2008 SAN 230 electrical issues

[JBradshaw]

New to me 2008 SAN 230 is having some electrical issues. At first the gauges were slow to “come alive” after start up. Usually taking about 2min after engine start to come alive and start working, but after they did everything was fine. However, after a few more uses the entire instrument panel except for the Zero-off quit working and hasn’t worked since. I’m talking everything, no speed, no rpm, no fuel, no engine temp, no depth, no engine hours, nothing. Thankfully Zero-off is still operating so I can still ride.

Fast forward a few weeks and after a surf session I’m emptying the ballast idling back to the dock and my keypad freezes up. Pumps are still running but can’t be turned off. The entire keypad freezes. I couldn’t run the blower, turn on lights, or anything. I couldn’t even turn the engine off from the keypad “stop” switch. Ended up doing a hard shutdown from the battery switch, restarted the engine and everything worked fine. It hasn’t happened every use but has occurred another 2-3 times since.

Now, I’m not sure if these issues are related at all. Originally with the gauge issue I was suspecting possibly a bad gateway but after doing more research here it seems like the bad gateway was more of an issue for 06 and earlier models. Not to say a gateway can’t go bad in the 08 I know. Trying to figure out if there is any ways of testing the gateway before trying to buy a new one. Any other trouble shooting ideas would be greatly appreciated from the PN brain trust . Thanks in advance.

[Miljack]

Saw your post on the FB group too, didn't see that you mentioned the keypad freezing up too. It sounds like the gateway is going back, but, the keypad is an additional piece that may or may not be related to the gateway. Maybe you have a poor ground somewhere? The wiring is not great in these years, have a look under the love seat and around the head unit (bottom of the "glovebox" area). I have found grounds that were bad that affected some gauges there. Might be worth checking all the wiring connections behind the gauges too.
Hope this helps.

[shag]

Sounds to me like gateway. The Zero off works on its own and just gets power from the harness (If I remember right). I have the same year and boat. My Gateway is toast but it stopped counting hours at 999.9 (don't get me started that design failure and finger pointing between Nautique and Faria). Like above, you can look around for possibly lose wire somewhere. Oddly enough even though my factory gauges quit working, I still can see water depth/temperature, and one other thing in the digital readout of the gauge. Just no other functions or lighting. I ended up getting a custom gateway from Fox marine and adding a Simrad. I did not care for the non matching gauge update/fix.

[JBradshaw]

Sounds to me like gateway. The Zero off works on its own and just gets power from the harness (If I remember right). I have the same year and boat. My Gateway is toast but it stopped counting hours at 999.9 (don't get me started that design failure and finger pointing between Nautique and Faria). Like above, you can look around for possibly lose wire somewhere. Oddly enough even though my factory gauges quit working, I still can see water depth/temperature, and one other thing in the digital readout of the gauge. Just no other functions or lighting. I ended up getting a custom gateway from Fox marine and adding a Simrad. I did not care for the non matching gauge update/fix.

Thanks for the info. So are your gauges all just dead and you’re getting all your info out of the new gateway and displaying on the simrad? Not super familiar with that but I’m like you and don’t love the idea of swapping out my gauges into the non factory gauges.

[WakeHawk]

I did a similar project as Shag a couple of years ago, here is a link to that post.
https://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/f...ith-garmin-mfd

[biacs]

Are the batteries both fresh?

You could buy a new battery (if not new) and run off that for a bit.

I know cars from that time really freak out if voltage isn't spot on. And an intermittent battery issue could wreak havoc on the older style electronics.

That generation of boats is such a great build and quality. But you need to weed out the electronic gremlins with whatever the fix ( eliminate Faria gauges etc). And of course check and clean any grounds. Is the boat stored dry, etc.?

A weird example on my 2006 was the perfect pass paddle sensor was being smooshed by the gas tank. So I found the wires were pulled too tight under the corner of the gas tank, causing it to freak out. So you never know what could be hiding in your systems causing small issues intermittently!