Bayliner VDO guages not working

[RayNMesa]

Hi I?m somewhat new to boating so go easy, here?s the story
I purchased a 2001 19 foot Byliner bowrider with a 4.3 Mercruser from Crags list for $8000 , a pretty fair deal I think.
I have had the boat out about 4 times and all went fairly well
One thing I have learned so far is there are two kinds of boats, The ones that have corrosion and the ones that are going to get corrosion.
This boat has the VDO gauges
My gauges worked the last time I had it out and now they don?t work , so what happened in 3 months of sitting? I don?t have rodents or ghosts , so it must be corrosion , so in the process of troubleshooting this problem I thought I would start cleaning all the main connectors, (they look like Apm/tyco and Molex) to remove any corrosion that might exist. I will be checking all the grounds and voltages involved.
So this is what I paced together form the Bayliner manual and mercruser manual and what I found on the boat so far,
Here is a wiring diagram I?m starting to put together so I could troubleshoot my problem, I thought I would post it here for your input and any suggestions and/or corrections.
If I don?t get this fixed in the next two months I will be jumping off the deep end and converting to ?Real gauges, I must be ready for a trip to lake Powell in Sep.
Thanks
Ray

 

[NYBo]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

Welcome to iboats!

Those VDO integrated gauge packs are notorious for failing. I believe re-flowing all the solder joints sometimes fixes them. But a swap to regular gauges might be a good idea in the long run.

 

[RayNMesa]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

Update: After a weekend of troubleshooting it all boils down to VDO interment cluster that is DOA, so looks like I will be doing a Real gauge mod, I will post back when the mod is complete.

 

[RayNMesa]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

So here is an update so far, I got the new gauge panel almost compete, I ordered all Faria gauges except for the depth gauge which is a Hawk Eye that I already had, I'm waiting on the speedometer (it had to be custom ordered because it is electronic and works off the paddle wheel) So here are some photos of the mod so far,

The old VDO circut board
http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/48624/2063096240060325582S600x600Q85.jpg

the old VDO face
http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/46204/2502916410060325582S600x600Q85.jpg

back side with the Hawk eye depth finder installed . epoxyed a peice of plexi glass in that spot to mount it to.
http://inlinethumb38.webshots.com/46117/2928095150060325582S600x600Q85.jpg

New panel . a piece of 1/4" red oak ply with 3 coate of spar varnish on both sides.
http://inlinethumb22.webshots.com/46165/2326301950060325582S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/47577/2597573220060325582S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/46211/2680656060060325582S600x600Q85.jpg

It may not look as Sexy as the original, but I think it will work alot better
We will post more as soon as its complete.

 

[RayNMesa]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

here are the new wiring diagrams

here is the completed back side wiring

 

[NYBo]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

Nice work!

 

[RayNMesa]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

Well this is the finished gauge mod. Finally got the electronic speedometer installed.
There was also a Tan and blue wire for the audio warning which was caped&stowed behind the instrument panel , I was not sure the warning system was installed on the engine so I decided to do a continuity check , with the ignition switch in the on position I had continuity and with the engine running after 2 seconds I lost continuity (oil psi @ 5 psi opening a normally closed switch), so I was pretty sure I had the audio warning system, with the VDO system they opted not to use this wire for whatever reason, I think one or two of those surface mount components on the VDO PC board purpose was to compare and or calculate the water temp, oil pressure and sound the alarm when the gauge reading were beyond the presets burned into preset memory ,. Therefore eliminating the need for the engines alarm system and using the tan/blue wire. So I used the buzzer off the VDO circuit board and soldered it to half a Radio shack circuit board I had laying around, wired it up and tie wrapped it to the insterment panel wire harness, works good (very loud) Had to make some changes to the wiring diagram, the speedometer wires changed, instead of BLACK for the signal wire it IS GREEN and Instead of BLUE for the Power wire It IS RED.
I also caped&stowed the two wires from the switch panel that were used for setting the VDO's LCD functions.
All the gauges work and I will be taking it to the local lake next weekend for a shake down, keep your fingers crossed.
View attachment 109157View attachment 109158View attachment 109159View attachment 109160View attachment 109161
View attachment 109163

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

awesome - you don't fool around
nice work

 

[FlashJim]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

Great work!! That looks fantastic.

 

[now151]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

got to hand it to you on that project. made me think about going that route instead of buying a vdo cluster replacement or repair and have to send it off.

 

[MOsvatic]

Re: Bayliner VDO guages not working

I've got the same boat and contols (2001 Bayline Capri). My controls are working fine, but I don't have a depth tranducer to go with the instruments. The panel appears to be set up for one, just no tranducer. Any idea where to get one, or even what the part number is on yours? I know I can do a new one, but there's not much room for added instrumentation.

Thanks,