"The Verado motors even record the over-rev data in stages," explained Dan Jansen, a certified Mercury technician at Mr. Frequent instances of over-revving could indicate an abusive owner, or one who's been running too small a prop. These would include over-revving the motor, over-heating, and over-charging the battery.
Suzuki outboard diagnostic software trial#
And try to trial the boat on the water to see if it can even reach 5000 rpm with that prop." Fault Codes: Most late-model outboards record every instance that the motor generated a warning horn or a fault code. So in this case, if there's a prop on the motor I'd check the size. But it might also have been used with a prop with too much pitch, which would not allow the motor to reach its operating range at wide-open throttle. "Or it might be used on water that was always too rough to run any faster. "A motor that never went over 5000 rpm might have a very conservative owner," speculated Von Plato. And it might show, for example, that the motor was never run over 5000 rpm, which is really odd. A typical use pattern should show about 40 percent of the hours below 1000 rpm. This gives you an idea of how the motor was used - lots of trolling, or lots of time at wide-open throttle. Mercury, Yamaha and Suzuki all break down the hours in 1000-rpm increments, from idle to 6000 rpm, depending on the motor's range. Like mileage on a car, hours are a better indication of the motor's "age" than the model year. If you are considering a used outboard, here's what I'd look for on the diagnostic report: Engine Run Time History: It should indicate total hours of operation. And on late-model outboards, you don't need to attend factory service training to decipher the data - it's mostly presented in plain English. Generally, the newer the motor, the more data is being collected each time the ignition is keyed on. The new Suzuki DF300 monitors 30 different systems to which it can assign a fault code, from engine over-rev and over-heat to the function of each fuel injector. The super-powerful Mercury PCM 555 controller, used on all current fuel-injected Mercury outboards, gathers a complete history of the outboard's life. The advent of direct-injected two-stroke Mercury Optimax and Evinrude Ficht outboards, which had powerful computer controls, made it possible to collect much more information. On-board diagnostics have been on outboards since the first Mercury EFI two-strokes, although the amount of data those motors collected was minimal. And if you are negotiating to buy the motor from a dealer, he should be glad to give you a diagnostic report for no charge. A dealer might charge you for 30 minutes of labor to run a diagnostic scan, a much-more affordable option.
Suzuki outboard diagnostic software software#
At least one manufacturer will sell its diagnostic software to anyone - it's listed as a part number by Suzuki with a price of $715. An authorized dealer for that brand of outboard will have the required computer software and the cable to plug the shop's laptop into the motor. An outboard's computer memory is accessed through the diagnostic port. If you are in the market for a pre-owned motor, you should take a good look at that information. "The operating hours is just scratching the surface." What I learned, after talking with service experts of each of the major outboard manufacturers, is that late-model outboards are holding a virtual log book of every minute they've been on the water. "You would be surprised what you can learn about an outboard by looking into its memory," said Von Plato. I told Claude that I was surprised that the outboard's ECU would organize the hours of use report so neatly. Of course, I immediately called a real outboard expert, Claude Von Plato, manager of the Yamaha Marine Service Division. Which is why Todd called me, the Outboard Expert. The most curious thing about the usage pattern was that this motor had never been operated over 5000 rpm. Not only did this reveal that the motor had seen about 100 hours of use, but it broke down that history in 1000-rpm increments. The dealer offered to show him the usual documentation on the boat, including the hours of use seen by the Yamaha F150 outboard on the transom. A few months ago my brother-in-law, Todd, was shopping for a used boat when a sweet little Grady White Adventure 208 caught his eye. The run time record of this almost-new Mercury Optimax outboard shows 2.7 hours of total time, and then breaks the time down in 1000-rpm increments.