www.iFourWinns.com

Just to keep everyone posted. I didn't have much time to work on this issue this weekend, but I did undo what I did above and spliced the bare wire coming out of PIN4 back together and my speedo started working again. Of course the entire panel starts off the day not working and resets often.

Any other suggestions on where to connect the new ground wire?

Thanks,

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

I'd be inclined to try a three way splice adding the new ground to the existing circuit, although a better idea would be to call VDO and get their tech support group to respond to this question. I'm starting to suspect that there is a bad trace or connection inside the cluster that a little WOT causes to connect correctly (or not). Maybe pull the cluster, (can it be opened?) and give it a visual, perhaps check some continuity?

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Aha! http://www.smwebhead.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=833&p=21027#p21027

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Thanks. I thought I "searched" and did not find that old thread. I'm glad frednix resurrected it. I'll keep an eye on responses to his question about how to "open the panel up".

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

My VDO on my 2000 H190 is dead and I'm going to try to solder a ground wire onto the circuit board. has any one tackled this problem yet? CDI electronics will do it for $250. Is there a replacement unit that FW offers? I opened my panel, it just snaps into the holder at 2 spots at top and bottom, now I have to trace where pin 4 goes to.

Yes there is a replacement instrument cluster FW offers, as I recall it goes for upwards of $500. I'd try to solder the ground connection myself, or find a local geek before shelling out $250 to CDI, heck that's half the price of a new cluster - with Faria gauges, and they offer no promises that it'll fix your problem.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Just FYI. Upon digging into my 2000 180 LS trim issue, I stumbled upon this module (Marine cluster isolation unit) that was added to clean up issues with VDO.

My boat had one but I did not look into replacing it since I just by-passed it for the trim circuit only.

http://www.sso-usa.com/marine/Technical ... lation.pdf

That isolation unit was a fix to prevent a current spike from blowing something in the VDO dash. Basically the ground in the dash was not good enough for the system. We send out our dashes to Rapair/CDI in Alabama. They repair them and attach a new ground internally that gets run all the way back to the battery, direct connection. After having them repaired by them you no long should use that isolation unit. Its worth the money. The replacment dash is a woodgrain unit, looks nice, but runs at least $500 and all the gauges are Faria. We have installed 2 so far.

Hey Chalk (or anybody in the know)...

So with my '99 FW Horizon 190LS I've got the infamous poorly grounded cluster...

I bought the boat this past spring and simply went with along with the trim gauge bouncing all over the place, the speedometer working randomly and the whole thing resetting from time to time - no big deal...

I'd prefer to have working gauges.

FW advised that the replacement / upgrade part with individual gauges for my boat is FW part # 025-3118.

I've found a 025-3119 on ebay for a decent price and am wondering if I buy that and simply create a new panel (probably out of sheet metal or coated MDF) and drop those guages in if it'd work for my rig...

If that's a no - where can I get the 025-3118?

Any ideas on cost.

For $500, I'll sit back and watch my gauges perform poorly. For $200, I might be willing to try a fix or replacement. The other option is to buy a set of individual gaages and make my own new panel - but that task seems daunting.

Any help would be apprecaited.

Oh - I aleady tried to solder a new ground and run it back to the negative battery terminal - no improvement there...

Thanks!

Jef
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Moku'ula
FW Horizon 190 LS
VP 4.3 GL SX

that panel will fit right in place of the old one. it comes complete, just changes yours over from the older gray or black background to the wood grain dash. plugs right into the existing harness and everything. it costs the dealers well over $300.

putting on a ground after the fact wont fix anything, the damage is already done. you can send yours to CDI Electronics/RAPAIR in Alabama, they will repair it and send it back. Not sure what the exact charge is. Probably the low $200 range.