what to believe ?
 

in the process of looking for new to me(used) boat. finally located exactly what I have been looking for except ,the engine scan that was emailed to me shows 130 hours and the hour meter gauge shows 600.present owner says always left key on while listening to stereo. Everything else about the boat looks awesome. Boat is 700 miles from me and I wanted to make a deal ,but not comfortable with the Discrepancy in hours.

Have a mechanical survey performed, bleed down test. Worth the investment.

I call bulls#it. Do marine key switches even have an accessory side?
Most all stereo equipment on a boat is turned on/off by a rocker or toggle style switch.
Not that the engines are bad, just never new anyone to leave the key on in their boat.

My last 3 boats all counted hours on one meter so I had a lot more showing on one side.

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was the engine's electronics replaced? Even better, were the motors replaced? if so, the engine's internal hour meter would start at zero, but the dash gauge would continue to accum hours.

Had an Evinrude back in the 80's and the standard OMC hour meter would actually run backward if I reversed the spade terminals on the back of the dash!
Needless to say, I reversed them for a couple days every month......

To the topic, unusual but not impossible. I've owned older boats where the stereo had been wired (backyard style) to the ignition presumably to prevent accidentally flattening the battery by leaving the stereo going.

Get the engine scanned independently, I don't think anyone can fiddle the scan but make sure you know you are getting the original unaltered printout. Seller should understand your reasoning without objection.

RR

told me the motor is original (from pictures looks very clean/original).

What motor?

I had a mechanic leave the key on for a whole weekend, luckily the battery died and it stopped after 30 hours or so.

(1) 496 ho

Regular hr meters suck. Not only will they keep running when the key is left on, but they are easily removed or replaced and super cheap to do so.

This is why Merc and others have the ECU's count actual run hrs. You'd have to spend good $$$ to replace the ECU.

Hooked up to 'run' side.

Issue with this is the ignition stays on too. Imagine on a carbed motor (no ECU to turn on ignition) where key energizes ignition coil, and the dist pick up is right at a trigger point for a cylinder.......the coil will be 'firing' and the module will be 'on' too.

Thus, the reason cars have 'accessory' position on the key switch. Pretty much all Boats just have off, run, and start.

Nobody has suggested the obvious, have a look at the boat and see if you need to turn the ignition on (and hour gauge operating) in order to turn on the music!!

:D

Not 100% answer but an easy place to start....

Great idea, but he'll need to travel 700 miles to verify this in person...

Yeah, good point, I kinda glossed over that part in his first post.....
Anyone nearby can have a quick look? Otherwise, start driving and don't forget your cheque book!

Have the ECU scanned a EFI 496 HO will only count hours while running NOT while the ignition switch is left on,

i know there will not be an easy answer to my situation,if i was closer i would be driving right now(not able to take off of work at the moment)

i wish i knew someone in Canada to do this for me

unfortunately,i am not sure what ECU is . scanning ECU is different than the scan they already sent me? (not able to post scan)

When I scanned my 496, it showed hours from 0-1500rpm. The ecu should record hours even if the engine is not running, but getting power.

Where in Canada is the boat?

If it's with in an hour or two from me I don't mind making the drive on your behalf.

look at RPM run times and then add all up

PCM could have been changed out even from 496 MAG to a 496 HO MAG not uncommon or they needed a new / used one however. Hence from a lower hour PCM

Also top dress cover on the engine changed as well to show HO MAG. You can verify all this by engine serial number. Located down at the starter and or on the original title depending on State titling / paperwork

Get all serial numbers - engine - drive and transom assembly and have a dealer run them and or Merc also all stickers on the PCM and or other stamping on the PCM. Merc can tell you MANU date and cal.

that would be awesome,i sent you pm

Nope,,ECU only records hours while there is a crank/rpm signal present,

Your pm box is full.

I am 6 hours away unfortunately.

That boat is most likely salt water used though just so you are aware.

thank you (sellers comment,Alway in fresh water, never touch salt water)

The St. Lawerence is brackish/salt water until the locks at Montreal. He is on the ocean side of the locks. Unless it's a smaller boat and lake driven..... My experience with that area is salts and poorly if ever flushed.

thanks again

ECM and PCM scan will only show hours of total run time and then break it down into the RPM's run times. It will NOT log hours / time from key on no engine running.

there is the answer
thank you

Yep that is correct,

That is ABSOLUTELY false. I know this for fact. The 496 will only register hours in the ECU if the engine is actually running, not if the key is on. Both of the 496 boats that I've owned have had more hours on the helm hour-meter than the engine, from sitting with the key(s) on.

What part of Canada? Maybe call Double R. Good people.

I stand corrected.

Sorry to post incorrect info.:party-smiley-004:

Saint-Hyacinthe, QC

Don't forget, with engine hour scans, as I understand it, you can have the scan reset back to zero for the scan of rev range usage but the total hours cannot be reset. (This applies to Verados and I assume it also applies to inboards).

When I bought my current boat, the total hours on the engines were all about 210 but the break down of rev ranges only totaled 108 hours. Took me a while to figure out why.

Reasons for resetting the rev range settings might be when you acquire a new to you boat and want to keep track of your usage, maybe change of boating habits like lots of poker runs and no slow cruising, possibly after a rebuild or major work.

Good luck.

RR

Just to illustrate my confusing post (above), total run time 213 hours but if you total the individual time readings, it's only about 107 hours. I was told the scan was reset at some point. I have the scans for all three engines and they're all about the same.

N.B. This is for Verados, I assume inboards work the same way.

RR

A 496 actually has PCM which is the engine's computer control system. Only a few people in the country can even retune them.
I would say the engine scanned hours are legit.

honestly ,i am a little confused.so if the scan that was sent to me is truly for this boat,the scan hours are most likely correct and the gauge hours are inaccurate?

It's surprising how those idling hours add up. My 525 has 386 hours; 161 below 750 rpm!