RPM Indication Fluctuating on 2005 196

[Redzed]

Hi All,

I have a 2005 196 with the PCM Excalibur fitted. I took it out of winter storage over the weekend and have the following problem:

The engine is running fine however, the RPM rev counter and Perfectpass rev displays are intermittent. The show anything from 0 to bouncing around all over the place, but the actual revs are perfectly smooth.

I'm assuming there's a common tap off / pick up for both displays, but can anyone give any further guidance?

thanks.

[Redzed]

Any ideas?

[DanielC]

What version of boat do you have? Team, Limited, or Signature.
I believe the signature boats were still analogue gauges, that is there was a separate sender for engine temp, engine oil pressure, fuel level, ETC. There was also a wire from the ignition system that went to the dash board for the Engine RPM. Each gauge had its own wire, and sender.

The Team and Limited boats all the dashboard analogue data was sent to a gateway box, usually in the stern of the boat, and the analogue data was converted to a digital signal. This digital signal was sent to the gauges, that were all daisy chained together, and each gauge would pick up the data it needed and pass the rest of the data to the next gauge in the chain.

On the Signature boats, the Perfect Pass just used a "Y" on the signal wire to the analogue tachometer to get RPM information to the Perfect Pass. The other two versions of the boats had to have a separate wire from the gateway box to the Perfect Pass comtorl module for RPM information.

Since you are in the UK, I would contact Perfect Pass directly, with all the details of your boat, and ask them for advise.

[Redzed]

Thanks DanielC,

I'll be down at the lake this weekend and I'll have a look. Apologies for my stupidity but being a Nautique "newbie", how do I tell which model my 196 is?

Thanks.

[DanielC]

In your case, if the boat has a conventional key switch, it is a signature. If it has a pushbutton key pad, it is either a limited, or a team edition.

[Redzed]

Thanks,

It's definatley got a key, so it's a 2005 Signature.

[DanielC]

That actually makes it easier.
I do not know the color codes for wires on your boat, but with every thing analogue, I am pretty sure there is a wire fron the ignition system, that goes to the tachometer, and when Perfect Pass was installed, that wire gets tapped into.

Sent Perfect Pass an E-mail, they may be able to help. Since both PP and Tachometer displays fluctuate, it seems to me the problem is a bad connection between where the PP taps into the tach wire, and the engine.

The engine also has a multipin plug that make most of the electrical connections to the engine, near the rear of the engine. You might just have a poor connection in that plug. unpluigging, and plugging it back in usually cleans the contacts in the plug enough for everything to work again.