Leaking Water From Airguide Speedometer

>Water is leaking from one of my Airguide speedometers.

>One of my Airguides leaks too. The water leaks
>out aroung the edge of the diaphagm. I epoxied
>around it but missed a spot I guess since it
>still leaks. Solder sounds like a good idea I'll
>give it a try later since taking the dashboard
>apart is a pain. I think the cause was freezing
>with water still in it not excessive speed in my
>case.

The first suggestion is to check the pressure line into it. If that is fine, then there is a either a problem with the diaphram within the speedo, or a problem with the connection to the diaphram. Many of these problems are as a result of water getting into the diaphram and then freezing.

You can take them apart and solder them, I have done it, but it does change the accuracy, and it is a lot of work. It is especially difficult if it has split along the seam.

In the speedo I fixed, the problem was a tiny tiny corrosion hole in the diaphram. This allowed water to come up into the diaphram (normally NO water gets there, just compressed air in the line). This water in the diaphram froze (CANADA) and split the diaphram at the seam. Attempted repairs did not hold when pressurized and I eventually had to completely split the halves of the diaphram and resolder the whoel thing. Frankly, not for the faint of heart, not worth the hastle either. $100 for a new one would have been a hell of a lot easier.

If your hose connection on the back is leaky this is a serious problem. It allows water to come up the pressure tube. Water gets to the back of the speedo and as you accellerate, it goes into the diaphram. When winter arrives, water in the diaphram freezes and the diaphram splits open. Dead speedo. Make sure the hose connections on the back are good, and have the lock nut affair to keep them tight.

But... after telling you that it isn't worth repairing if the seam is split... here is how you can tinker with a split seam...

In the case of the one I fixed, after repairing the pinhole I found it too was leaking around the edge. Typically, if the damage is a result of a freezing problem, it will be the bottom edge that breaks. The water lies there until winter. Anyways, I soldered it, small electronics iron. Looked great but when I pressure tested it to 50mph it ruptured there again. I tried a couple of times and was never successful at the pressure test stage. I eventually had to take the sucker right out of the speedo to work on it. This meant grinding rivets etc. Not for the faint of heart... If you decide to go for it, then take the diaphram out, split it in half all the way around with an exacto knife. (ie split the solder) clean it to death with solder wick and a Dremel rotary tool and then resolder it. Fun wow...

November 2011
If you want an alternative, there are now some pretty nice options. Teleflex sells a few GPS speedometers that are reasonable cost and fit in place of original speedometers. Teleflex Eclipse 93576 and 93577. Note that you have to connect these to a GPS receiver that outputs the NMEA183 data. The teleflex 93565 is that unit. About $300 for a full system. Cheaper if you roll your own GPS module.

I also found nautic Laugic at http://nauticlaugic.com/gps%20receivers.html that makes a line of GPS speedometers that look like the original equipment and look pretty easy to install. About $300 and you have a full system.

July 2003
The information below on Airguide is toast. Airguide is no longer. Nobody seems to sell them anymore.
I do have a couple of suggestions though. Teleflex sells a Teleflex Competition Speedometer Kit that is an adjustable speedo from 0-50MPH that uses a paddle wheel as a pickup. It mounts on the transom like a pitot tube so you should be able to replace a traditional speedo with this. Same size dash mounting hole. barts has it for $129 at: http://www.bartswatersports.com/catalog.asp?C=231&P=7410 The other suggestion is more expensive but pretty cool. A GPS speedometer. There are at least a couple of $380 GPS analog or digital speedometers that will give you accurate speeds.

I have one report back on a tournament GPS speedo. It is the Gaffrig GPS Tournament Speedo ( by Livorsi Marine) sold at Barts. The condensed report is that Barts was great, but the manufacturer was awful at dealing with a customer in Australia. Technicall the speedo works great for recreational skiing, but for tournament skiing, watch out. The speed updates are too slow (infrequent) so it lags bad. The expanded scale goes from 0-36MPH which sounds good, except it really needed to go from 0 to 38MPH expanded and then condense if you want a real tournament speedo. If anyone has info on a fast update tournament ready GPS speedo, let me know...

Update June 22, 2009
I got an email from greg down under. He may be able to help. He has a web site now that has his info and products... check it out for a direct drop in replacement.

http://www.airguide.com.au/

Greg Hind wrote:
A few years ago, I.d been trying for over a year to get a KPH airguide for my boat (I.m in Australia). All I could get were MPH and there were lots and cheap. Then MPH dried up. I managed to find a source and thought it was an opportunity so I bought a large stock of black face kilometre per hour units. They are exactly the same as the mile per hour ones except for the faceplate. I.m going to make a set of faceplates and convert a number over to MPH over the next month or so.
It seems I managed to pick up the last stock in the world!
They are USD$150ea plus $15 postage or I can do better for quantity.
If somebody wants one for parts, without a face plate I will also do a discount for that.
My email address is the best way at the moment but I will soon have www.airguide.com.au up and running. I.ve been selling them for a year now in Australian Waterski Magazine.
Thanks again
Greg

Another alternative...
I had been looking for a nice GPS replacement speedo and there are some out there that are pretty expensive, but I found this cool toy from Global Top.
The HG 100 speedometer is available on eBay for about $100US and its actually a heads up display device (HUD). I bought one and mounted it in my boat and I love it. You get a heads up display on the windshield that updates 5 times a second. It is visible in bright sunlight. It has a built in rechargeable battery and a cigaret lighter cord and it comes wiht a couple of small (4x3 inches approx) sheets of film to stick on the windshield to help enhance the display. they really work to help I might add. I can honestly say that after putting this in my boat and using it for one day I was no longer even glancing at my Airguides!
tj

Old info... If you want more info on the Airguide line of speedos, the JWA company has taken over Airguide and now has a great web page for them. http://www.jwa.com/air/airguide.html will take you to their pages on Airguide Speedos. Click on Marine.

And if you want to buy one, the easiest place I can point you to is Overtons. http://www.overtons.com is their web site. In the search box, just key in airguide and it should take you to their catalog page for the Airguide tournament speedo.

I'd love to hear from people if this information was of help!

terry.jones@utoronto.ca