optimax 150 / 200 lifecycle

[marula]

Any experience on how many hours these can run for? Looking at some used motors but I need to know what the existing hours on the motors represents in percent of its normal life cycle. Assume average work load.

Thanks

 

[Last Chance]

I've been told 700 hours out of the whalboat ones by a guy from SG, but he's probably Anti-Merc. They have a good reputation, that's for sure.

 

[Rum Buddies]

ya too many variables to give one answer. No 1 engine gets the same treatment and thats gonna mean a lot as to how long that engine can last without a rebuild.

 

[marula]

Thanks guys, I came across on 03 200 opti, private use, 700 hours.

hmm, decisions, decisions.

 

[wolf]

I know of some that are in ther 3000 hour but like in every motor be it outboard or inboard the key to ANY of these motors the key is matenance and looking after them.

All these new motors have computors on them and all mechanics have the equipment to test to see how many hours,and how long the motors been run at a certain rpm, ill use mine for instance had 150 hours on it 120 hours were from 0 to 1000 hours so that told us it was used for trolling but the main one was 5000-to 6000 had only 17 mins thats the great thing about the newer ones it tell a person exactly how its been run. hope that helps


Good luck Wolf

 

[Big Joe]

The earlier model of the 200 were junk in my experience. I had the misfortune of buying two of them. One of the major problems was with the reed valves, and I suspect it had to do with the compressor. They would start to chip off, and once they did they would score the cylinder walls, OOPS, there goes another power head.The eventual cure was to install the high performance reeds used on racing engines.This solved that issue, but when merc discovered I had them installed, they voided my warranty. Interesting in the fact that they were manufactured by mercury in the first place. I averaged between 6 and 700 hrs between power heads only. That being said, the 150's seemed a great running engine. I eventually gave up on the optimax, although I have heard that those earlier issues have been resolved.

 

[wolf]

totally agree with you big joe 2000 and below were bad but from 2000 and above great motors I really like mine so far but i am fortunate enough to have a merc mech as a best friend so he looks after it very well.


Wolf

 

[reel easy]

CS, just wondering, what is the weight of your boat, I have a 21' aluminum that weighs 2500 lbs without the motor but everything else is aboard. Do you think a 135 would do the job? Any info would be appreciated before I re power, real hard to find info on weight of boat vs horsepower required. 30 mph top end is ok for me.

 

[SIR]

Okay you've all just scared the h**l out of me to the point I may not sleep tonight.

I have a Merc 115 Optimax that I have serviced every 100 hours but we run it every day and put about 450-500 hours a year on it. It has 900 hours on it and I was planning on having it go for a LOT of years yet. Your 800-1200 hour figures are scary... We've never had a problem with anything and thought we were still in the early years of it's life. Is there a difference between the higher hp engines and why are your expectations so low?

At $6.5K a pop I want more than 2-3 years out of these puppies..... I didn't pay much more than that for my first car... mind you it might have had less hp

 

[wolf]

Um where is it writen 800 to 1200 hours?????????????

I know of some optis out there that are in there 3000 hour mark and still going so you really have nothing to worry about


Wolf

 

[SIR]

Feeling better.... 800-1200 was from another board post.... can't actually find ANY Merc stats but like 3000+ hours....won't owe me anything after six years....seems like engine that run every day have fewer issues than run "occassionly" engines.....at least that's what I'd like to believe....and nobody needs to burst my balloon