hour meters don't match.. What gives???

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Bigfish

Bigfish

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Messages
297
Location
USA
Vessel Name
My Lady
Vessel Make
Formosa 42 Double Cabin
After a month of cruising, one engine has logged 53 hours and the other 71!! I have never run on one engine so what gives??? Not sure how these hour meters work but one is off... Which one?? How do I fix it??

Thanks folks! Laying out the wind in Coral Bay Marina in Islamorada...

:socool::thumb:
 
How do you fix? Time it the next time you go out and then see which one matches!!!!.....sorry for the simplistic approach!
 
Oh and sorry for your misfortune of having to layover in the keys!!!.....;)
 
for maintenance purposes id go with the higher number. once the wind lets up and you get underway time an hour of running with your watch and see which one (or both) is off. if i were a betting man i say the meters themselves are faulty.
 
eseyoung said:
if i were a betting man i say the meters themselves are faulty.
Click to expand...

Well based on math and logic alone...I would say at least one is.....:thumb:
 
Could it be that one key was turned on for accessories when not underway?
 
Although I've never examined the cause it's happened to me with Hobbs meters before a couple times on duplex pumping equipment. All three times I've replaced the one showing low hours and the problem was "solved". It has made me wonder about the accuracy of my equipment with a single meter but never enough to clock it as my maintenance is calendar based rather than hour specific.
 
Ours don't match. I write the hours down after each trip and usually they match for the trip but one particular trip they were way off. I'm sure the one w less was wrong because the number it read was impossible- like .2 hours for a two hour trip. We've only had it the last three years of its 29 years so I can only assume this has happened before- since the two meters are off by a couple dozen hours.
 
I think it's the key not being turned off all the way at one of the helms. I've had problems shutting off the port engine and have had to run to the other station to shut it off more than a few times. Not sure whether or not the keys were in the right position or not. I was under the impression that the hour meters only ran when the engine was running and no when the key was in the "accessory" position. I'll have to do some detective work and time things next time out, then make sure the meter's not still running after the engine shuts down.

The good thing is than likely there are LESS hours on my engines than the meters suggest!
 
Bigfish said:
After a month of cruising, one engine has logged 53 hours and the other 71!! I have never run on one engine so what gives??? Not sure how these hour meters work but one is off... Which one?? How do I fix it?? Thanks folks! Laying out the wind in Coral Bay Marina in Islamorada... :socool::thumb:
Click to expand...
Another good reason to keep a deck log. I'm guessing that your meter is wired to keep time when the key is on, instead of when the engine is actually running. 18 hours I'm guessing you turned the key to check something after a run and forgot to turn it off until the next day. Use the lower hour number for your maintenance records until get things squared away.

Sent from my iPhone
 
When I bought my boat, the stbd meter was inop with about a 600 hr split. I found the disconnected wire and it hasn't skipped a beat since then. My key switches are OFF-ON-momentary START. Each of my meters runs when its respective key is in the ON position. The key must be on for the stop buttons to activate the fuel-shutoff solenoid. Occasionally I have found the keys in the ON position a while after shutdown. :banghead:

I have considered leaving the stbd switch on for 600 hrs (25 days) to catch up, but then I sit down and come to my senses. With my luck, I'd wear out the stbd meter or cause some other problem in all that time in the on position. It's just not worth it to me. I always record port and stbd meter readings at refuelings and maintenance.

In high time multi-engine piston airplanes, it's not uncommon to have split meter readings due to Hobbs meter failures. It's always recorded in the maintenance logs as a means to track the airplane and engine hours accurately. I never saw individual engine Hobbs meters on multi-engine turbine powered airplanes...just one for the entire plane.

With only 18 hrs of difference, if you find it's due to a key being left on and it bugs you, you could match them up and annotate the logs with the correction to the meters for syncing purposes.
 
Just power the silly things via an oil pressure switch and stop worrying about it.
 
Bigfish said:
After a month of cruising, one engine has logged 53 hours and the other 71!! I have never run on one engine so what gives??? Not sure how these hour meters work but one is off... Which one?? How do I fix it??

Thanks folks! Laying out the wind in Coral Bay Marina in Islamorada...

:socool::thumb:
Click to expand...
You havent said what type Tach you have. If you have an older VDO like the one in the picture you could have a bad drive gear. This one is an 1988. The yellow gear was made of urethane and they put a grease on them that ultimately resulted in failures. Its an easy fix if you like working on your own equipment. I had the same problem and it never acted the same way twice.
Fryedaze - VDO Tach/hour meter gear replacement [1987 VDO 81 117 377]
 

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Mine are off by over 250 hours. Key left on, running on one engine, etc. I log each engine seperately in the maintenance log and don't worry about them being even. Having a meter on each engine, doesn't mean they should read the same number of hours.
I would be more suspicious if they did. :pirate:
 
Reminds me of the saying,

"A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure."
 
FlyWright said:
Reminds me of the saying, "A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure."
Click to expand...
In '84 when Trimble came out with the 1st GPS receiver they said you really needed three just to figure out which one was "lying." Watches and gps have both improved. Not sure if that's really a good thing though.

Sent from my iPhone
 
FlyWright said:
Reminds me of the saying,

"A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure."
Click to expand...
Geez! You stole my thunder, yet again!:blush: (That's why I only have one engine!)
 
fryedaze said:
You havent said what type Tach you have. If you have an older VDO like the one in the picture you could have a bad drive gear. This one is an 1988. The yellow gear was made of urethane and they put a grease on them that ultimately resulted in failures. Its an easy fix if you like working on your own equipment. I had the same problem and it never acted the same way twice.
Fryedaze - VDO Tach/hour meter gear replacement [1987 VDO 81 117 377]
Click to expand...

Dave: That's what both of our VDO tac gears look like! How did you order the replacement gear?

When the second tac went out last year, we installed this under the instrument panel via the oil pressure circuit as Rick B suggested but it would be nice to have all the factory instrument gauges working.
 

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Ditto the thanks. My port meter stopped 20 hours ago. I was going to pull it Friday to send it in. Now I will take it apart......and then send it in when I can't get it all back together!
 
Fryedaze, I love you man! Gears arrived in two days. Repair took about 20 minutes, worked like a charm.
 
Baggiolini said:
Fryedaze, I love you man! Gears arrived in two days. Repair took about 20 minutes, worked like a charm.
Click to expand...
Glad I could add value to the forum. It works both ways. Last week I posted on a CAV fuel injector pump leak I have. RickB and dimer2 gave me info that will let me fix it. End result, I will spend $6 in O rings to fix it myself rather than probably $500 to have the yard do it. The ideas, information, experience and brain power here on TF is invaluable to me.
 
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