Troubleshooting Tachometer 1997 Ski Nautique

[JBird97Nautique]

I'm getting nothing from the tachometer. Needle does not move at all when I turn the key on, I see all of my guages move except the tach. (stays at 6 o'clock postion)

So far I've tried:

1. Rotating the switch on back of tach around - 4cyl, 6cyl, 8cyl thinking maybe it had a bad contact. No change
2. Replaced Tach with brand new Faria (Same one). No Change
3. Put a circuit test light on Pos/Neg on back of tach and does light up indicating power. Appears to be daisy chained to other guages which are working.
4. Put a circuit test light on the engine signal wire connection next to the distrubutor coil wire (Grey and a Green wire go into this connector). Lights up indicating power/signal


When I turn the ignition key to the on position and see the guages move, should the Tach move to the 0 position indicating power? Any thoughts?

[JBird97Nautique]

I've read about a inline Ohm resistor, does anyone know if that is known to be an issue?

[JBird97Nautique]

Can anyone confirm when you turn the key on if the tach should jump to the zero position or if it stays in the 6 o'clock position? I think when it gets power, it should jump to 0 rpm. This would tell me if there is something wrong with the wiring at the tach. thanks

[Michael Crouse]

I wish I could help you on the tach. It’s been a while since I messed with one of these. I do remember tracing all my wiring in my dash and upgrading the grounds to fix non working gages in my 2000 ski. In reading your post though it sounds like the signal is getting interrupted, or no signal is being read.
sorry I’m no more help.

[JBird97Nautique]

So I hooked it up to a battery charger to see if I could get the needle to move at all and it wouldn't budge so I took it apart and basically couldn't find any reason why it wasn't working. Maybe the little motor went bad? Anyway, I know I am getting power from the dash and the signal via a light tester. I ordered a new Faria tach and it came yesterday. I hooked it back up to the battery charger and the needle immediately starts to go to the Zero. When I was trouble shooting this a few months ago I had ordered a brand new tach off amazon and hooked it up, but it didnt work (needle didnt budge with key on) so I figured it must be something with the signal wire because a brand new tach can't be bad! This weekend I will hook up the new tach and see what happens but I believe I solved my issue (2 Bad Tachometers)

[jpwhit]

I would caution against using a battery charger as a 12v source for electronics. Most battery chargers for lead acid batteries are not well stabilized or filtered. They can damage electronic components. They are fine if they are actually connected to a 12v lead acid battery, because the battery acts as a filter and stabilizes the voltage.

[JBird97Nautique]

I cant beleive this. Tach that came with boat was no good. So....bought a brand new Faria tach off Amazon and hooked it up.....no change. Spent hours troubleshooting trying to figure out if it's a signal issue or dash wiring issue which I deteremined were fine after using a light test. Bought a brand new Faria Tach again off Amazon and hooked it up to the dash yesterday and low and behold we now know what the RPMs are. Hallelujah...holy $h!t. All of this becuase I bought a bad tach off amazon.