Repair for Dead Gauges on 2003-2006 Nautiques Caused by Bad Faria Gateway

[NautiqueJeff]

First, let me say that PLANETNAUTIQUE, Jeff Carroll (NautiqueJeff) and gatorgates take NO RESPONSIBILITY for damage you may cause by attempting this repair. Any repairs you make are at YOUR OWN RISK.

Full credit for this repair goes to forum member gatorgates. His work may end up saving you hundreds of dollars!

Do you have these gauges in your boat? Have they failed yet? If not, they probably will. Read below for more details.



I wanted to make a sticky post about a known issue that affects 2003 - 2006 Nautiques. The speedometers on these boats use pitot tubes, an outdated technology that uses air and water pressure to determine speed and drive the speedometer signal. Faria, for some reason, thought it would be a good idea to have the pitot tube hoses connect directly to the circuit board that is inside the gateway box. This box controls all of the gauges on the dash! What happens is that the seals on the ends of these hoses fail, and when they do, water fills the Faria gateway box! This, obviously, shorts out the circuit board and causes the gauges to no longer function.

This issue in and of itself is bad enough. What's even worse is that Faria no longer manufactures these gateway boxes, and the old stock is depleted. They are no longer available from Nautque or any other outlets. There is a replacement kit available from NautiqueParts for these boats that eliminates these gauges and the Faria gateway box, but it costs about $1,000, not including installation. These replacement gauges look nice, but they certainly do not appear original like the ones above, and the digital displays integrated into the speedometer and tachometer that provide engine management information, air and water temperature, etc. are no longer present. This replacement kit can be used as a last resort.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ADDED MAY, 2023:
There is a huge backlog for the Nautique gateway replacement kit, and the latest kit from Nautique comes with some truly ugly gauges (including a TRIM gauge, as if our boats had trim). These kits are currently backordered with a wait time of over a YEAR!

There is now an aftermarket solution that several people have used, and seem to be very happy with. The gauges look better, too! See THIS THREAD for more information on this new aftermarket kit.

Here's the direct link to the aftermarket kit:
https://skiboatpartsonline.com/Inboa...ft-TRD-2001-CC

You may still want to try gatorgates repair method first.

1. Disconnect the boat battery or batteries.
2. Remove the gateway box from the boat.
3. Open the box and drain any water inside the box.
4. Dry the circuit board with compressed air.
5. Use contact cleaner or other electronics cleaner to remove any corrosion if necessary.
6. Allow the circuit board and the inside of the gateway box to COMPLETELY dry.
7. If you plan to reconnect the speedometer hoses, find an appropriate way to permanently seal the hoses to the ports on the circuit board. Otherwise, do not reconnect them to the circuit board. Cap them. If you do not cap them, they will spray water into the boat!
8. Reassemble the gateway box and connect the wiring.
9. Reconnect the boat battery or batteries.
10. Check for proper operation of the dash gauges.
    1. If successful, reinstall the gateway box and thank gatorgates for saving you $1,000.
    2. If unsuccessful, contact NautiqueParts and order the replacement kit above. Use discount code PND for 10% off. The instructions for installation of the replacement kit can be found here.

EDIT (March 3, 2021) I wanted to add the manuals for the 2003-2004 Faria Gateway and the 2005+ Faria Gateway. Please find them below.

2003 - 2004 Faria Gateway Manual
2005+ Faria Gateway Manual

[beach]

Quick question for anyone that's done this: my gateway box seems to be sealed. Did you re-seal the box itself?

[mr_454ss]

My gateway box appears to be at the transom. Or is there another gateway box behind the dash?

[tommer12]

Id have to check but I think my gateway box is on the transom as well on my 2005 SANTE. My oil gauge i think is out, but registers on the digital side. Is this similar to others have with the gauges? I thought the gauges that were bad were 2000-2003, not the 2004/2005 and higher.

[NautiqueJeff]

I thought the gauges that were bad were 2000-2003, not the 2004/2005 and higher.

Those are a separate issue, and that issue is discussed here.

[obd666]

this is great info, nice work. all of my gauges work on my 03 and i would like to keep it that way. if the pitot hoses are the cause of the issue with water entering the gateway, i might just proactively disconnect them and cap. i use the perfect pass for speed anyway, but am wondering if i would lose any other functionality aside from the speedometer? i guess maybe water / air temp also?

[mr_454ss]

Yesterday I got into my gateway box and everything looked good. No water in the gateway box and no traces of water. I cleaned everything up as described above. After all that my oil, fuel, and volt gauge still are not functioning. I can see everything on the digital readout so I guess I'm stuck scrolling for now. I'm going to buy new gauges and see if that fixes the problem.

I did add some pneumatic tubing to the pitot tubes. I routed the tubing in a swooping "S" on its side. I filled the low valley with mineral oil. My thoughts are water will push on the oil and the oil will push air to the transducers. I haven't taken the boat out yet to test my theory but I will report back.

[obd666]

was just in the manual so thought i would add this ... doesn't look like i would lose any functionality beyond the speedometer

[gatorgates]

NautiqueJeff - thanks for the shout out. I hope this helps somebody.

By disconnecting the two pitot tubes, you will lose nothing but the speed information. All of the other functions in the digital part of the speedo (e.g. water temp, air temp, etc) will continue to work as normal. And yeah, I did reseal the box with a bead of silicone. Not sure why, but since it was sealed when I took it apart, and since the trunk is pretty humid, I figured why not?

This fix worked for me because I am pretty sure that the water was in the box for only a few days. All the gauges worked fine when I put her away for the winter and worked great when I fired her up in the spring, but gorped out the first time I got up to speed (and increased the pressure in the tubes). I tore into the box 3 days later.

[Quinner]

Jeff & Gator

One thing you may want to add is a known cause of the water backing up is freezing/ice. Pitot's are supposed to be self draining but apparently do not always function correctly, if not drained and freeze occurs water will back up on the circuit boards. As a result winterization should include disconnecting the pitot hose connections at the gateway during layup, I also remove my gateway box and store it in the house during layup.

[Beach-TJ]

.....One thing you may want to add is a known cause of the water backing up is freezing/ice.....

Quinner, so this shouldn't be an issue for a boat that's never seen freezing temps? I'm wondering if I should worry about disconnecting the pilot tubes proactively or if it's not a concern since my boat has always been stored inside during the winter and never experienced freezing temps.

[Quinner]

TJ, in theory if the boat will never see freezing temps then no it should not be an issue however if you drain/winterize the motor you should probably disconnect your pitot line's as well. Depending on how accessible your gateway is, removing the pitot lines is an easy task.

[mr_454ss]

After getting into my gateway box and not seeing any signs of water damage I decided to buy the 2009-on limited/team gauges. It is entirely possible a 10 year old gauge would just stop working..... I installed them today and the fuel and volt gauges are working! I'm hoping and fairly confident the engine temp and oil pressure will work also. Now I just need to upgrade the Speedo and Tachometer to complete my dash.

[obd666]

After getting into my gateway box and not seeing any signs of water damage I decided to buy the 2009-on limited/team gauges.

good deal, post a pic when you're done. i am interested to see how they look in these dashes.

[mr_454ss]

The next challenge is going to see if the wife notices the new gauges or not. She already told me we don't need to spend money on the boat.....