I ordered a Cravenspeed flexpod kit with the Marshall gauges for water temp and oil pressure and attempted to get them installed last weekend. I took my time and it went well until I buttoned everything up and went to test and check for leaks.

The gauges wouldn't do anything, nothing. Wiring you say, of course. We double checked everything before replacing the battery so we checked a third time and didn't find a problem. Checked the fuses (I installed fuses as recommended in the Marshall sheet), okay. After an email to Cravenspeed where they thought it was wiring as well I got more help and we checked the connectors with a DMM, all okay. Kellen suggested just powering the gauges from the battery. We noticed they were warm when removed from the cups (don't know if that is typical).

Power and ground from the battery caused the needle sweep which was promising. Connecting back in the MINI resulted in nothing. We happened to try with just the power connector and nothing else and the needle would sweep and the backlight would work. Promising yes, but when the sensor was connected they went dead again. We checked the sensor wires and then tried measuring the resistance across the sensors (not sure what acceptable values are but assume that some value would result in a reading on the gauges). Reconnect the sensor and the gauges go dead, no sweep or light.

At this point I'm frustrated and my wife is tired of the MINI looking like it vomited in the drivers seat. Anyone happen to encounter a similar problem or have a suggestion on where to look? Between numerous pairs of eyes and many gauge installs (other than Marshall) we are running out of ideas.

Thanks!

 

Measured the sensors yesterday. On the cold engine the oil pressure sensor measures 3.2 ohm to ground and was the same at the gauge connector. Water temp sensor is 1.85 kohm at both. So no short or open in the signal line . Any body know if those values sound correct?

I've got more time into troubleshooting these than the install and I'm open to suggestions. Kellen at Cravenspeed thought the sensors could be the problem but he is OOO until monday so I'm in contact with someone else there waiting to hear back.

Thanks.

 

Make sure you don't have the signal and ground connections between the sensors and gauges swapped.

 

SkiBum,

Yes after a week of checking and rechecking and having others check we made sure the signal and ground connections were correct. We also checked the sensor values with a DMM at both the sensor and the connector. Although I sent that information to CravenSpeed and they talked to Marshall they forgot to confirm the readings were within range.

I did get replacement gauges installed last night and everything works now. Finally after 10 days of having everything pulled apart I was able to button it back up. Problem is with the sensor connector to the gauge, if you just barely touched it to the gauge pins you could get a reading but once you plugged it in, nothing. Not clear if the plug is loose or the pins but I'm sure they'll investigate it as they haven't encountered this problem before. They could recreate it by applying 12V to the sensor lead but there were a few of us that measured all the pins over the course of a week to make sure what was needed was where it should be.

I do appreciate the reply though.

Happy motoring!

 

Glad you got it worked out, not what I would have expected. You may have found this already, lots of good info here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...r-dummies.html