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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!
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