New member questions

[mytime]

New to the forum but have been reading a lot. Just bought a set of used 2007 DF250's with 900 hrs. They are being shipped now and I should have them by Wed or Thurs of next week. Excited to get boat back in water.

Couple questions on what maintenance items should I check replace since I don't know the exact maint history on these. I am thinking:
1. Replace water pumps
2. Change lower unit fluid
3. Replace Spark Plugs
4. Grease upper gear shaft (I read a few issues where these corroded and could not be removed?)
5. Possibly buy a couple spare IAC valves?
6. I just added 2 new Racor 10 micron filters to the fuel system.

Anything else that I may be missing?

Next, I am installing these myself. I am replacing the old steering system with a new SeaStar system. I have already run pull lines in all the chase tubes for the rigging. I was trying to find an online diagram of the plugs in the wiring harness but no luck. Are these pretty much plug and play? Any other engines I have rigged in the past are pretty intuitive. (They only go together one way.)

Last, I have a Raymarine E120 display so I could use the NMEA network interface display instead of the gauges that are being shipped with the engines. I am going to see what kind of shape the gauges are in, but if possible, I may wait for the new gauges to come out and install those. (I understand that Suzuki is not guaranteeing that they will interface properly with engines newer than 2012 I think, but most people I have spoken with say they should work. Will probably wait on this.)

Looking for feedback on how the interface to the NMEA units works vs. the gauges.

Thanks in advance for the feedback and I am really looking forward to getting this all set up.

Mac

[Moonlighter]

Hi Mac, and congratulations in your purchase!

I can't answer all your questions but can add a few things.

I would also add changing all the under-cowl fuel filters to your list.

The idea of buying a couple of spare IAC valves - well I think that's over the top. Not many people have trouble with them and at least some of those that think they have IAC trouble actually have different issues altogether and are treating symptoms, not problems. So I wouldn't bother with getting those, unless the particular engines you've bought have some history of IAC issues.

Now, regarding engine instrumentation. You have 3 options:

1. Go all-in using only NMEA2000 engine instrumentation. The new Suzuki colour engine data displays look very nice. They are actually a rebadged Simrad IS 35 display, likely with very slightly different software. They would be very nice and will display everything you need. With twin engines, you would probably want one display per engine and perhaps one to display combined data, it would be a matter of personal preference.

If you go this way, the N2K connection to the engine is simpler, you just connect each interface cable to the wiring harness behind the dash, and shift the harness connection plug in the engine from the analogue connector to the digital connector near the ECU and you are away. So the whole network backbone sits behind the dash. But beware - if you go this way it is impossible to also have any analogue gauges at all.

I would not recommend that you try to just use the Raymarine display for engines as well as using it as your sounder/GPS. It ends up too cluttered and too cumbersome to shift screens between engine data and sounder, GPS etc all on one screen.

2. Stay all analogue with the gauges that come with the engines. Simple, standard and you would have seen that before.

3. A combination of analogue and N2K. You stay with analogue gauges as per option 2, but add engine data to be displayed on your Raymarine engine data pages and possibly as overlay on selected pages (I'm not familiar with the Raymarines and whether you can add overlay data to pages).

This option has the main advantage of giving you fuel related data that the analogue gauges simply can't do.

So you get instant fuel flow rates, real time fuel economy, fuel used and fuel remaining, season fuel used etc. and on top of that you get engine temp, voltage and other handy info that can be displayed on the engine data page, so you can flick across there to check it every now and then.

You can also set alarms so that if an engine parameter such as temp gets higher than a value that you preset, an alarm will appear on the display.

This setup requires the Suzuki engine interface cable to be connect to the SDS port on the engine. Located port side above the fuse box. You will need a adapter cable to go between the interface cable and the SDS plug. If the SDS plug is round, you need the "reverse K8 adapter", if it is square you just need the normal SDS adapter cable.

Many of us, myself included, either make up our own adapter cables (that what I did) or cut and extend the Suzuki adapter cable so that its long enough to go from the engine, through the rigging tube and up to near the console, where you then connect it to the interface cable. This keeps all network T pieces out of the engine and away from water. If you want to make your own cable I can send you the pin placements for the plugs and where to buy the OEM standard plugs from. The wire itself is nothing special.

[mytime]

Moonlighter,
Thank you for the information. Very helpful. So if I decided to go completely N2K is there any reason why I would even need the old analogue gauges? I can get more data from the N2K gauges than the Analogue right?

My problem here is timing. Suzuki keeps pushing back the release date of the new gauges. I was wondering if I could get away with just running the data onto the Raymarine display temporarily until they release the new gauges and then I could switch over. I agree that it will be cluttered unless I had a dedicated E120 display but I don't have room for that.

I would rather not go through setting up the wiring and drilling the holes (even though they are supposed to be the same size 4" hole) for Analogue, if I am just going to switch over in a few months.

If I decide to just do the Raymarine interface now, is it just a standard N2K cable that plugs into the harness or is there a specific part number? I guess I could call Raymarine directly too.

I definitely want to set up the alarms to monitor certain engine params.

Thanks again for the help and I'll scratch the IAC valves and add the under cowl fuel filters.

Mac

[straycatboat]

Replace the internal engine zincs, there should be 7 of them. should be replaced/ inspected every 200-300 hours. They keep the engine water cooling passages from corroding.

[Moonlighter]

Moonlighter,
Thank you for the information. Very helpful. So if I decided to go completely N2K is there any reason why I would even need the old analogue gauges? I can get more data from the N2K gauges than the Analogue right?

My problem here is timing. Suzuki keeps pushing back the release date of the new gauges. I was wondering if I could get away with just running the data onto the Raymarine display temporarily until they release the new gauges and then I could switch over. I agree that it will be cluttered unless I had a dedicated E120 display but I don't have room for that.

I would rather not go through setting up the wiring and drilling the holes (even though they are supposed to be the same size 4" hole) for Analogue, if I am just going to switch over in a few months.

If I decide to just do the Raymarine interface now, is it just a standard N2K cable that plugs into the harness or is there a specific part number? I guess I could call Raymarine directly too.

I definitely want to set up the alarms to monitor certain engine params.

Thanks again for the help and I'll scratch the IAC valves and add the under cowl fuel filters.

Mac

Mac - apologies,I'm didn't see you had replied.

The new Suzuki digital gauges are available now. So you could go right ahead and use them, and as you say, you get more data on them than the analogue gauges can provide anyway.

If the Raymarine has NMEA2000 capability, it will just be a standard drop cable to connect it to the network. Nothing special.

Any yes, stray cat is 100% right about the internal engine anodes. It is very important that you inspect these annually and if they are showing signs of being eaten away, put new ones in. Critical for long engine life!! Let's hope the previous owner was on top of this issue!