hour meter (analogue) not working


L

larry1954

New member
Does any one have any idea how to diagnose the fault with an analogue hour meter on a VDO tachometer on a 1997 Formula 271 Fastech. The tachometer works but the hour meter does not appear to. Where do I start looking first? The boat has a 454 Magnum MPI motor.

Many thanks for any help,
Larry
 
larry1954 said:
Does any one have any idea how to diagnose the fault with an analogue hour meter on a VDO tachometer on a 1997 Formula 271 Fastech. The tachometer works but the hour meter does not appear to. Where do I start looking first? The boat has a 454 Magnum MPI motor.

Many thanks for any help,
Larry
Click to expand...

From the looks of it your tach/hour gauge has broke connection internally. The tach has a purple Wire (12V), Black (ground) and Gray (tach). The tach uses the Gray and Black wires and the hour meter uses the Purple and Black wire. If 12V is found on the Purple wire when the ignition is turned to on, the break is inside the gauge.
 
Thanks for that information. I disconnected all the leads from the back of the gauge and removed the gauge and then connected up 12V to where the purple and black would be connected. Nothing. No sound, no movement. I took the case off and I can see nothing obviously wrong inside. So I rang a local instrument repair shop for him to have a look at it. Maybe a cog is broken inside or maybe it is just stuck since it has not turned for more than 3 years and it is reading 411.99 hours.
 
I took it to the instrument shop and in talking to him I realized that I had not tested the hour meter properly. Obviously, the tachometer would have to have some deflection before one could expect the hour meter to turn over, so just connecting 12V to the two terminals could not be expected to do anything. But I am fairly sure that the hour meter does not work since the marine shop, which just finished a lot of work on the boat, water tested it 6 times, so surely the hour meter should have turned over in that time and it was 411.99 hours when I took it to them and that is what the meter still reads.
 
larry1954 said:
I took it to the instrument shop and in talking to him I realized that I had not tested the hour meter properly. Obviously, the tachometer would have to have some deflection before one could expect the hour meter to turn over, so just connecting 12V to the two terminals could not be expected to do anything. But I am fairly sure that the hour meter does not work since the marine shop, which just finished a lot of work on the boat, water tested it 6 times, so surely the hour meter should have turned over in that time and it was 411.99 hours when I took it to them and that is what the meter still reads.
Click to expand...

The hour meter does not use the tach portion to run, it uses only 12V. All hour meters work using the same principle. The meter should run by connecting it straight to the battery.

The good thing is your engine should last a long time with only 411.99 hours ;)
 
Well, then it definitely is not working. Will see what the instrument repair shop says. Perhaps I will have to replace the gauge. I am not sure where I will be able to get another one of those. Have looked on eBay (Australia and US) but not seen anything like it.
 
larry1954 said:
Well, then it definitely is not working. Will see what the instrument repair shop says. Perhaps I will have to replace the gauge. I am not sure where I will be able to get another one of those. Have looked on eBay (Australia and US) but not seen anything like it.
Click to expand...

Who is the manufacture?
 
larry1954 said:
It is a VDO gauge.
Click to expand...

That was what I was thinking. I had a VDO fuel gauge which was sticking on my 27 but did find a replacement. If all else fails VDO does make replacements
 
The instrument repairer said that he could not fix it. So that means either buy an after market hour meter or find a replacement gauge. I would probably prefer the latter if I can find one (looks neater). Will check eBay and VDO.
 
I have had a look online and it does not look like a replacement will be easy to find. The gauge is 3 3/4" diameter (about 95mm), black face, white markings (numbers and letters), part number: 1 211 800 102A. Any ideas as to where to get a replacement?
 
Check one of the earlier questions on gauge repair.I cannot find the name and phone # that repaired mine .When I find I will post.
 
larry1954 said:
I have had a look online and it does not look like a replacement will be easy to find. The gauge is 3 3/4" diameter (about 95mm), black face, white markings (numbers and letters), part number: 1 211 800 102A. Any ideas as to where to get a replacement?
Click to expand...

I needed to replace my fuel VDO gauge and found it at the VDO website. Once I located the model number I then could find the retailer on the web. Good luck
 
Thanks for the help. I have found someone else in Australia who says he may be able to repair it. (That will be easier than sending it to North Hollywood.) I sent him pictures and he said he still had parts for those gauges.

AllDodge, I was thinking that maybe you did not have a problem with the fuel gauge because it is a size that is still made by VDO (2"?) whereas my tachometer is 3 3/4' which is not, as far as I know, a size that VDO makes any more.
 
Just got an email from North Hollywood Speedometer to say that they could not repair it 'due to lack of parts and support from the manufacturer'. So hope that the place I am sending it to in Australia (in Victoria) really can fix it.
 
larry1954 said:
Thanks for the help. I have found someone else in Australia who says he may be able to repair it. (That will be easier than sending it to North Hollywood.) I sent him pictures and he said he still had parts for those gauges.

AllDodge, I was thinking that maybe you did not have a problem with the fuel gauge because it is a size that is still made by VDO (2"?) whereas my tachometer is 3 3/4' which is not, as far as I know, a size that VDO makes any more.
Click to expand...

I did have a problem and did replace the gauge. I'm sure your right about the 3 3/4
Cheers
 
The gauge is back and repaired. They had to install a new hour meter which now reads 1 hour. It is a sealed box so they could not adjust it to the correct hours (412). So I should not have any problems with the boat at all now since it has only done 1 hour! I could of course connect it up to 12V for about 17 days so that it reads the correct number of hours. Might do that when I get a chance.
 
LMAO, you're about as OCD as I am. I had to do that with my last boat. Both my kids thought I was nuts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top