Universal Diesel Wiring Flaw - DANGEROUS!!!

[MomentSurf]

Anyone ever have and issue with a melted harness, particularly the red and orange (ammeter) wires?

Take a look at this article, found it while looking for a new harness.

https://marinehowto.com/universal-diesel-engine-wiring-harness-upgrade/

Here are a couple pictures of my 'trailer connector' and ammeter connections.  Noticed this when I was checking my oil before leaving Block Island yesterday.  In Montauk now with another 50 miles before tying up at my slip in Flanders, NY.  Don't want to touch anything until I'm home, but I'm monitoring it very close.

[wes]

I have done RC's recommended mods to the wiring harness per this article, although I did not have any visible melting of the molex connector.. Replaced the ammeter with a voltmeter. While I was at it, I replaced all the instruments with new ones from Defender - the cost was surprisingly reasonable.

Wes

[AnchorJockey]

Wes, can you please share the details of the particular instruments you purchased, and any tips for their replacement?

[wes]

Sure. I used Faria's "Euro" style gauges, ordered from Defender. Here are the Defender item numbers:

304368 - Faria voltmeter, $23.99
304364 - Faria water temp meter, $23.99
304361 - Faria tachometer w/hour meter, $115.99
202103 - Cole Hersee alarm light/buzzer, $25.99

All were a direct plug and play replacement, same mounting hole diameter and electrical connections including compatibility with the Universal engine's temp and pressure sending units. Faria offers other styles besides "Euro" but I felt these looked best.

The Faria gauges are illuminated so I did run a new wire to the nav light circuit so they will light up at night when nav lights are running.

The only (slight) challenge was the little circuit board mounted on the rear terminals of the original temp gauge (upper left corner of photo below). Its purpose is to activate the alarm buzzer if EITHER the water temp or oil pressure senders indicate a dangerous condition. The circuit board doesn't fit on the terminals of the new Faria gauge. I opted to remove it and wire the alarm buzzer to the oil pressure sender only. My thinking was that there is a visible gauge for water temp, and I'm already in the habit of keeping an eye on it when the engine is running.



The tachometer has a tiny rotary switch that needs to be set to match the alternator sense output. I had no access to documentation for my alternator to figure this out, so I used trial and error. The switch gets you in the ballpark, then you tweak the calibration potentiometer as a final adjustment. I borrowed a little hand held RPM meter from a friend and stuck a bit of white tape on the crankshaft pulley to get a reading at idle speed.



Hope this is helpful!

Wes

[AnchorJockey]

 Very much so, thanks!

[kevin27]

Also check the fuseholder for the ignition fuse, mine looked fine but melted when trying to start. I replaced with a ATC holder with 10 awg leads.

[wes]

Assume you mean the fuse for the starter motor, not ignition. Agree that the ATO/ATC fuse is the way to go. Blu Sea makes an excellent waterproof fuse holder, Defender 204993. Big upgrade over the cheap one that came with the Universal engine.

Wes