Engine Instruments

[russmorgan]

I have recently acquired a 1987 Catalina 34 (325), and this is my first experience with trying to get answers to some of my problems through the Association.  

My first problem has to do with nonfunctioning engine instruments.  The engine runs fine, but the tachometer doesn't work, and neither does the temperature guage.  There is a plexiglass cover that comes off easily but then there are two sets of screws, one on the panel itself and another on the frame around the panel.  Which set should I take off to access the back side of the instruments and what should I look for once that is done?

[Stu Jackson]

Russ

Open your rear lazzarrette and climb back in there and look behind the panel.  Some of the panels have been installed with wood screws into the fibergalss and some have been put in with nuts and bolts.  The wider larger white frame sometimes comes out, or sometimes the metal "inside" panel does.  Be careful with the engine stop lever assembly when removing the panel and trim.

Depending on how yours is rigged and comes out phsyically, you may have to put caulking around the wider white edging material as you replace it.

Stu

[SteveLyle]

I've had my panel out.  The white frame didn't come out.  The panel itself is bolted with the #6 machine screws.  You'll have to get in the aft locker to reach them all, at least I did (5'11", 174#'s - if you're 6'4", 250#, you'll never make it - time to test your spouse's affection).

The panel's a tight fit coming off and going back on.  Work slowly and carefully and you'll be alright.

[russmorgan]

Hey,
I tried going into the lazerette, but, being 6'1" and 250# and having an uncooperative spouse, all that yielded was a crick in the back, numerous bruises around the rib cage, and a very brief glance at about a thousand wires coming out of the back of the panel before pain and claustrophobia drove me back to fresh air.  
I then tackled the problem from the other end.  I read the Universal Owner's Manual and found that the heat sensor had a tan wire.  I found a tan wire (in very bad shape) very loosely attached to what I presume was a heat sensor (By the way, how high should the coolant be in the reservoir? Mine is down three or four inches.) I tightened the nut on the tan wire, buttoned up the engine, and fired it up.  The tach didn't work but the hour meter did.  The Temperature needle moved from below the register up to 120 and stayed there for the twenty minutes I ran the engine. The fuel guage seems to work but I don't know about the amp meter; it stayed in the exact center the entire time.  Assuming I am able to remove the panel and am able to access the guages from the back, how should I test them?
Russ

[Ted Pounds]

Russ,

If your amp meter didn't go negative when you started the engine then it's inop.  If it's not going positive while the engine is running then you're not charging.  In either case since you have an amp meter it means you should do the wiring harness upgrade (which changes the amp meter to a volt meter)  If you do that it may solve asome of your other problems.

Ted