Big Discrepancy in Engine Hours

[tgotch]

Looking at a Hatteras near me with twin 8V71TI. Hour meters between the port and starboard engine are off by nearly 500 hours. Broker states they just had problems with the lower hour meter.

Is there any way to get hours other than the existing meters? Is this concerning?

 

[Briankinley2004]

Does it have Flo-scan? Some of them show hours but if they were not put in with the engines they may be wrong. Personally I would trust a good mechanical survey by a Detroit guy over what the hour meters say.

 

[Pascal]

Sounds like a meter or sender problem. Unless the seller ran on one engine. A lot !!!

 

[SEVEN]

Check the inline fuse behind the hour meter. I found mine had blown after a 2 hour cruise. I check my meters after ever cruise.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

This is very common on older boats. A wire comes loose or a pressure switch or meter fails and the hours are not recorded. How many hours are on the higher hour engine?

Would you be concerned if the PO had hooked up a hot wire to meter and let it go for 500 hours until it caught up to the other one? Because that what I would have done before listing the boat. And no one would be the wiser.

Hours are only one minor indicator of engine condition. Some low hour engines fail due to lack or use or lack of maintenance. Get an engine survey if you want some more reliable indication of condition.

 

[Dan Mapes]

I was on a Eurohatt that had a large discrepancy. Looking at the pressure sensors yielded different part numbers. One was normally open, the other was normally closed.

 

[tgotch]

Thanks for all the replies. I will investigate further. Still trying to decide if I want to go look at this one.

 

[rsmith]

Hobbs meters do go bad.