Possible to check hours?

[Luv2FishSD]

Dad is looking to sell his 1996 Lund Tyee 1750 with a 96 Mariner 115 and he was wondering if it was possible to check the hours on the motor?

[walleyedmike]

I don't believe that motor has an ECM, so I would think not.

[REW]

BH,
You can't check the hours accurately, but you can estimate a bit.
1. If this a one owner motor?
2. What was the purpose of the motor and how was the motor used.
i.e. general purpose, towing skiers, fishing etc?
3. For general purpose, a typical number of hours on a motor for the first 3 or so years of motor use is typically about 100 hours.
Then, for the years after that, the number drops to 50 or 25 hours, unless the owner is exceptionally dedicated in using the boat and motor.
Again, this is for a typical towed boat and not a boat that is left at a permanent dock on a lake.

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Perhaps a better thing to do, if selling the motor is to have a good mechanic do both a compression test and a leak down test on the motor. Record and publish those results when you list the motor.

Those two numbers pretty well define the overall condition of the motor.

i.e. if the compression numbers are equal and high and the leak down numbers correspond, you have an excellent motor.
But if you have a weak cylinder, the compression and leak down numbers will reflect that information as well and selling price should be adjusted accordingly.

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But I suppose that a 96 Mainer motor - that is 16 years old would likely sell in the $1000 range if it is in good condition - and of a reasonable size.
Lets also say that the 16 year old motor had 30 hours of annual use- which might be typical would equal about 480 hours.
By the way, many charter and resort operators who put many hundreds of hours of operation on their motors consider a number of about 2500 hours a typical time to replace the motors to avoid major motor problems.

So, even if a person used a motor for 100 hours per year, which is really considerably above average, that would equate to 25 years of motor ownership with out the likelihood of major motor failure.

Good luck
REW


REW