Rinda tool reads 270,000 engine hours.

[vetplus40]

My buddy wanted to borrow my new Rinda Techmate to read his engine hours on his 2005 Merc 5.0 engine in various rpm ranges. Once we hooked up to his PCM 555 (I think), the Rinda tool read 270,000 engine hours and all in the 1500-3000 rpm range. All of the other ranges showed zero hours. The hour meter on the boat reads about 209 hours. We also tried hooking up the 10 pin CAN connector, but it wouldn't read anything.

I first thought that maybe the software was displaying engine time in minutes or seconds, but neither of those calculates to what the hour meter reads. His boat runs great - so there isn't a likely computer malfunction, but the readings are odd to say the least. I checked to tool out on my boat and it read fine, so we know that the tool works.

Given that we are both learning how to use the tool, we may have made some "user error" mistake, but I wanted to ask here for any thoughts.

 

[tpenfield]

Obviously 270,000 hours is not right. Maybe you need more than the techmate to read the hours :noidea:

 

[vetplus40]

Obviously 270,000 hours is not right. Maybe you need more than the techmate to read the hours :noidea:

Could be. The tool reads all other engine info just fine from the four in connector. It recognizes the PCM from the Canbus connector, but wont display any info.

 

[achris]

.... Once we hooked up to his PCM 555 (I think), ....

You can't 'think' you have the right ECU. The software requires the correct ECU to be set so it can interpret the data correctly. If you tell it the ECU is a PCM555 and it's a MEFI3 (for example), then the data will not read properly. You need to confirm the ECU before you try reading it.

Chris........

 

[vetplus40]

That is a good point. I guess because it has a Mercury engine connection that fits the Rinda PCM 555/ECM 555 adapter, we thought that it was correct. It also read all of the other engine info as well.
He bought the adapter from Rinda so he could use my tool. I just assumed (and yes that is often a mistake) that they matched his motor to the correct adapter. Mine is PCM 09, so my adapter is different.

 

[achris]

Also make sure you install the software updates. .

 

[vetplus40]

This tool is only a month old and should have the latest updates. I am going to do some further troubleshooting today and see what I can find.

 

[GA_Boater]

This tool is only a month old and should have the latest updates. I am going to do some further troubleshooting today and see what I can find.

Did you ever buy a brand new computer and when you turn it on the first thing it does is update the software? Same thing here.

BTW - Same boat and Rinda tool? https://forums.iboats.com/forum/eng...s/10615192-computer-wont-display-engine-hours

 

[Leardriver]

That motor needs to go to the Smithsonian.

 

[vetplus40]

That motor needs to go to the Smithsonian.

The motor seems to run fine.

 

[tpenfield]

now if you run it for another hour, will it read 270,001 ?

 

[vetplus40]

That is a great question that I will find out later today.The 270,000 was a rounded off number.The actual number was slightly different, but I didn't write it down. When the tool first scans, it actually display "0.0" engine hours. You only get the bizarre number when you go into the history options. Then you get some crazy number that is all in the 1500-2999 rpm range. All other rpm ranges show "0.0" hours.
Both me and my buddy were interested in the boat and went to look at it, but the ECM hours anomaly kind of "spooked me" away. He went ahead and bought it. The boat is in near perfect condition, and runs flawlessly. I seriously doubt that anyone tried to reset the hours as there would be no need. This issue just has me puzzled, and I may have passed on a truly great boat because of a concern over an ECM reading.

 

[vetplus40]

now if you run it for another hour, will it read 270,001 ?

No. It reads "0.0" when first accessing the ECM and "279620.2" when reading the hours from the RPM History option. The numbers never change.

 

[achris]

Sounds like it's been hit by high energy particles, know to corrupt computer semi-conductor memory (same memory as used in ECUs)... Are you able to clear the RPM history?

I have seen this before, not often, but enough to remember it. Computers back in the 80s were quite susceptible to it. You'd have a customer call saying the computer had crashed. We'd go in and run every diagnostic we had, and a few we'd written ourselves... Nothing. Reload the operating system and the machine would run perfectly, and we didn't have a problem from that machine again... :noidea: We'd call back a few weeks later to check, all good..... High energy particles was all we could come up with...

Chris.......

https://science.slashdot.org/story/1...by-cosmic-rays

 

[vetplus40]

I think that I will go with "Gremlins"...…...lol
You cannot clear the RPM history. I tried hooking up to the "canline" connector that I use to get advanced diagnostics off of my PCM-09, but the tool says "no ECM found". I am trying to understand why a canline connector is onboard if it isn't available? Using this tool is not quite as easy as I thought that it would be.

I don't believe that anyone tried to alter the readings though. The boat is in too good a condition for that to be of any benefit to a previous owner.

 

[vetplus40]

I talked with the Rinda tech and he suggested clearing the rpm history - which wouldn't clear. He then suggested doing a "clear faults" - which did not fix the issue. Past that, he was stumped. Thought that I would add this update should anyone else encounter a similar issue.