Mercruiser Rev Counter Flicker???

[paultallett]

Hi,

First post, so please be gentle. Had an ace Easter, boat back in the water, clean bum, fully serviced engine etc......Had a fantastic shake down trip from Portsmouth to Lymington and back.

Boat performed beautifully and all is well with the world.....Then once off the plane and doing a steady 6knots back in to Portsmouth the revcounter on my Mercruiser Mag350 started to flicker, anything from 200 - 800 rpm from where it had been showing. Engine was absolutly fine with no engine note change and the speed stayed steady.

Must be a loose wire / connection / faulty gauge....anybody had a similar experiance so as to point me in the right direction before I start poking around next time I'm at the boat?

I would have had a look yesterday but my crew was desparate for the rides at Southsea......I obviously need to keep a bigger stick on board to control mutiny!!!

Regards,

Paul.

 

[carlton]

Try removing/cleaning the contacts at the back of the gauge. It's usually a bit of verdigris/corrosion that's the problem. Clean it off and it should be fine.

 

[Mymobo]

Hi, I had this problem and had to get a new dial, runs sweet now.

 

[geardownthreegreens]

Welcome aboard Paul(sorry 4 pun), glad you enjoyed your first outing this season. Start with easy stuff as mentioned,remove wires and clean connectors but as they're probably electronic gauges,it could be a fault within the unit,and if thats the case,you'll probably be buying another unit. Try ebay

 

[DAKA]

If its a black dial with blue mercury on it I have a spare one unused I could sell you, send me a pm if interested. Fits everything from outboards to V8.

The reason I have a spare is mine was flickering 5 years ago.

There are some dials on the back that you set for

2 cylinder outboard
4 cylinder
6 cylinder etc

If the dial gets knocked then your rev counter will flicker.

Hope that helps but if not I am open to offers on the rev counter.

 

[Mymobo]

If the unit is gone, you can buy them also from main dealers. I got a great deal and bought a full new set which made the dash look better.

 

[paultallett]

Thanks for all your quick replies. I think it will be a case of work through all the contacts and suck it and see.

Thanks for your kind offer DAKA, the rev dial is a 'Faria' so in the interest of keeping everything the same, I guess if it comes to replacing the dial I'll have to go down the dealer route.....

Regards,

Paul.

 

[geardownthreegreens]

I've seen Faria gauges on ebay several times in the past,.They're not on there all the time but now is the time to start watching

 

[paultallett]

Ebay being studied as I type!!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Duster]

I have had similar problems with the revcounter fluctuating and reading double what it should, after winter storage.
Daft as it sounds I was advised by Merc dealer that it may be a poor internal contact and to "thump it" as we did with old teles years ago. I thought "well it cost nothing to try" Thumped it and lo and behold it fell back to a steady and correct reading.
Welcome mikej

 

[paultallett]

Now thats just the solution I was after......No more chasing wires, just give it a good thump!! Got to be worth a try!! Brill, thanks for that Mikej /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif