• Creator
    Topic
  • #82047

    Ian McTiernan
    Participant
    Vessel Name: Voyager
    Engines: 2 x 6BT 5.9M 210
    Country: United States

    Hi,

    I’m looking for some thoughts about unusual overheating alarms I’ve been experiencing. My boat has twin 6BT 210s. This is a trawler style boat, so I typically run 1400-1800 RPMs without getting on plane. The port engine engine gauge typically reads steady at about 185. The starboard gauge will typically read 5-10 degrees higher.

    The boat has dual helms, I’ve had a recurring issue where the lower helm gauge on the starboard engine will ramp up to about 200 above 1200 or so RPMs and then will suddenly jump to about 210 with the alarm sounding. This often starts happening after an hour or two or running normally. Strange thing is that the gauge for the same engine on the upper helm will stay at 185-190 even while the lower helm alarm is sounding and reading 25ish degrees higher. When testing with the temp gun, temperatures are more or less the same on both engines as read near the thermostat housing in the 180s, so I am thinking it is a gauge/wiring/sender issue. I cleaned up the contacts on the sender and the wire but it didn’t make a difference. In case it’s relevant, that engine is plumbed to a water heat as well.

    My owner’s manual includes a wiring diagram but doesn’t seem to correlate with the VDO gauges I have. It also isn’t clear how the wiring is set up for a dual stations. As far as I know there is only one temp sender on the engine, so are both gauges and both alarms all reading from that spot? What would cause them to read differently?

    Any troubleshooting tips for this issue? If I need to start changing out gauges/senders, what would be the proper replacements for this setup? Thanks in advance!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #82375

    Ian McTiernan
    Participant
    Vessel Name: Voyager
    Engines: 2 x 6BT 5.9M 210
    Country: United States

    I opened up the panel to find that the previous owner had tapped into the ground on the temp gauge in question to install a new fuel gauge. Never realized it before! I corrected the ground for the temp gauge to its original configuration.

    Haven’t had a chance yet to run the engines up and test it, but do you think this could have interfered enough with the ground to cause the higher readings in that location?

    #82176

    Rob Schepis
    Forum Moderator
    Vessel Name: Tenacious
    Engines: 6BTA 5.9 330's - "Seaboard Style"
    Location: Long Island, NY
    Country: USA

    So you are working with all the same stuff up and down so that is good as you have several options for swip-swapping.

    1 user thanked author for this post.
    #82149

    Ian McTiernan
    Participant
    Vessel Name: Voyager
    Engines: 2 x 6BT 5.9M 210
    Country: United States

    Good idea – I’ll try switching the gauges next time out. Not sure if we’ll make it out again before the end of the season for long enough to replicate the issue though.

    I’ve attached some pictures of the instruments:

    #82049

    Rob Schepis
    Forum Moderator
    Vessel Name: Tenacious
    Engines: 6BTA 5.9 330's - "Seaboard Style"
    Location: Long Island, NY
    Country: USA

    Post some pics of your upper and lower instruments. Before I started purchasing anything I would swap gauges either port to starboard or up to down and see if the inconsistency stays with the gauge or with the engine/location.

    2 users thanked author for this post.
Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.