Yamaha Multi Function Meter - Gas Icon Flashing

[Searay54]

Hi Everyone, I have a 1989 25 Sailfish with twin Yamaha 2 stroke 200hp motors. This is my 1st season with this boat. Also, all my expierence is with inboards.
I need help with the Yamaha center multi function meter which is for speed, fuel and battery. Not sure how to program it but it seems to have power amd is semi functional.
I know its sorta working because the batteries were low and the battery icon was flashing until I got them charged up.
The major issue is the fuel icon is constantly flashing. I've filled the foward main tank with aprx 50 gals of fuel, the rear aux tank is empty. I'm trying to get the main tank to read the fuel on the meter so I know how much fuel is left in the tank.
Heres some issues to consider while thinking about a way to fix the meter.
The Garmin fuel sensor mounted on the transome was broken, so we by passed it. The fuel line now is direct from fule filter to the bulb & engine.
We don't have a manual for the guages and don't know how to program them to sense fuel in either the main or aux tank. We're flying blind here.
We're not sure if the meter is broken nad don't know how to test it.
Not sure if the tank sending unit is broken and not sure how to test it.
Any insight you can share will gratefully appreciated.
Ed

 

[kirk a]

There may be a switch that changes the display from the main to the auxiliary tank and vice versa. This is usually one of the rocker switches, but given the age of your boat, they may have done it differently then.

 

[seasick]

does the gauge have a et of bars that display the fuel level? When you turn on the ignition, the gauge will go through a self test and all the bars and icons will display as a test and then go into normal operation mode.. If that works, the gauge is probably OK.

Kirk a mentioned a tank sender selector. It is there to enable you to select which tank sender the display will monitor. Find that switch and try flipping it in the opposite position to see if the display changes. After you switch, give it some time to change.
To test the tank sender, you really need a working display but here is a way to sort of test. Open the access plate that sits over the area of the tank where the sender is mounted. For a dual tank arrangement, you will have two access plates to pop off to get to the senders.
On each sender there is a pink wire to one sender (usually the main tank) and on the other tank is a pink with another color stripe. I don't remember the color)
Pull off the connector for the pink wire and connect it to a good ground. (the tank and the sender flange should be at ground but a bad grounding of the tank is a common issue).
In any case, when you touch the pink wire to ground, the gauge should read full ( again, give it some time).
If nothing changes, try grounding the other pink/something wire to ground. Hopefully one of the two wires grounded will cause the gauge to display a level near full.

If the gauge doesn't display anything for either wire grounded, the testing gets more complicated. It could be the helm selector switch (you really need to find that switch) or less likely a bad gauge.
Let us know what you find and we can go from there.

 

[Searay54]

You guys are awesome! Thank very much for your info.
I recall seeing a switch on the panel that said fuel. The names are so warn out its hard to tell what they say.

 

[Hookup1]

My 1997 Islander was re-powered with F150's in 2006. The old wiring harness and fuel flow meters were there. Eventually I disconnected and removed both and connected hoses directly from fuel valves to the filters.

Both sending units were bad. Replaced them with WEMA style (you need to know tank height in inches). There is a panel switch for "main" and "aft" tanks that basically switches the fuel gauge to either sending unit. When you flip the switch the gauge will add/remove 1/8 tank bars on the gauge (couple of seconds apart) or turn key off/on.

My new motors were capable of NEMA2000 connection to my Garmin chartplotter. This gives me fuel consumption rates. It also allows you to setup a "fuel gauge" based on what your boat holds (not connected to sending units).

My best advice is to follow SEASICK's sender troubleshooting and make sure both you're sending units work along with the fuel gauge and switch. Know that they can be trusted.

 

[Searay54]

Hookup1 and Kirk, Thank you for your detailed replies and help!
I found the fuel switch on the main panel. It was a 3 way switch, forward, off and rear. I switched it to the up portion which I guessed was forward tank, turned the port key to on, the icon still flashed, I started the engines, took the boat out for a cruise in the the bay, the icon stopped flashing and the fuel level registered! I'm very grateful for your help. I posted a picture of the working meter.

 

[kirk a]

Awesome! Glad to hear it worked out for you.