice something.

The only other thought I have is to put one of the originals back on and make sure that works properly.

 

[Blown284]

Neither stock tachometers worked properly ....so I have nothing to judge from :-(

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[Boat Guy]

Maybe the issue wasn't in the tachs? Even my old tachs that had to be tapped on the glass every now and then would provide proper RPM most of the time.

 

[Blown284]

That's a possibility the tachs weren't the issue.... they both worked but we're very off to the tune of 2000 rpm. I'm asking g for advice on what else to check.

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