Tachometer/Hour Gauge Failed

[mcbridek]

I have a 2006 196 Ski Nautique SE with the excal 330 engine. The Tachometer and the hour gauge stopped working. I see the gauge on the nautique parts web site, and on Amazon for $100 less - but does anyone know if there is anything unique that must be done to get the engine hour get to read correctly ? Or if there is a process to set the hours on the new gauge ? I know the engine records the hours, because when I have had maintenance done on the boat, they give me a report that has lots of specifics, hours, hours by RPM range....

Here is the gauge
https://nautiqueparts.com/tachometer...r-meter-faria/

Any help is appreciated...

[SilentSeven]

Pretty sure the hours are kept in the ECU and not in the gauge. That said, you could try calling Nautique parts and ask how to set the hours and see what they say. I've always found them very helpful.

[jmo]

The excal engine stores the hours, but I don’t know if the gauge is reading that or is tracking it independently. Hook it up and see.

I had to replace the gauge on my first Nautique (GT40 engine which does not store the hours), so over the winter before I swapped in the new gauge, I hooked it up to a 12v lantern battery to simply roll the hours on to match where it actually was. The simple hour meter gauges tick away is there is current to it. Took awhile, but it worked.

[jpwhit]

The gauge you posted, via the link to NautiqueParts, does not have a CANBUS interface connector on it. So, I think you have a year of boat where the gauge keeps track of hours itself. And it was that way because some of the engine options tracked hours while others did not. So your engine ECU will continue to track the hours accurately, but the gauge will start at zero when replaced. And the hours can be accessed from the engine ECM via DIACOM.

The only way I've seen people get the gauge to read correctly, is to connect the gauge up in a configuration where it thinks the engine is running, and let it run that way for the number of hours. I think that gauge looks for the RPM signal from the engine to decide when to count hours. I think to get it run the hour meter, you have to hook it to a 12v power source and a frequency generator to make it think the engine is rotating.