Instrument Panel Issues

[c130king]

Hello All,

Hope everyone is getting in some good sailing. I know I am.

Last weekend my fuel gauge stopped working. When key is turned on the gauge moves a little but goes to way below empty marking.

And this weekend my engine temp gauge stopped working. Once again it gets power and goes to full scale hot. When power removed it goes to about 240.

Opened the panel and checked all connections and all look normal. Nothing obviously disconnected/broken and nothing seems overly loose.

I guess fuel gauge could be sender issue. Any guidance on what/how to check on that?

Same question for temp gauge.

Appreciate any assistance.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

As usual, Maine Sail has given us the tools.

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/fuel_sender_testing

There is a post on this forum from last spring, IIRC, on doing this on a 310.

 

[KZW]

Check the ground. It may be common and that may be your issue.

 

[c130king]

How do you "check the ground"? I opened the panel and all wires are connected and tight.

Thanks for the link to how to check the fuel sender. Will do that soon.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

How do you "check the ground"? I opened the panel and all wires are connected and tight.

Thanks for the link to how to check the fuel sender. Will do that soon.

Cheers,
Jim

This link is dealing with a solder connection. But the trouble shooting would be the same for looking for a bad wire on anything.

 

[c130king]

Did some trouble-shooting on the Fuel and Engine Temp Gauges today.

Getting voltage to the fuel gauge from the wire coming from the fuel tank sender unit. Voltage was 9.9 volts...fuel tank is probably 90% full. Gauge is reading full scale deflection below empty. So since we had a voltage coming from the fuel tank sender we suspect bad gauge. Going to get new gauge and see what happens.

Temp sender unit was removed and visually checked. As we disconnected and fiddled with the unit and the wire the gauge would jump all over the place. Still a little puzzling so the plan is to replace both the engine temp sender and the engine temp gauge and see what happens.

Fuel temp sender...looked on the CD page and it looks like there are two sizes 1/4" and 1/8". Can anyone tell me which one is for the M25XPB?

Is there any other source for these senders or the gauges other than CD? Are these gauges a standard size?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[whittem]

I had a similar issue with my instrument panel. Turns out that push button circuit breaker on bottom of panel was corroded / defective and causing the issue

 

[c130king]

I will look at that as well. Thanks.

 

[c130king]

Replaced the Eng Temp Sender...still not working...replaced the gauge and everything works fine. Problem was the gauge...probably the old temp sender still works but I will hold onto it as a back-up.

Replaced the fuel gauge and still not working. Checked out the fuel sender...at least the connections on top. Loose ground wire which we tightened down but still not working. So guess it is deeper in the fuel sender.

But not so concerned about the fuel gauge as I keep good track of engine hours and refueling so I know how much I used and keep track of fuel useage by tracking engine hours.

Cheers,
Jim