Well, I made an interesting discovery today. I am on an extended cruise and discovered my hour meter, which is integrated into the tachometer on my 4JH4E Yanmar, appeared to have failed. After staring at it for a time, I thought I could see some numbers flickering, although with a casual look it appeared to be blank. After checking the leads and connectors all looked well, and since the other gauges and warning lights were all working it was getting 12 V. Finally after covering the area with a blanket and staring at it with a magnifying glass I detected the numbers flickering faintly, but accurately. So it seems at least in my case that the hour meter is still counting, but the display is intermittent. So my advice to folks who think their hour meter has failed, check more carefully and you may be surprised. None of this of course is excusable. Such an expensive engine should have a reliable hour meter.
Yanmar Hour Meter Failure
- Thread starter Rick486
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Rick
You are not alone. Had the exact same problem on my 2005 44 AC two years ago. I removed the tach and dried it out with a hair blower which helped bring the numbers back for a few days but failed again soon after. It really bothered me so I checked into a replacement and the Yanmar quote was ~ $250. I found out however that the tach is actually made by VDO and Defender had a similar model, I think the RPM range was slightly different for about $125. The only difference other than the range is that the tach did not have YANMAR etched on the face. Everything else fit perfectly including the wiring harness.
You are not alone. Had the exact same problem on my 2005 44 AC two years ago. I removed the tach and dried it out with a hair blower which helped bring the numbers back for a few days but failed again soon after. It really bothered me so I checked into a replacement and the Yanmar quote was ~ $250. I found out however that the tach is actually made by VDO and Defender had a similar model, I think the RPM range was slightly different for about $125. The only difference other than the range is that the tach did not have YANMAR etched on the face. Everything else fit perfectly including the wiring harness.
Thanks Marc. I'll check out the Defender possibilities. It is annoying that Yanmar/VDO can't provide a reliable meter when the basic engine is so reliable. Yanmar needs to find another partner/supplier.
I'd like to add my 2 cents - Bought and installed a new YM15 four years ago and after only 2 years, the LED hour counter display failed. Surely we can expect ore than 2 years?!? I installed a separate analog hour counter but remain upset at Yanmar.
Save yourself some momey and frustration:
Same problem with my 2007 4JH4E (130 total hours). Bought an analog counter on eBay for $10, mounted in engine panel and wired to the ignition switch- switch on counter runs- simple fix. I attached a 12 v power supply to the meter until the total hours were equal to the old counter prior to installing.
Same problem with my 2007 4JH4E (130 total hours). Bought an analog counter on eBay for $10, mounted in engine panel and wired to the ignition switch- switch on counter runs- simple fix. I attached a 12 v power supply to the meter until the total hours were equal to the old counter prior to installing.
Good idea gfazzle on pre-loading the new analog meter. Think I'm going that route. Plenty of real estate on the panel.
FWIW, I have had a total of THREE tach/hour meters in my Volvo engine panel. All of them have failed with the LCD hour display blanking out or the digits scrambling. The original unit was replaced by Volvo under warrantee, the second one failed a couple years later. The third one was a VDO brand that I bought on eBay and installed and this one has just failed in the same manner this year.
Over this winter I am going to get to the root cause of these failures and fix it. I am amazed that so many of these devices of different manufacturers have the same failure mode.
Over this winter I am going to get to the root cause of these failures and fix it. I am amazed that so many of these devices of different manufacturers have the same failure mode.
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