Engine hour question. 2005 / 390 Sundancer

L

lisatim3640

New Member
Jul 11, 2020
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Boat Info
boatless
Engines
boatless
Good afternoon. My wife and I were talking with a broker about a 2005/ 390 Sundancer for sale. I noticed one motor had 500 hrs. and the other had 820hrs.The broker told me that the ignition key switch was left "on" and this clocked on additional hours. The broker said "it proves true with Sea Ray" Does this sound plausible ?
 
Don't know the situation or the engine type. But I guess someone could leave their boat for almost two weeks with the key in the ignition and on. The question here is what do you think? I have no idea what "it proves true with Sea Ray" means either.

Normally I would look at that and ask why was the lower hour engine rebuilt? Water egress? Then think what happened to the higher hour engine.
 
SKybolt said:
Don't know the situation or the engine type. But I guess someone could leave their boat for almost two weeks with the key in the ignition and on. The question here is what do you think? I have no idea what "it proves true with Sea Ray" means either.

Normally I would look at that and ask why was the lower hour engine rebuilt? Water egress? Then think what happened to the higher hour engine.
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The motors on this boat are MerCruiser 8.1 S Horizon built in 2005. Just talked to the broker again and he is going to send me the Hull ID# so I may be able to ask Sea Ray directly if this ignition claim is valid.
 
Golfman25 said:
I thought modern day engines only clocked hours when actually running. They should have the computer checked to get actual hours and see if they match.
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The motors on this boat are MerCruiser 8.1 S Horizon built in 2005. Just talked to the broker again and he is going to send me the Hull ID# so I may be able to ask Sea Ray directly if this ignition claim is valid.
 
I don't believe that's true. If that were the case many, many boats would have significant differences between the motors, and that isn't the case in most newer boats. My engines were within 10 hours of each other after 500 hours and I know I did some single engine cruising and working on one engine while the other was off.
 
lisatim3640 said:
The motors on this boat are MerCruiser 8.1 S Horizon built in 2005. Just talked to the broker again and he is going to send me the Hull ID# so I may be able to ask Sea Ray directly if this ignition claim is valid.
Click to expand...

Ok, gas engines. Then have a mechanic/surveyor read the real engine hours from the ECU(s) as @Golfman25 suggested.
 
lisatim3640 said:
The motors on this boat are MerCruiser 8.1 S Horizon built in 2005. Just talked to the broker again and he is going to send me the Hull ID# so I may be able to ask Sea Ray directly if this ignition claim is valid.
Click to expand...
I would ask why they were rebuilt. 500 hours is not an hour interval at which an engine would be rebuilt at if it were taken care of properly. I purchased my 480 Sedan Bridge and had just short of 500 hours (big selling point) and they had documentation to back that up. I really dont see the "key being left on" scenario being real enough to swallow and digest. As others have said, go direct to the ECU on each engine and pull the data there.
 
I would be surprised if the motor was rebuilt and the gauge was replaced at the same time... don't think you can change up the hours in the gauge to reflect a rebuild. Maybe only the gauge was replaced? Any service records or receipts available? Best way is to check the ECU as Golfman suggested... any marine mechanic would have this equipment available.
 
I don’t think that’s a thing, fairly certain engine has to be running to clock hours
 
lisatim3640 said:
The motors on this boat are MerCruiser 8.1 S Horizon built in 2005. Just talked to the broker again and he is going to send me the Hull ID# so I may be able to ask Sea Ray directly if this ignition claim is valid.
Click to expand...

I have left the keys on with my 8.1s with no time run up. The time comes from the engine computer not a mechanical timer. Pull the data from the engine directly. It will report what time is on the engine or the computer if it was replaced. Also check the serial numbers on the engines. If they are not close in range then one may have replaced.

-Kevin
 
I had my tachs (with hour meter built in) replaced and have, in fact, had trouble with one of the hour meters continuing to run after the engines have been turned off. Like others have said, the reading from the ECU is correct and reflects only actual run time.
 
Right or wrong I almost always leave my keys in the on position and never add hours. I replaced my ECU over the past winter and as others have said the hoiurs are stored in the ECU so the motor with the new ECU started with zero hours this season.

Ask if the ECU was replaced and verify with service records.
 
When I bought my 380 2 years ago the tachs showed starboard at 802 hrs and the port showed 515 hrs.
before I purchased I paid a mechanic to do an engine survey.
he checked compression on each Cylinder and plugged into the ECM on each motor. compression on every cylinder was within 5 psi on every cylinder both engines. The starboard ECM showed 800 hrs and port showed 801. My mechanic was thinking that the tach got replaced at 287 hrs, and he was correct. The tachs on these searays are known to fail. What I am trying to say is just plug into the ECM and it will tell you the true hrs that the engines have actually ran. The switches and keys may possibly rack up hrs on the tach but not the engines. I would find it hard to believe 320 hrs different with key on. I would more believe that the tach was replaced at 320 hrs.
 
Are these computer gauge readings or old style? Mine are older style and one stopped clocking at 1800 ish hours while the other is at 2300 ish. As others mentioned have the engines plugged into computer to get the reading accurately.
 
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