Bad TAC(s) - Glendenning

[1974-43MY]

During a recent trip up the intercoastal, coming through the Albemarle sound in NC, my starboard side TAC went out. The sync continued to work, until I disengaged it at the other end of the sound.... then it would not re-engage - we had to come home w/o the Glendenning. Having never worked on a Glendenning, I have no idea where do start... I assume it's a broken TAC cable, but can't be sure. Both Starboard TACs on the flybridge and Helm are down. This is on a 43' Hatteras with Detroit Diesels 671s. Anyone ever had similar problems? Thanks in advance.

[MikeP]

Glendinning synchronizers are about as bulletproof as an electro-mechanical device can be and most of the time the problem is in the tach sender or tach cable. If the idle speeds are not correctly set on the engines themselves, it is also possible for the synchro not to engage at idle. Same thing can happen at WOT - the synch will disengage if the wot speeds of the engines are not correctly set in relation to each other. The lead engine must have a higher idle speed than the slave engine and a lower wot speed than the slave in order for the synch to engage/stay engaged throughout the entire rev range. Glen has an excellent support site that will help you solve the problem - http://www.glendinningprods.com/sync.html

There is a troubleshooting section. Check it out and odds are it will pinpoint the problem. Again, it is very likely NOT the synchronizer itself...

[svaron]

My starboard tach went down a few weeks ago. In my case it was the Tach sender unit that needed to be replaced. After sending a picture of the unit along with my engine serial numbers Sam's Marine sent me a new one (very very helpful!!!!!). I have 8 92's

[GJH]

Glendinning is a great source, just give them a call, very friendly. 803 399 6146

Seems like an odd combination of issues. Could well be the cable from the engine to the synchro. When you say the synchronizer continued to work, did you raise or lower your throttle setting during that time? If you did and it still synched, well, that's odd.

As a side note, the tach sender just outputs to your tachs and doesn't have any bearing on your synchronizer. You can test if it is the sender itself (rather than cables and connectors) by switching you multimeter to AC and checking for voltage at the sender's output with the engine running. If for some reason you have to replace the tach sender which screws into the Glendinning, then Lauderdale Speedometer is your best source; I replaced both of my old Suns (I also have 8v92's) for $85 each, and they knew exactly what the issue and solution was. Great shop for a whole variety of stuff. 800-951-5123. Glendinning may have some of the little keyed posts for the old senders laying around, or so they thought last time I talked to them, this is what typically wears and fails. But for 85 bucks, I figured what the heck, get all new.

[1974-43MY]

Thanks I will give Glendenning a call. To answer your question, no I did not "change speeds".. as I was crusing at a pretty good clip (it was rough), but when I left the sound and attempted to "reset" the throttle (down to an idle the glendenning did not re engage. I tried putting the slave all the way forward (my starboard is my slave), the engine just revved...... I suspect a broken cable too... and I appreciate everyone's comments (thanks)... I'm roughing it in Turks & Caicos this week, back Tuesday... then I'm going to start diagnosing the problem...starting probably with calling Glendenning... Again, thanks!