some of you know mitchert did the boat and dash . well unfourtunately got some dash probs when he re wired it ,anyhelp would be great , starboard engine alerts go off as soon as i turn the key , also when the panal lights turned are turned on . under both instances the oil pressure pegs the needle . when i turn the key on everything seems to do the oppsite what it should .volt meter pegs the bottom of the gauge , goes backwords . oil pressure pegs the needle at 80 . tack goes upwards unlike normally comming down to 0 when keys turned on . ground maybe ?? he did such a great job though thanks rob

Hey, you might want to "not" mention who did the job if there's a simple oversight on an otherwise great job. It's kind of rude.

Yes, you probably have a simple cross connection between a sending unit and a ground terminal. Most senders are variable ground resistors. If you have clear view of the rear of the gauges, just get in there with lots of light and slowly trace the "hopscotch" of the ground wire from the terminal block across all of the gauges, making sure it is attached to the proper terminal on each and every gauge.

Then do the same with the power, and the illlumination wires. If those three wires are all on the proper terminals, you should only have problems with gauges where the sending units are messed up, but it should be isolated to those gauges only, and not a system wide weird situaiton.

MC

i wont mention who,but a dealer changed the dash in a buddys boat,and everything on the panel was not working,or going haywire,turned out to be a ground wire not reinstalled.it,s amazing how screwed up things can get if you have grounding issues!

first off . i have nothing bud praise for mitch . there is no blame game here .so sorry for youre missinterpatation . the job is fabulous nothing short . not mad of any sort . mitch is the man . so thanks for youre help , hopefully no one took it the wrong way as there was none intended . simple mistake im sure . Deffinately not angry by no means . i believe i stated the quality in the text ??

Rob try powering everything up then start pulling and replacing individual fuses one at a time, if you catch one that drops the condition you are on the right track. Have someone at the main power in case anything gets hot and you need a quick power off. As said sounds like a crossed ground or a ground that is not connected causing it to back feed. Approach it systematically and you'll find it in no time. I hate to say it but i have always kinda liked these probs in a weird sort of way, kinda like a puzzle lol.

Why not just take it back to him and let him find the problem?

I was going to say, this sounds like a bad ground. Had similar symptoms with mine.

Rob, follow the wires from behind the dash, the port side should have a plug, and so should the starboard, that goes into the side of the hull under the dash. Those plugs go back to the engines.

Each plug will have a black wire, which is ground. One of them may have a heavier gauge black wire than the other. You need to make sure that those black wires, that run back to the engines, are grounded coming out of the engine side of the harness. If it is not grounded at the engines, the dash will try to find a ground thru the light circuit.

If your trim pumps, nav lights, and cabin power are working ok, my guess is your gauges are not grounded to the engine like they should be.

I believe the main power wire that powers the cabin, trim switches, blower, horn, etc, all come from the engine harness, so if there is a short, it will pop the engine breaker. But, the ground for those goes directly to the batteries, i believe, its been a while. So like i said, if that stuff is working fine, and its just the gauges, make sure those gauges are getting a good ground at the engines, and the engines are getting a good ground to the batteries.

Oh, and rob, if you have access to some jumper cables, try this....

hook the black side of the cable to the neg post of the battery. DO NOT hook up the pos side. Then run the cable up near the dash area. Get yourself a jumper wire with a alligator clip. Attach it to the ground on one of the gauges that easily accessible, then attach it to the ground of the jumper cable, and see what you get.

If this helps
Blue wire=oil psi sender
Tan=water temp sender
Purple=IGN hot feed
Brown with white stripe =oil temp sender
Pink=Fuel sender
Yellow with red stripe=starter solenoid
black=ground
gray=tach signal

Thats where I would start.

And Rob is in Wisconsin,,,,Mitch in in Michigan,,,, I can see him not wanting to bring it back

How far into Wisconsin are you?

Mitch is one of my best friends, if we cant do this over the forum or on the phone and if you can get to Chicago to my shop I will take care of it no charge.