Boat with "unreadable engine hours"

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BetweenBoats

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Hi all,

Looking at a boat at the moment that has Volvo Penta gauges with "unreadable engine hours". Apparently, it's a common issue with Volvo gauges - they get damp and the readout doesn't work. The ad says it has about 600 hours on the engines.

If you liked the boat and it otherwise looked tidy and well kept, what assurances would you look for...

a) before handing over a deposit
b) from the surveyor's report

Does the surveyor have a way of determining the engine hours?

Would welcome advice please
 
Which engine is it ?
If its older engines (without electronics controls) the hours are recorded only in the liquid crystal display unit. So no way a surveyor can read what the engine hours are.
You may be lucky and the meter might come back to life for the survey.
 
BetweenBoats said:
Hi all,

Looking at a boat at the moment that has Volvo Penta gauges with "unreadable engine hours". Apparently, it's a common issue with Volvo gauges - they get damp and the readout doesn't work. The ad says it has about 600 hours on the engines.

If you liked the boat and it otherwise looked tidy and well kept, what assurances would you look for...

a) before handing over a deposit
b) from the surveyor's report

Does the surveyor have a way of determining the engine hours?

Would welcome advice please
Click to expand...

If it's a modern EDC engine, the ECU stores the hours.
If it's the old-fashioned VDO gauges, then the gauge stores the data, and a surveyor won't have any means of reading the correct figure.

More fundamentally, condition and service history are much more important than the hours figure.
 
It is a very common issue with these volvo/vdo gauges - sometimes they come back to life if you take them out and put them in a warm airing cupboard for a week.
you probably only need one of them to work to get a reading as chances are they will be similar. I don't believe a surveyor will be able to verify the hours unless he is a wiz with electronics.
600 hours is not a lot so even if the gauges conked out a year or more ago the difference is negligable in boat hours terms.
how old is the boat/make and model - most boats do less than 50 hours a year, a busy boat maybe 100 so you can guestimate if 600 hours sounds reasonable.

If everything else looks good I'd probably go for it - you seldom find perfection . After all the engine hours unless in the many thousands, are rarely the cause of serious engine issues, its the ancillaries and cooling system - how good they are depends on maintenance and care.
 
I have a 1999 boat with Kad 44's the hours do not show either but my engineer can still retrieve the hours each time he services the boat by the attaching of his computer.
 
Ian h said:
I have a 1999 boat with Kad 44's the hours do not show either but my engineer can still retrieve the hours each time he services the boat by the attaching of his computer.
Click to expand...
Nice.
To what engine does the OP refer?
 
Here in Norway i have read about quite a few people replacing the LCD display in the rev counter as a DIY project.

Takes an hour or so and hours pop right back up again as its stored on a chip in the instrument providing you get the original LCD panel used in the VDO gauges.

There was another non OEM panel some got ahold of that started at zero hours and started counting as long as the instrument got power (ignition on).

The original LCD panel and VDO rev counter only counts running hours when the engine is running

A local boating mag also did a DIY article on the subject not too long ago.

They sourced the LCD panel from a supplier in Sweden if I recall correctly. Can see if I can find a link.
 
Last edited:
sap_2000 said:
Here in Norway i have read about quite a few people replacing the LCD display in the rev counter as a DIY project.
Takes an hour or so and hours pop right back up again as its stored on a chip in the instrument providing you get the original LCD panel used in the VDO gauges.
There was another non OEM panel some got ahold of that started at zero hours and started counting as long as the instrument got power (ignition on).
The original LCD panel and VDO rev counter only counts running hours when the engine is running
A local boating mag also did a DIY article on the subject not too long ago.
They sourced the LCD panel from a supplier in Sweden if I recall correctly. Can see if I can find a link.
Click to expand...

So that's a "No, a surveyor is not going to get his soldering iron out and start attaching another LCD to the hour meters, however this is something you might consider after purchase". :)
 
I believe the hour counter runs as long as there is 12 volts to the hour counter display - which is with the key in the on position, not just when the engine is running.

According to reports I have seen the new hour counter will start from zero, but time can be added by leaving the new unit connected to 12 volts on the bench for the appropriate time.

Possibly the easiest solution would be to fit one separate hour counter. I had one on my last boat (manufactured by Curtis) which was completely reliable. You only really need one hour counter even if you have two engines, unless you are in the habit of running on one engine.
 
I nearly bought a boat with a non-working Volvo hour gauge, the broker said that the engine "May" have done around 400 hours. But its guesswork based on the average hours per year which boats are used and the age of the boat.
I ended up buying a boat which was 16 years old with a working engine hour meter (non Volvo) and the recorded hours were 240. But when I lifted the dashboard (just pulled out after unscrewing 4 screws) to spray WD 40 and check connections for corrosion I noticed that the cable going to the engine hour meter had a plug which when pulled disconnected the meter from running. The plug looked well used. You can draw your own conclusions.
I looked at another boat with a Volvo engine and instead of getting a survey where the surveyor appears only to confirm that there is an engine, I had the local Volvo engineer look at the engine and drive. He said that I need to spend around £2000,
which I would have done as the boat was cheap enough but they were so busy that they could not touch it for 6 weeks, and when I buy a boat, I want it NOW, so I did not buy it.
Now if I was buying another boat (8 in 40 years) I would want to see maintenance history.
 
MartynG said:
I believe the hour counter runs as long as there is 12 volts to the hour counter display - which is with the key in the on position, not just when the engine is running.

According to reports I have seen the new hour counter will start from zero, but time can be added by leaving the new unit connected to 12 volts on the bench for the appropriate time.

QUOTE]
Assuming that you connect post switch, then yes. You just need to remember not to leave the ignition on.. I have done that to read depth sounder for example at anchor and forgotten to switch off.
Also , if anyone does this job and is as useless at soldering as I turned out to be, use some component cables off the pc board and then you wont frazzle the board !
Click to expand...
 
I can get you the display for the 85mm VDO/Penta tacho digital hour counter
Easy work and the new display is the same as original. It will show the correct original hours when replaced
 
Have the exact same problem with the boat we are buying, the broker is going to remove the gauges and try and dry them but but my engineer can connect a computer which should give an accurate reading
 
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