ofshore

I'm considering replacing the gages in my boat so I pulled the dash to find a huge tangled mess of wires with no apparent order at all, some of the gages probably have ten different wires coming off of them. I'd like to get this fixed but i don't even know where to start does mercruiser have a schematic that shows what color wires go to what gage? Then at least i can figure out which ones are not suppose to be there and rout them somewhere else to get power. and if anyone has a picture of how their gages are wired it would be helpful just to see how it is suppose to be done. Thanks for any help, Eric.

SSComp

Here's my best shot:

1. big red, main power
2. big black, ground
3. yellow, starter
4. purple, ignition
5. light brown, oil temp
6. light blue, oil pressure
7. Gray, tach
8. White, trim

Mine was a mess too until I just started to trace and wire wrap. Turned out pretty nice.

Let me know what kind of gauges your looking for. I have some samples laying around that I can sell at cost.

Erie Desire

I would suggest contacting the manufacturer/builder of your boat. It seems to me it would just be a simple matter of labeling the wires before removing them. Home depot sells wire labels. I use "Brady" labels in my work as an electrician.

BTW Where are you located/ I am in SE MI as well.

RLW

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ng+color+codes

Check out the above thread. I rewired my dash and was surprised as to how easy it was. I labeled the wires as I removed them using the "Brady Labels". I wrote everything down as a guide to use when I rewired weeks later. The color codes also made it easy.

Cord

iTrader: (2)

Once you get started it's actually pretty easy to do. As much as you don't want to, it may be best to rip the whole mess out. Start off by setting a screw terminal block near the the harness. Now disconnect each wire from the gauge and lable it. Be sure to note what terminal the wire goes to. Now those wires that are signal wires can be clipped off and connected to the terminal block. Do this for all the signal wires. Now you will have the ground and power wires left over. I've seen some installations daisy chained like yours is. The supply power and ground is connected to one end of the cluster and then the gauges are all connected together with short pig tail wires. The problem is that if there is one break, then everthing from the break on down is out. The advantage is that there is less wire for a cleaner installation. It's really your call. You can supply power and ground to multiple points if you so desire.

C_Spray

iTrader: (2)

Even the very complex can be tamed:

homan

If you have screw terminals make jumpers and solder the wires on to the terminals before you put them on the gauges route them nicely in a way so they could be ty-rapped in a group or groups so that they won't be flopping all over the place like an old woman's breasts.

ofshore

Thanks for the suggestions, I have the color codes for reference now I guess i'll just mark where their connected and start taking wires out one by one. Part of the problem is the power isn't just jumping from gage to gage it's also coming in from multiple sources and wires are spliced together in the middle of each other. It's a mess.

Bajalion, I'm not sure what i'm going to go with yet gaffrig, autometer or nordskog i'll have to look into them a little closer.

Erie Desire, I'm Live a few miles N/W of Monroe I usually launch at Bolles harbor.