Dash is dead - entirely

[ColdNorth]

Looking for assistance - I have a 2000 X22 that has worked nearly flawlessly with about 260 hours on it. The boat worked fine one day and the next time I went to use it, there is no power in the dash. My gauges read all over the place... speedos are not the same, fuel full, voltage gauge is up around half and other gauges read 0, but there is absolutely no power in any of them. I have wiggled under that dash and checked all fuses that are obvious at the rear of the engine... but there is no blink of power...  maybe there are more fuses somewhere?? My ballast pump still works as do my rocker switches, but I don't have any power in the gauges including hour meter... nothing.

We are just beginning 2 weeks of holidays and looking for a quick cure as we are the host boat for 3 families. Suggestions?

[tenn162000]

I bought my 2000 x22 epic with a dead dash.  I replaced the MDC which was about 300 bucks.  Simple to do but costly - never-the-less, it fixed my dead gauges.   Heres the TMS parts page: http://www.epicmarine.com/figures/Fig.php?Figure=10

[2000epic]

mine does this sometimes too, I just disconect the positive battery lead for a few minutes and the gauges work again.  Go figure

[ColdNorth]

Thanks kindly. I will try disconnecting the battery tomorrow... fingers crossed it will be something so simple.

[brad]

Make sure you check the inline fuses on the battery cables near the battery/perko switch.

[skibeau]

Does the depth gauge work?  If not, it may be the MDC out.  If so, it may be a fuse/connection/ground/etc...

I'm sorry your gauges are giving you trouble.  I've had my boat a couple years and just got 'em going a month ago.  A great boat without gauges is a BUMMER!

[cyclone]

The gauges are driven by the MDC box, there is an inline fuse for the supply for that box in the harness if you follow it back a couple inches. I'd start at the Perko or battery switch and the inline fuse there.

[ColdNorth]

Thanks again. Tried disconnecting the battery post for an hour... no luck. Will go check these other fuses because we have not checked them. Will hopefully have it cured tomorrow... will let you know.

[ColdNorth]

Well... still no luck on the dash... it remains without a hint of life. Meanwhile we are busy boating hard and enjoying the weather in Montana so not a lot of chance to continue looking. However, we checked the fuses that are described above and they all seem fine. Hopefully we will be able to continue the search tomorrow... going to focus on getting a good ground... just not certain how to do it.

Had a different problem though... impeller lost a blade or two and the boat overheated... would have caught it earlier but the dash was dead. Turns out the real problem was that inside the exhaust hoses, a layer of rubber had broken off and blocked the exhaust hoses on both sides. What are the odds it would happen to both? Fortunately we found some hose locally and replaced it... all is well... except for the dash still. At any rate, if you can't find a reason for overheating, it is worth checking those exhaust hoses to see if they are deteriorating inside... there was no way to tell from outside.

[cyclone]

Failed impeller caused overheating, then the failure of the exhaust hose

[bmccalla]

Hi ColdNorth,

I don't know if you've been following my posts in the Quest for Accurate Gauges thread, but my gauges have been dead for 2 years. It turns out there were 3 glass fuses under my dash. One on a black wire is a negative line, one is on a red wire with a yellow push connector which is power into the MDC. The third is on a purple line with a yellow push connector, which is the fuel data sender. I replaced these with both yellow push connectors with ATC inline fuseholders for the blade type fuses and used 3A blade fuses and my gauges now work. I'm guessing the 3amp fuse which is as thin as a human hair is to protect the MDC. It is more like a computer fuse than one for a car or boat. I couldn't find the original fuse size and amperage even at AutoZone, Advance Auto or even Radio Shack, so that's why I replaced the fuseholders.

HTH,

bmccalla

[lilfoo2225]

ouch! on the over heating. hopefully you caught it in time. ive been there and done that with posted pics to proove. and good luck with the dash.

[ColdNorth]

Thanks for the encouragement. I believe that I did catch it in time. We did a compression check on it prior to putting it back in the lake. Good across the board. It never ticked or knocked... the Amsoil in the crankcase still looks perfect and the smell is normal, not burnt. I have been running it pretty solid for the past day and a half (some surfing, wakeboarding, skiing and tubes) and it runs perfectly normal. I still need to learn some things about the surfing. We went out later and buddy's correct craft with a V-Drive and 8.1L engine throws a monster of a wave in comparison to mine.

To be honest, I was surprised that I was overheating. The impeller was missing one fin nearly entirely and only a couple of other bits of 2 others... not perfect but not totally destroyed either.

The weather here in northern Montana has been wonderful. We have had such a poor spring in northern Alberta... I just love the heat here. Another week to go... wish I could find a way to make a living down here. So beautiful.

Appreciate your assistance with the gauges... will try those fuses and see what we can learn there.

[bmccalla]

Picture 1 is of the push connector fuse holder to the MDC and a bad fuse from one. Gages went back to normal after fixing this. Note that I put in a new inline fuse near the Perko and also the 8ga pos and neg wires to the DECC.
Picture 2 is the expert mechanic showing the new fuse holders with caps in place.

[ColdNorth]

It is so nice to have a dash back again. It turned out in this case to be a bad connection at the dash... positive wire from the computer I believe. I thought we had tried all connections but as a result of all the encouragement to keep trying from you folks, we found the culprit. That said, my left speedo seems to have given up the ghost. When the dash came back to life, it registered over 40 mph. We would unplug it and plug it back in and the speed would drop about 5 mph... we kept doing that until the speed got down to 0. Problem was, it has not gone back up since. Nice to see the other gauges all registering where they should. Thanks for all your help.

Surfed today behind a new Centurion Enzo 23.5'... that was surfing! What a wave ...with the side of that boat loaded up with ballast (water and he also has about 800 lbs of 4" pvc loaded with used wheel weights (lead) and capped), the side of the boat was nearly under water. However, the guy says that there is nearly no way you can ski behind it. Surfing and wakeboarding boat only... but what a wave... was a lot of fun.