Dashboard switches & circuit board

[jknutsen]

I own a 2003 Outback (new model) and have had electrical problems with my dashboard switches. I had it into the dealer on at least 2 occassions under warranty and they kept claiming it was faulty switches.
Now it is out of warranty and I am doing my own diagnosis.. Low and behold, no problem with the switches, nor the circuit board. In fact, everything is working great!

The problem is in the design of the 2003 dashboard. The circuit board has to be zip-tied down in order to keep it from falling off. Even at that point, once it is as tied down as it can get, the contact points between the switches and the circuit board is so small that they cannot touch consistantly. Even towing it to the lake causes the switches to lose contact, let alone driving across a lake (most notable with the Bilge and Nav lights as the left most switches on the board).

I have been told by the dealer (who is almost 3 hours away for me!) that the new outbacks use a new wiring harness without the circuit board, he was not aware of any problems with them however.

Whatever the reason, I am trying to decipher how I can set this up so my switches maintain permanent contact. Any ideas? Splicing in wires? anything... Frustrated beyond belief as this was/should have been fixed correctly under warranty.

I see 2 major problems.. 1, the circuit board hits on the dash so it cannot suck in tight enough to the switches (about a centimeter of overlap, so I assume it cannot be trimmed) and 2, there is no clean way to secure the circuit board to the boat/dash/switches.

Again.. Any ideas?

[jknutsen]

I would just like to say how awesome Skiers Choice is being on this. Only 1 day after my post & leaving a message for Brian and i rcvd a phone call from them.

They are certainly working with me to resolve this. As for the dealer? Due to many other issues I had with them when I bought my boat, it does not surprise me that this was never correctly addressed.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... That dealer I bought my boat from? They no longer are allowed to sell or service Moomba's under warranty. So, no fault of Skiers Choice in my opinion.

Still, if you guys have any ideas on how to fix this.. I am all ears! Possible to grind down the circuit board to make it fit? Not to knowledgable on circuit boards..

[racerready]

I have noticed a similar issue with my 01 Mobius, purchased used from a dealer last year. Bilge was being intermitent so I looked under the dash and noticed the contacts were barely touching the switch connectors. The boat had to go back for some regular service during the year and I mentioned it to the dealer. Actually a Centurion dealer, not Moomba but it's the closest one to me and they have a great reputation. Anyhow the dealer did manage to put it in a bit better but it's still marginally connected in some areas. If you have any advice or a fix from Skiers Choice I'd love to hear it.

Thanks

[BlunderDownUnder]

raceready,

have you had any problems with your gauges cutting in and out, or somedays not working? I have an '01 mobius as well, and the last few times out I experienced periods where the gauges wheren't working. tank on E, speedo on 0, tach on 0, etc. Two times out ago, this happened, but drove around a bit and next thing i know they were working again. Thought maybe it got some moisture and eventually dried out. I was out yesterday for a good 8 hours, they were fine when i started it to warm it up, came back from parking the trailer and they were off, and they didn't come back on all day. I messed around with the battery and ignition, hoping cutting power would allow them to reset, but nothing. They will do that "whinding" that i usually hear when i first click the ignition on, but then they don't move from there.

Anyone else with a similar problem or possible ideas?

[racerready]

Hey BDU,

No trouble with the gauges cutting out but I do have some clicking from what seems to be behind the dash from time to time...not sure what that is but I figured it was normal. I noticed the circuit board issue because my bildge switch was being stubborn, it would work if I pushed on it hard but if I released the pressure under thumb it would cut out. That's when I looked under the dash and saw that it was barely connected. I'm not sure if you would get intermittent guages from this particular issue as I dont' think the guages run from that board...I may be wrong and don't have the boat with me to check.
Good luck

[BensonWdby]

This sounds vaguely like a problem I had with the MDX gauge controller on my 99 Mobius. Thre are references to it in several places on the board. All gauges are fed by sending units that go to the MDX controller and then the actual signal to the gauges is sent from the controller.

Apparently this controller is susceptible to bad or insufficient grounding. Some folks have run a separate ground wire to the controller (or each gauge?) but I did two things.

First I replaced the controller because it had failed - there was water in the unit.

Second, after replacing the controller and still having intermittent luck I replaced the battery. Pretty much solved the problem. Only explanation I have is that the 1 year old battery was starting to go bad and maybe had some sneak path for ground through the plates (yes I am making this up as I go).

Anyhow - problem has been solved with new battery.

HTH
Dave