Time clock - engine counter

[Pilot30 HHI SC]

First, I was to apologize to everyone on this forum as I do not know the right words to use.

Okay, we have a Mainship Pilot 30 with a Yanmar 170 diesel. This boat has something that was odd to us. On the main circuit breaker you have a switch to turn on the engine. As soon as you do it starts counting the time. I could wait 1,200 hours before actually starting the engine and the counter will continue forever.

That results in the gauge being inaccurate for the engine hours. For example, we went out to fish, dropped anchor, cut the engine and enjoyed ourselves. 5 hours later, we headed back to the marina and left with six hours on the gauge. We had the engine on only an hour but the gauge clocked 6 hours.

So, that said, does anyone know if the yanmar 170 can be scanned to get the actual hours on the engine?

TIA if anyone answers and helps out.

 

[makomark]

maybe...a lot will depend in the specific model you have. If it has an ECU, then it should have a diagnostic connector to allow for scanning with the proper tool. If it is old-school and has mechanical controls, then probably not.

An easy fix is to relocate the power source, for the hourmeter (run time gauge), to the fuel control solenoid or the ignition switch, depending on how it is wired. It still isn't a perfect solution but will be a major improvement (for accuracy)...