Rugburn
05-15-2017, 10:19 AM
After searching this forum and the four corners of the internet for reasons why my temp gauge failed on my boat I thought I would share the experience so its logged on this forum for future reference.
Temperature gauge suddenly stopped showing any movement. I replaced the sensor on the engine (top of the engine just left of the thermostat housing). I was told there was one more sensor on the motor, but didnt find any. Changing the sensor didnt fix it. I put a digital multimeter on the sensor and was getting a resistance change as it warmed up so I know that was working correctly. I put 12v on the proper pins on the gauge (as per instructions from Beede) and it pegged like it should. I also swapped the gauge out with a cheap automotive water temp gauge, just in case. I was told there was a module under the dash or near the engine that controlled the gauge cluster on the boat and thought it might be that. I changed the thermostat just to be sure that it wasnt stuck open and remove that from the equation. Its a cheap part, so why not. Turns out that was it. The cold Wisconsin water didnt let the engine get to operating temperature with the thermostat stuck open and didnt move the needle on the gauge. What tipped me off was no heat from the heater.
Temperature gauge suddenly stopped showing any movement. I replaced the sensor on the engine (top of the engine just left of the thermostat housing). I was told there was one more sensor on the motor, but didnt find any. Changing the sensor didnt fix it. I put a digital multimeter on the sensor and was getting a resistance change as it warmed up so I know that was working correctly. I put 12v on the proper pins on the gauge (as per instructions from Beede) and it pegged like it should. I also swapped the gauge out with a cheap automotive water temp gauge, just in case. I was told there was a module under the dash or near the engine that controlled the gauge cluster on the boat and thought it might be that. I changed the thermostat just to be sure that it wasnt stuck open and remove that from the equation. Its a cheap part, so why not. Turns out that was it. The cold Wisconsin water didnt let the engine get to operating temperature with the thermostat stuck open and didnt move the needle on the gauge. What tipped me off was no heat from the heater.