[C320-list] Temperature Gauge

[Ronniew326 at aol.com]

Rick,
 
That is helpful.  Thanks a bunch.
 
 
In a message dated 10/15/2011 9:35:29 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
rsulewski at bex.net writes:



Ronnie,

I just replaced my temperature gauge and the  temperature sender located on
the fitting that is on top of thermostat  housing my Westerbeke engine.

I experienced the same problem a couple  of years ago with a pegged temp
gauge but discovered that I had  accidentally grounded out the temperature
lead when I replaced the valve  cover after adjusting the valves and
inadvertently pinched the temperature  sending wire between the engine block
and the valve cover. Once I removed  the wire and taped up the damaged wire
that had created a direct ground,  the temp gauge worked fine. Then this 
past
summer the temp gauge pegged  again and there was no evidence of a former
ground problem against the  engine block.

I pulled the thermostat just to be on the safe side while  the water
temperature in Lake Erie was in the 70s.  Last week I  finally got around to
replacing the gauge and the sender. The problem was  not the sender but the
gauge. I replaced the sender first since it was time  drain the block to
freshen the antifreeze since I needed to reinstall the  thermostat with the
lake water temperatures declining. The temperature  gauge replacement is
straight forward with 6 screws to remove the  instrument gauge panel and 
then
removal of the gauge leads with one of the  leads on the gauge centering
bracket. Total time to replace both the sender  and gauge takes less than 15
minutes.

My temp gauge has a black  background and can be purchased from Catalina 
thru
Seaward, West Marine or  most any yard marina store can order one - cost
about $39 and the temp  sender unit cost only $20.  I bet the sender could 
be
purchased from  NAPA like many diesel engine parts such as the fuel pumps,
etc, but got  mine at local marina yard store.

Hope this info is  helpful.

Rick
My-Ria #277


-----Original  Message-----
From:  c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com]  On Behalf Of
Ronniew326 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 9:22  AM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] Temperature  Gauge


The engine temperature gauge on my 1996 vintage Yanmar 3GM30F  seems to 
have 
gone haywire.  When turning the key on the gauge needle  pegs  itself all 
the way over to maximum hot even though the engine  cooling system  seems 
to 
be working perfectly well (no blockages in  the strainer, normal water  
flow 
coming out of the exhaust, no  apparent overheating of the  engine).  I ran 
the engine for  several hours on a cruise last weekend, and  except for the 
gauge,  all was normal.

Thinking that there might be a wire connectivity  problem (corrosion)  
somewhere I spent some time the next day  cleaning all the wire ends and  
terminals in the gauge with  sandpaper.  Still no luck.  So I'm  thinking
that either  
the gauge is broken and will need to be replaced, or  perhaps the  wires at 
the engine side are either loose or corroded.   The  only problem is I 
don't 
know where the wires on the engine side are   located.  Any suggestions 
would

be greatly  appreciated.

Ronnie Williams
s/v Banana Wind    #326