Erant gauges

[jclays]

Good morning.
Just bought a 1997 Mainship 350 trawler. Twin Volvo engines. I am having trouble with the gauges in the upper helm station for the starboard side engine. When I purchased the boat the starboard side fuel gauge had stopped working on its way to the haul out. I had delivery Captain bring her down for me from San Francisco. On the way down the temp gauge started getting erratic. It would constantly change from running warm to running cold. The volt meter would also start being erratic, eventually going to zero. The mate took a multi meter to the starboard battery. The multi meter read 14.4 volts while running. The helm station was reading zero. I'm thinking bad ground somewhere behind the instrument panel.
What say you?
Thanks
Jim

 

[koliver]

How long are your instrument harness runs? If they have a connector 1/2 way from the engine to the instrument panel, suspect it as the source of a bad ground. Especially if that harness droops into the bilge and your old boat may have had a high water event in that location.
Pulling the harness up so you can disconnect and inspect any connection is always a good move when a new-to-you boat has intermittent problems.

 

[rgano]

The fuel gauge issue MAY be disassociated from the engine gauge issue. First priority should be follow koliver's advice on tracing the connections and especially the ground connection. If the fuel gauge issue is not corrected when the engine gauge is behaving itself once again, then it might be time to look at the tank level sending unit. Do you know if it is an internal sender or possibly an external type strapped to the side of the tank?

 

[jclays]

The fuel gauge issue MAY be disassociated from the engine gauge issue. First priority should be follow koliver's advice on tracing the connections and especially the ground connection. If the fuel gauge issue is not corrected when the engine gauge is behaving itself once again, then it might be time to look at the tank level sending unit. Do you know if it is an internal sender or possibly an external type strapped to the side of the tank?

Nope too new to the boat to know regarding the senders. Have only had it since Friday 09/04.

 

[rgano]

Nope too new to the boat to know regarding the senders. Have only had it since Friday 09/04.

And that is fine, but as time goes forward, you will likely have time to make these "acquaintances." Maybe some of these comments will be helpful then.