Engine Hours confusion

[AndrewA2]

I am being told that a cat I am looking at has ~5100 engine hours. However the photos they sent of the engine display show ~3900 hours.

What they are saying is
"Hi, the answer is easy: it say 392,6, + 5 (which are not showed but as the counter does non 999,9) and than start with one again it is normal."

Does that make ANY sense?
If so, can someone please explain to me

Thank you

[Wotname]

I GUESS they are saying the hour meter only registers a maximum of 999.9 hours i.e. resets to zero every thousand hours. They are suggesting it has reset 5 times.

However I am reasonably confident they are wrong in so far as the hour meter goes much higher than 999.9 before reseting!

[Dsanduril]

I'm with Wottie, they're trying to tell you the hour meters have rolled over. Probably because most separate hour meters do have a tenths digit. Don't think these do.

Only other option, the owner had the instrument panels replaced at 1100 hours, passed that information to someone, and it got garbled.

In the end, though, what is the difference in value, to you, between 4k hour engines and 5k hour engines? Use that to inform any offer.

[AndrewA2]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

I'm with Wottie, they're trying to tell you the hour meters have rolled over. Probably because most separate hour meters do have a tenths digit. Don't think these do.

Only other option, the owner had the instrument panels replaced at 1100 hours, passed that information to someone, and it got garbled.

In the end, though, what is the difference in value, to you, between 4k hour engines and 5k hour engines? Use that to inform any offer.

I agree 4000 vs 5000 is not a big difference. Im just trying to make sure they are not telling me 9999 x5 + 3000 as that would be a whopping 53000 hours !!! which also makes no sense to me ....

Im with you, I dont believe these displays show a decimal in the hours. which is why i am thinking the hours really are ~3900. however when i asked that was their reply, which frankly is causing me more confusion than clarity !

[Dsanduril]

Amazing how much bad information and uninformed opinion you can find out there from boat brokers, boat owners, and, oh yeah, on the internet

Is it a broker? They're probably guessing/assuming. If the owner with whom you are speaking then a bit more of a question, although not all boat owners are familiar with their systems.

Wotname knows his Yanmars, but you could try and find a Yanmar dealer and ask them about the panels and whether or not they display a tenth.

[AndrewA2]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

..
Is it a broker? They're probably guessing/assuming. If the owner with whom you are speaking then a bit more of a question, although not all boat owners are familiar with their systems...

Charter fleet owner... Message directly from their tech.
I asked a few more times... but got the same reply.

[Dsanduril]

Then I guess the question is how old is the boat? 51000 hours is 10 hours/day, 365 days/year for 14 years.

[barnab]

We had the same confusion when we bought our boat, just the other way round - we bought it with 39xx hours (don't remember exact figure), but later found our meter shows decimal, so it was near to 400 hours.



Best way to find this out is to watch the hours when going for sea trials, just compare hours before leaving the dock and after returning.


But actually no matter what you find, you will still not know how many hours the engines really did.



I would guess the hours by age and use (ex charter boat?) and then not worry too much about the them...More important is if then engines are in good shape. Are they rusty? Start easily? Run smoothly? Any noise or smoke that should not be there?


If unsure you may want to have the oil tested (if not changed too recently) and maybe do a compression test.

[AndrewA2]

Originally Posted by barnab

I would guess the hours by age and use (ex charter boat?) and then not worry too much about the them...More important is if then engines are in good shape. Are they rusty? Start easily? Run smoothly? Any noise or smoke that should not be there?

Take a look, 2013, so 7 year old engines:

[redneckrob]

As alluded to earlier, at least in VP meters the reading goes to zero when they replace the MDI box. So for example I have 2 "zero time" engines that actually have about 50 hours. Not sure in Yanmar's have a similar component that causes a reset but certainly replacing the meter would do it.

[AndrewA2]

Here is the actual hours stated:

Engine hours on 09.04.2020:
Port side: 5392.6
Starboard: 5393.9

I suppose that makes sense. Just don't see the decimal on the actual instruments.
Unless anyone here can provide more clarity, i will take it that the hours are really ~5400 :/

[Dsanduril]

I'd take them at their word and value them accordingly. The worst that can happen? - You get engines that only have 39xx hours on them instead of 5400.

At 7 years old that's 7-800 hours/year, which makes sense in a charter fleet. Probably ~4 hours per charter day.

I'd ask for the records on the rollovers though. Make sure they aren't missing any. See if they seem reasonably evenly spaced.

[Compass790]

I would think of it as the engines are, at minimum, 1/2 worn out & likely more. One advantage as its probably a charter boat is regular servicing & lots of use. I think 1000 hrs over 1 year is better on an engine than over 20 years. However not many charter boat users would be kind to the engine i.e observing a warm up period.
A compression test would be good as post#8 suggests. Otherwise run at WOT for 1 hr on trial & check for smoke & overheating.
If in South Pacific be aware Yanmar parts prices are very high, about 1/2 their NZ or Aus, price in the USA but not cheap.

[Wotname]

IMHO, if they start in a heartbeat when cold, will run for an hour at WOT at max (or very near max) rpm without overheating or smoke and don't show any smoke when shutdown properly (i.e. i.a.w. the Yanmar operation manual) and the oil is looks OK, then the engines are fine and not overly worn - regardless of the hours on the meter.

I concur with Compass790 regarding regular use is way better intermittent use!

[skipperpete]

I think I’d be paying more attention to the saildrives, especially the one with the rusty bolts and the water intrusion alarm wire disconnected and laying next to the drive. Replacing a saildrive is very expensive and at 5,000 hrs they must at least need attention.