Puzzling problem with gauges.

[HRC]

I bought my '01 Prostar 205V in March and have been very happy over all but I'm having some issues with the gauges. A couple of times the speedo didn't work and then after turning the boat off and then starting it back up it worked. This past Saturday my water temp, tach, and speedo weren't working just after launching. I checked the breaker panel under the dash but nothing felt tripped. We stopped to anchor so my daughter could swim and when I started the boat back up everything worked fine the rest of the day. Sunday morning, none of the gauges worked. I shut the boat down and checked the breakers and looked for anything loose around the engine. When I started the boat, I paused with the ignition at run until after the beep and the Perfect Pass does its thing. I was mainly looking to see if any gauges moved before starting the boat. Everything worked the rest of the day.
My question. My wife took the boat off the trailer both days and I don't know if she paused before she hit the starter, would that matter or do I have a gremlin aboard?

[bturner2]

Don't blame the wife. Besides starting WWIII and possibly losing a good driver you're looking in the wrong place. Do a search on this site and you'll see tons of posts on gauge problems, some of which I've written. MC changed to digital gauges sometime around 2000 and have had pains around this change for years. The gauges operate from the MDC and use a data channel to communicate with the gauge cluster. Problems occur when grounding and/or noise issues occur which effects the operation of the gauges. It is also possible for one of the gauges to go bad and inject noise into the bus and cause problems with not only the bad gauge but since this is a bus topology the other gauges on the bus also. I had a 03 X2 that I worked on for close to a year and all but fixed my intermittent gauge problems buy cleaning all the connectors, grounds and cleaning up the wiring at the battery. In the end I had the system working 98% with the odd gauge not working correctly once or twice a week. I was just about to change out the MDC and instead found a smoking deal on a 07 X2 and jumped on it.

To say I was disappointed in MC over not fixing this problem with a service bulletin would be an understatement. Gauges should work every time or what good are they. The number of complaints on the accuracy or working condition on this early system is large to say the least. But it is what it is.

So your options are to try first to clean up all the electrical and then if all else fails buy the new $800 MDC while there are still some out there. At least that would be my advise.

[CCAnderson]

I had a similar issue. I cleaned all the connectors leading to and coming from the MDC using starting fluid which fixed the issue for me. I used starting fluid at the suggestion of some mechanics that work on ag equipment which uses a similar if not the same digital communication protocol. They said not to use contact cleaner because it can cause short circuits.

[HRC]

All of my gauges are analog with the exception of my Perfect Pass.

[Flatwaterfooter]

Originally Posted by CCAnderson

I had a similar issue. I cleaned all the connectors leading to and coming from the MDC using starting fluid which fixed the issue for me. I used starting fluid at the suggestion of some mechanics that work on ag equipment which uses a similar if not the same digital communication protocol. They said not to use contact cleaner because it can cause short circuits.

How did you clean them? What other connections besides the two plugs coming into MDC
.

[mikeg205]

I would use these on the connections. LCD's are low voltage and any poor ground or signal interference could cause a mis-read.

I use this stuff get it at radio shack...cleans up connections very nicely...

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.188/.f

[Tozyp]

HRC,
I've got the same problem. Water temp, Tach, and Speedometer are not working. All gauges buzz at start up even these 3 but don't move at all when running. I tried cleaning all the connections with starting fluid but still no luck?

[HRC]

I just got back from the lake, been there 9 days and all the gauges worked fine. I made sure my wife and son both waited for the beep and the Perfect Pass to go through its thing before we ever hit the starter.

[Traxx822]

I would first clean all the connectors. I just bought a 95 maristar 200v and half the guages worked on first launch. I took the dash apart and cleaned the amazing amount of dust in there all perty like .. and it worked for me. At least its a start.

[Rossterman]

Same issue on my 2oo1 205v this last week. Worked the connectors on and off a few times and worked fine since then.