Engine wiring harness upgrade

[Ken Juul]

I finally did the harness upgrade.  Of the 2 connectors, the one at the instrument panel was clean and dry.  The one by the engine had moderate corrosion on about half the pins.  Took the boat out this weekend.  I have been struggling with high engine temps and could find nothing wrong with the cooling system.  This weekend the temp stayed rock steady at 170.  I am thinking as the connector heated up, it somehow caused the temp indicator to falsly read hot.  I also didn't used to show anything above about 13 volts.  Now it starts at 13 and builds to 14 as the batteries charge.  Starts easier also.  It is amazing how a little corrosion can cause problems.   For those of you that have not yet done this change, I highly recommend it.

[Stu Jackson]

Ken's right, it's a necessary thing to do, it is a safety issue.

The following references cover it well, and a search on wiring harness will give you lots more.

http://www.c34ia.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=532&highlight=wiring+harness

and

http://www.c34ia.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1125&highlight=wiring+harness

Along with the alternator bracket upgrade for owners with M25 engines, these are the two most important things you NEED to do for your own safety.

[Ron Hill]

Ken : Guess you're more of a gambler that I am.  "Better late than Never" should not be a saying applied to a SAFETY / FIRE HAZARD.  Consider yourself lucky and be thankful that you got it done before you boat burned to the water line!!

I first heard about this modification from Gerry Douglas in Jan 1991.  At first I misunderstood the modification - as it really only pertained to the boats with an ammeter.  WRONG!!, so it took me a year or so to install the modification even though I had it on board.   I've written a number of articles highlighting this modification in the Mainsheet.  Still surprises me to find people that still haven't done it.

Probably the biggest fault lies with CATALINA, as they gave owners the impression that the wire harness mod. was a "nice to do" rather than that it was a safety item as the connectors could short out and cause a fire.  This is especially true for the connector at the engine.  When I replaced mine in 1993? the engine connector actually FELL APART!!

So readers : , it you you haven't done the "wiring harness upgrade" (Catalina's words) DO IT NOW.  

[Ken Juul]

Gambler no, uninformed yes.  I've followed the previous threads on the upgrade, was not having any of the problems that indicated the harness might be going bad.  Some how I didn't pick up the safety issue until I read about some major problems including a fire on the CatalinaOwners.com board.

Hopefully everyone will have the whole picture now.