Honda BF90D fuel flow

ssobol

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C Dory Year
2008
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Vessel Name
SoBELLE
Does anyone know if the Honda BF90D has a built in fuel flow sensor that can be accessed for a fuel flow gauge in the panel? Some of the more high tech car engines have these built in for use by the engine ECU, perhaps the BF90D is the same. If the sensor is built in it would be nice to have this information available that I could see. If I have to mess around with installing a sensor, calibration, etc., I doubt I'll bother doing it.

Thanks.
 
The BF90s don't have that accessible unfortunately. The BF90 happens to be one of the few Hondas that don't support NMEA.

With my 90s, I had to install two of the Garmin GFS10 fuel flow sensors to get the information you're looking for.
 
It is correct that the Honda BF90D does not support NMEA 2000.
But Honda does make a digital fuel gauge:

From the Honda web site:

Digital Speedometer + Fuel Management

BF40D/50D, BF60A/BFP60A, BF75D/BF90D, BF115D, BF135A/150A, BF200A/225A—2005 year model & subsequent
06373-ZY3-801

Gauge provides the following information:
• Speed
• Fuel tank level indicator
• Battery voltage
• Trip meter (miles)—resettable
Fuel management:
• Fuel flow—gph (includes totalizer)
• Fuel economy—mpg
Water in fuel alarm (from separator in engine) except BF115
Does not come with speedometer tubing. See below for pressure tubing.

I have seen boats with the digital gauges--did not pay a lot of attention to the functions--so do not know how well they function. The Speed apparently is pitot tube, not GPS.
 
It seems that the fuel flow sender is on the ECU. However, the speedometer gauge is ~$700-900 depending where you get it, plus the cost of the harness.

This is a bit more than I want to spend since all I really want is the fuel flow (I already have the Honda tach).

I have a boat with Yamaha engine and digital gauges, but a separate fuel flow sensor is required.
 
I was surprised to find that the Honda gauge was so expensive too. I purchased the Faria Fuel Flow meter, $180:

http://www.boatersland.com/farffm027.html

Haven't installed or used it yet so I can't say how well it works.
 
thataway":tyc3ky0n said:
It is correct that the Honda BF90D does not support NMEA 2000.
But Honda does make a digital fuel gauge:

From the Honda web site:

Digital Speedometer + Fuel Management

BF40D/50D, BF60A/BFP60A, BF75D/BF90D, BF115D, BF135A/150A, BF200A/225A—2005 year model & subsequent
06373-ZY3-801

Gauge provides the following information:
• Speed
• Fuel tank level indicator
• Battery voltage
• Trip meter (miles)—resettable
Fuel management:
• Fuel flow—gph (includes totalizer)
• Fuel economy—mpg
Water in fuel alarm (from separator in engine) except BF115
Does not come with speedometer tubing. See below for pressure tubing.

I have seen boats with the digital gauges--did not pay a lot of attention to the functions--so do not know how well they function. The Speed apparently is pitot tube, not GPS.

Another surprise in this nice new (pricey) speedo.
No, the digital unit does not support NMEA 2000 but gets input from the
engine(s) - maybe only one (?). If works as advertised, this might be a blessing
as NMEA 2000 feeds electronics (radar, GPSMAP, sonar, autopilot, VHF, AIS,
weather) keeping engine data separate.

My speedo, dealer installed, does the following:
SPEED - set up in km/h - not knots or mph; cannot be changed except by
dealer. Why km/h?
FUEL TANK LEVEL - works with a dealer installed toggle for "P", "S" or "P&S" for
2 tanks
BATTERY VOLTAGE - reads one engine - which one (?)
TRIP ODOMETER - works with reset button
TOTAL MILEAGE - works and non resetable
WATER SEPARATOR - icon visible
FUEL MANAGEMENT (TTL, ECO, FLOW) - do not work, not wired (?)

To be discussed with dealer installer. Stay tuned.

Aye.
 
Apparently to get accurate fuel usage from the BF90D you need to tap off the ECU which requires the Honda instrumentation. The after market fuel flow gauges do not read accurately at the low fuel flows typically encountered on the C-Dory especially when cruising at trawler speeds.
 
ssobol":tuvaz94l said:
tap off the ECU which requires the Honda instrumentation.

Please explain further.

Aye.
 
Apparently you need to use the Honda Digital Speedometer to get fuel flow info from the BF90D engine.

http://www.boats.net/parts/detail/honda ... 3-800.html

The above web page does say that this product is obsolete.

I looked into this when I first got my boat. But since this gauge went for $900+, I didn't think it was worth it when I can just look out the back door and see how much fuel I have on board.

On my previous boat I had a Yamaha engine. In that case I had the right gauge (digital speedometer) but the fuel flow sender for that engine was about $450 (available separately).
 
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