Gage wiring

[tryme]

I hear that the DECC is not the same as on the 99 epic 21.  my oil gauge will go up then most of the time on idle.  it will drop down set off the alarm then sometime pop up for a second making the sound when you power it up.  i thought maybe the oil sender unit because it doesnt seem to be an issue at higher rpm.  All the other gauges work great.  but no one has any diagrams or how to's for the 99 21.  any help would be great.  not to worried jsut annoying.

[sailtl]

New oil sender should solve the problem. Also check to make sure your oil has not thinned out. Pull the dipstick out and smell and see if you have any gas smell in the oil. You may have to change the oil also. I get about 75 hours per oil change using synthetic oil before it starts to thin out and sets off the alarm. Oil change always solves the alarm issue.

[Rambling Wreck]

Sailti, interesting post as I would have thought oil would thicken up by picking up contaminants.

I also have an E21 and would love to see a diagram or pictures of how to run the ground wire. My guages are erractic  and there is an awful noise that comes through the radio if the blower is on. Would th ground wire fix solve this?

[sailtl]

Maintenance
# Troubleshooting Guide - MDC (PDF)
The above is listed in the Maintenance section of the web site,

Page 8 of the above Guide shows the 18 pin connector and what all the wires do. I ran a 12 gage wire from the main battery disconnect switch with an inline 5 amp fuse about 6" away from the main disconnect switch to the red power + of the MDC. I cut the red power wire about 8" from the 18 pin connector and soldered the new power wire to the red wire going into the 18 pin connector. I also ran a 12 gage wire from the battery negative side to the black ground wire going to the 18 pin connector. This one I cut also.  This solved the MDC issue with the gauges. Regarding the noise in the radio with the blower on. I have never had this issue so I do not know what to do to sole this problem. The additional ground wire may help this also.
Regarding oil thining out.
My engine tends to run a little rich and the rich mixture does dilute the oil causing the viscosity to change. You may want to read the following link for more info regarding oils etc.
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html
I hope I have answered your questions. I just rolled over 1,000 hours on our 1999 Epic 21 and it is still running strong and well. I also had gauge issues and did replace 5 out of 7 bad gauges.
my final chapter for accurate gauges. As I stated earlier I sent all the gauges and MDC to Medallion. Turn around time was 8 weeks, so do it in the fall.
The MDC checked good which they said surprised them. Five of my seven gauges were bad. The only good ones were the Tach/hour meter and the temp gauge. Per Medallion I ran a 12 gauge hot wire from the Perko switch to the MDC cutting the old power supply. I put in a 5 amp fuse as close as possible to the Perko switch. Then a separate 12 gauge wire direct from the battery to the MDC gound cutting out the prior ground. The above information on which wire does what is in the maintenance section of this site.
Put all the gauges back in the instrument panel and took the boat out for the smoke test. Guess what? All the gauges came to life a preformed as they were supposed to.
1 1/2 years fighting this problem and now they work as designed. $300.00 for 5 new gauges through Medallion. I also ordered new pitots for the speedo's that are not supposed to plug up like the original ones did. I have not installed them yet but I will report on their performance as quickly as I can. I have put 20 hours on the boat since the repair and they are still working fine. Hopefully my gauge frustration is over for a long time.
http://www.epicmarine.com/forum4/index.php?topic=298.45
Good Boating!