www.iFourWinns.com

I have a 2001 Horizon 230 with 5.7 GSi. Bought it last year and have no real issues except...

When I shift from forward to neutral and then reverse, and give it a little acceleration, I get an alarm (very loud alarm). The digital display on my dash board normally has one triangle pointing to which ever mode it is displaying, such as trip hrs, total hrs, water temp, depth, time, etc. When this 'post reverse thrust' alarm goes off, every triangle flashes on and off repeatedly while the numeric display shows flashing numbers such as .7 then .8 then 1.2 What the heck? The alarm usually stops sounding within five or ten seconds, then comes back on again, but sometimes not. Occasionally this same alarm, with the flashing triangles, happens during high speed forward travel, but I cannot find a pattern as to what is triggering it. The reverse thrust scenario, however, will make it go off every time.

I have scanned the owner's manual for alarm codes but to no avail.

Thanks in advance for your help.

It may well be you've either deliberately or inadvertently set the low depth alarm and as you're reversing, turbulent water/ air from the stern passing over ( or rather under!) the sender is setting it off.

Graham

I agree with Graham. I had the same problem so I turned off the low water alarm but, I can't remember how I did it! Your manual should discuss it. I got frustrated with it because everytime I ran over a weed patch in a cove or bay it would go off and I got nervous that I was somewhere I shouldn't be. Now I just pay alot closer attention to the water if I am somewhere I don't know.

_________________
Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie


'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive

Sounds to me like a different sort of issue that your VDO Instrument cluster doesn't like. I'd guess voltage fluctuations. The VDO gauges have been a source of trouble for FW, and they not only dropped them, but offer a replacement instrument panel using standard Faria gauges. From what I've read around here, those VDO gauges are very sensitive to grounding issues, but I can't conceptualize what's different about going from nuetral to reverse rather than nuetral to forward that could cause grounding issues or voltage fluctuations. I do know that a depth alarm would not light up every triangle, although it can't hurt to disable that feature.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Jim,

I remember it being a real pain if I ever used the low depth alarm, in the end I switched it off and relied on the fishfinder display. From the manual for that instrument cluster:

Entering shallow water causes a continuous chirping sound and blinking up/down arrow segments.

This is a shortcut to the manual:

http://www.sso-usa.com/marine/TechnicalSupport/pdf/Bulletins/Manuals/VDOClusterManual2000.pdf

Graham

Thanks Graham. I had trouble keeping my batteries charged the end of last summer, so the low voltage alarm is still a viable root cause, but I think the bubbles from reverse thrusting is more likely. I'll disable the low depth alarm and see what happens. Thanks also for the VDO Cluster manual link. I never knew what the cluster was called since its manual was not included with the other paperwork that came with the boat.

-Ben

Did anyone ever download this VDO cluster manual.. The link no longer works, and I would appreciate if anyone could send it to me.

Also if anyone ever added the extra ground to their cluster and has some pointers on where to connect it, I would be really interested in anything you could tell me..


Thanks

Dave
djbusa143@gmail.com

Dave, check your E-mail, I sent you the .PDF file. If you don't get it, let me know.

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John
2001 Four Winns Horizon 230
VP 5.7 GSi / DP
2007 Ford Expedition EL