Caterpillar Gauges Quit Working

[divert00]

3406Es, vintage 1994 on Hatteras MY. . Lower helm has Caterpillar Vision display, which works fine. Upper helm has Cat EMS display and 5 analog gauges, including tachometer. All worked fine until recently. Starboard analog gauges show no needle movement at start up or underway. Appears there is no power to them. The EMS has display, but the numbers are incorrect. I have wiggled the wiring harness and jiggled the ignition key(which energizes the upper display). No change. Any suggestions on where to start diagnosis?

John McCarley

Water Colors

Wrightsville Beach NC

[Boatsb]

If you've wiggled and jiggled there's nothing you can do to fix it. Call catapiller and work out a mortgage.

[oscarvan]

Majority of all electrical problems stem from a bad ground. Run a direct ground to see if it fixes the problem. If it does you know what to do.

[divert00]

More diagnostic evidence....
Worked perfectly on first startup of the day. All starts after that; no joy. When key is energized gauges bounce to right and digital speed indicator lights(as normal). But all immediately stop all indications. Same symptoms next day. Waited 5 hours after shutdown, re-started and all normal. Then same symptoms rest of the day.

????????

[doc g]

I have the same issue with one side of my analog (Cat) gauges also... The electronic gauges read normally and the FB gauges on that side also read normally....????Pat

[divert00]

Mystery remains. Port EMS displays error code 1539.1 and starboard displays 1551.2. Grounds checked. Backlighting works for all, but gauges are not powered.

John McCarley

[divert00]

Resolved. The EMS display is supposed to send dc power to the analog gauges, but when I tested it was not. Replaced EMS gauge, problem resolved.

John McCarley
Water Colors
Wrightsville Beach NC