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Hi guys, Please let me know if any of you have run into this before. I had this issue before, but it went away for a long time. now is it is back, intermittently. Pat IV 06 with 200 OPTI 06 Merc with Smart Craft Backed boat into water with motor up. Lower motor. When key is turned on, very intermittently smart guages do not chirp or come on. When this happens motor will crank but with no ignition/start.. I thought I found the issue because of the wires behind the key switch were twisted tight big time. I straightened them out, checked for wire damage, none, and retightened switch assy in dash. Could never dupe the issue again untill about 4 lake visits later. What I found was that I could get the gauges to come when key was turned on after I trimmed the motor up high. After getting the smart guages to come on, motor would start and work all day on the lake, every time, no need to mess with the tilt again. Last Sunday went to the lake again. Back boat into the water, lowered the motor, turned the key and no smart guages came on. Moved tilt up, down, up, down , up…no smart guages coming on. Pulled boat out of the water and to a parking spot. Looked (again) for tight battery connections. Looked at all cables/wires that move slightly when tilt is moved up and down back in the battery compartment. Hoping to find a chaf or something loose. Nothing. After about 4 more movements of the tilt and turning key off and on, guages lit up. I knew she would start then. Put her in the water and went fishing. Worked normal for a bout 6 or 7 starts that day. Again, no need to mess with the tilt. 1- I have never been able to get the smart guages to fail in the garage. 2 – Never been able to get the guages to fail arriving at the ramp to prep boat to back into water. 3 – Has only failed after boat touches the water during back in. (intermittently) ( this has me thrown) I am thinking I have a loose/open connection………. somewhere in the battery compartment area, feedthru from boat to motor, or the motor area connectors?? I have been all over it, just cannot put my finger on it. I would say it is not the ignition key switch. If it fails, I can turn the key off and on 100 times, no help. Will work after I move the trim full up and then turn key on, 95% of the time. I can then leave key on, lower trim and start. Any ideas? Once it works, its good for the whole day. Thanks for any troubleshooting areas to look at. It is over 225 miles to a Basscat dealer North of Houston from my place.Last edited by basscatsmeow on August 8th, 2008, 4:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
The Smart Craft gauges feed through a line termed a Can Bus line. That line has small wires, and on a 2006 is a blue wire from memory. We happen to have a couple of leftovers if you think you are capable of pluggin them in and checking the wires yourself. The connection for the SC Gauges is under the cowling and is a flat Cannon plug that connects in there. You will be able to trace that wire and find the harness connection and that is most likely your issue. BCB
You may have a damaged tilt transducer; it is possible that the transducer is shorting out the power supply or the CAN bus causing intermittant operation. Suggest you unplug the tilt transducer and see if problem can be repeated. Good luck jwt
Thanks BCB and Thomas, I will take a look. I leave on vacation in two days. may have to wait till I get back. Will let you know what I find. Thanks again!Not sure were the tilt transducer is, but I will locate it.
The digital tilt transducer is located on the port (left) side of the engine midsection. You can find it if you look just above the Manual tilt lock knob. Check voltage between red and black wires; you should get 4 to 5 VDC. Check voltage between yellow and black wires: Trim full up 4 VDC 0.5 VDC Trim Full down 1.5 VDC 0.5 VDC. It appears that the CAN bus does not go to the transducer, so the bus may not be affected. Voltage change should be smooth and have no discontinuities good luck jwt
The trim sensor is actually on a separate harness and feeds into the ECU in the engine so I dont think that is the problem. The CAN backbone plugs into another harness that leads to the ECU and all info that is displayed in the gauges is fed from the ECU via this cable. Since the intermittent-ness of the issue seems to be related to boat and engine attitude it makes me highly suspect a poor or corroded CAN backbone connection. On my 04 the blue CAN backbone plugs into the ECU harness on the starboard side of the engine in the lower cowling area. Check this plug and the plug at the other end of the engine harness that the CAN backbone plugs into for corrosion on the metal pins and that the plug is snapped tight. Some electrical grease may even be in order on the pins. Then follow the blue CAN backbone out of the motor and into the bilge looking for cuts, pulls and pinches. I would think if it were under the dash then it would occur anywhere and not just when the boat and motor are tilted. Try that and let us know. Deke[font="]Deke[/font]
Just wanted to follow up on my findings. Starboard side of engine, large black connector made a “click” sound when I slightly tried to tighten it. Sounded like it was not seated completely. Disconnecting connector gave me the same issue on the Smart gauges. Been out on the lake twice now and worked good so far. Thanks to all with their input. My newly installed 797c2 side imaging on the bow also worked great too. Does this make me a cheater now?
No though it does make you smarter. Glad all were able to help you find the connection issue. BCB
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