Gages losing power?

[lassy]

Has anyone ever had their gages stop working? It's never happened before until last weekend. They started losing power about 5 minutes after the engine was running, and went on and off a couple times before completely going out. I'm guessing it's a bad ground or a broken connection in the power wire somewhere.

Any suggestions?

[dsoby]

I have a common problem on my '02 of certain gauges occasionally going dead. Not sure if it applies in your case but I've been told that running a separate ground from the affected gauges is the fix.

[swatguy]

From the looks it looks like you have the same boat. 2000ish X-Star.


The gauges cutting outt are somewhat of a normal propblem. .... every once in a while my oil or my fuel gauge won't read, but long behold turn off the boat to switch riders and viola it works again. If I recall it has to do with the ECM....the little black box under the dash.


Not sure if you lost all your gauges or just a couple. If you lost all could be a bad ECM which is/was a common problem. If you just lost a couple most likely the "other common problem that most choose to ignore. They should kick back on when you restart the boat.

[jwroblew]

I had this problem with my boat, 2003 X7. All my gagues went dead, I read about the ECM ets, my problem was at the battery itself. The wing nuts on the top of the battery that holds a seperate positive and negetive cable were lose. After I tightened them the problem was solved. My gages also flickered, probably due to the bad connection.

[lassy]

hmmmmm....i hope it's not the ECM

i was up under the dash looking around and found a semi-loose connection on a ground block. it was connected, but the screw was loose. i need to just turn on the boat now and see.

i also have a couple screw tips coming up through the dash that i want to cover, no telling what they could poke through and what kinds of short circuits that could cause.

[Tom023]

Its the MDC, which is the black box up under the dash; the ground to the MDC or the gauges themselves. There have been a few threads discussing the issue that should be searchable.

[holand08]

I had this problem with my 07' x-2, it ending up being a loose ground on the battery terminal. I put some lock tite on the battery terminals and tightend the wing nuts and i haven't had the problem since....

[lassy]

Update on the gages......

So this past weekend my Dad and I investigated a little further and determined the gages are getting power...the lights come on but they just don't read anything. Located the MDC and tried to monkey with it and the connections in case something had come loose. At one point, the hour meter was showing up but then it vanished once again.

So the question is, where do I buy this MDC? I'm sure the dealer can find me one, but if I don't like their price...where do I look?

[mig]

Ordered one for my 02 last Monday from BAWS and was skiing on Sat. Best price I could find and great service to the middle of nowhere.

[JimN]

Before you replace anything, remove the battery cables and do a few things- clean the cable clamps and terminals, disconnect the plug from the MDC box and make sure there isn't any corrosion on the terminals. If they are corroded, Tarn-Ex can remove it, then coat with dielectric grease. Then, measure the resistance from the battery negative to the MDC plug negative. You want to see no resistance but .1-.2 ohms will work. If it's a '99 or 2000 model, adding a heavier ground was recommended to fix this issue. Reattach the MDC plug and tighten the small bolt, but don't crank it too tight. Reattach the cable clamps and when the negative goes on (last), make it go on in one move, without tapping it repeatedly. These voltage spikes are one cause of this kind of failure.

[lassy]

i'll see if i can't do all this tonight or tomorrow

[DBR]

I had this problem last year on my '99 sportstar. Turned out to be the MDC, it was full of water. Got one from MC of Charlotte, I think it's a common problem.

[JimN]

I hadn't seen what your your boat is but now that I know- I assume you have a pair of rubber lines plugged into the MDC, from the speedos, right? If they have never been removed and purged, you can definitely have water get into the MDC.

[lassy]

hmmm....is it bad that i think i heard water sloshing around in it?

DOH!!

[JimN]

Ya think? I don't know if yours can be opened but disconnect the plug from it ASAP and remove it form the boat. If you can open it, do that and wipe any water off of it and use a hair dryer to make sure it's good and dry. If it looks like the solder joints and traces are corroded with gray or white crusty stuff on the parts and board, you'll probably be better off to stick a fork in it and get a new one. If you get it dry, it may work, but it won't be permanent.

The only reason it's a common problem is due to not blowing out the speedo lines when winterizing, or occasionally during the season.