"buck183" wrote in message ...
"jay" wrote in message
...
I ran into someone else on the river today.. at the marina actually... who
had a sea ray a few years older than mine..
He made mention that sea ray started putting a USB port in their engine
compartment a few years ago that read the hours on the engine with some
device that the dealer would have..

Has anyone ever heard of this, or is this guy smoking crack?

-j



Jay,

I don't think it's actually a USB port, but it's my understanding that the
hours can be scanned. I believe all of the later model Merc engines that
utilize the computers have this ability. I think anyone w/ a Merc scan tool
has the ability to get this info out of an engine. I know of people that
have this done to used boats when looking to purchase it to verify engine
hours.

I also heard from a reliable source that they could tell how the boat had
been driven with this option too. Can't pretend to verify this though.


Many up to date ECU's store hours the motor ran at certain rpm ... a
very useful feature when buying a used motor.

Matt