Good morning,I have a 2000 215...

[JohnS]

Good morning,

I have a 2000 215 Express Cruiser - Mercruiser 300.

A prior owner replaced the tach and the replacement tach does not have an hour meter.

I wanted to add a separate hour meter and was hoping to find a lead under the dash which would be live only when the engine is running.

So far I was only able to find ones which are live when the ignition switch is in the "on" position, even when the engine is not running.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

John

[wingless]

Assuming this is a fuel injected engine, it may be that the fuel pump circuit could be used for that functionality.

According the engine FSM for my boat:

FUEL PUMP ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT

When the ignition switch is turned to the RUN position, the ECM will turn ON the fuel pump relay for two (2) seconds.

When the ignition switch is turned to the crank position, the ECM turns the fuel pump relay ON causing the fuel pump to start.

If the ECM does not receive ignition reference pulses (engine cranking or running), it shuts OFF the fuel pump relay, causing the fuel pump to stop.

The factory wired my boat w/ an inline tee wiring harness so that the hull fuel shutoff valves are powered by that same fuel pump circuit.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48901381777_a53823f14b_c.jpg

[JohnS]

Wingless,
Thank you so much for your guidance.
I'll see if I can wire it that way.
John

[wingless]

YW

Just checked the wiring diagram for my boat, which doesn't use that method for the hour meter in the tachometer.

On my 2000 380DA the factory wiring harness has a 9 position connector for each engine. Pin 4 on those connectors has a violet insulation wire, one end goes to the tachometer, the other end goes to the engine fuel solenoid.

If possible, if it also exists on your boat, that would be a MUCH easier place to grab the hour meter control.

[wingless]

Note that both methods are very similar, using the fuel pump signal, one at the fuel pump, used on my boat to also control the hull fuel solenoid, the other at the 9 position connector, that controls the engine fuel solenoid on my boat.

My suspicion is that both methods will have identical results, so selection of the one that provides the best implementation should be fine.