hours on a out board motor

[gone_fishing]

A quick question on how many hours a outboard is considered good for ???
should you be considering a rebuild in say 1000 hours
not just power head as can be determined by compression tests and the like.
or just really on regular maintaince to catch probs.
cheers

[wags on the water]

I think it depends on make, model year of manufacture....
I take it you are considering a purchase? Ask the owner if you can take it to an outboard mechanic if you are concerned with the history - or simply ask the owner if he has receipts of work done or service history.

Good luck,
Wags

[TimiBoy]

I don't know about the smaller ones, but re larger outboards:

1,000 hours if being used regularly is just about run in. People routinely run big engines for 2.5 - 3,000 hours and more, in high use environments. Given the donks cost 30 grand or more you'd expect that.

With a 250HP and 100 - 150 hours a year, you'd have to expect 15 - 20 years of life without major drama, if you service regularly and maintain properly. If you don't take care of it, you get what you deserve.

Cheers,

Tim

[Hornet Rider]

gone_fishing,

agree with wags & Timiboy, the answer could be how long is a piece of string? I've got a 1990 Evinrude 50 2st on my other boat, with about 1000 plus hours on it and to look at it you'd think it was near new but it gets an annual service or at the 100 hour mark whichever is first, new thermostat, plugs, impeller, full service check of everything, a fresh water flush after every outing & the flush is at least for 10 mins (tank water thankfully), should get 3 to 4000 hours out her before she's retired, but she's probably out live me. Would recommend you get a reputable marine tech to inspect any motor you might be thinking of buying.

cheers, HR

[Jarrah Jack]

Can also depend if the motor has been proped correctly for the size load it is pushing and how it has been treated with the throttle.

Thats why I prefer to buy my used motors off old grannies who don't like the blue rince blown out of their hair.

[honda900]

I agree with Tim also, a few years ago had you tried to sell me an outboard that had done 200 hours I would have walked away.

In two years I have put 200 hours on my zuke, I also reset the seasonal kilometers on my GPS.

So 200 hours on my boat, inshore and offshore (predominantly) in Brisbane and the gold coast, I have done 4955 kms in that 200 hours.

Bit of a suprise really when you look at it like that.

Regards
HOnda

[blackrat1]

ive got a 225hp Honda and just clocked 1500 hrs . Im hoping to get a few more years out of it . Dont know about being just run in but it certainly still runs like new . I think the hours are not a true reflection of use as it depends on the revs being used . i do alot of trolling and live baiting so the majority of hours are under 2000 revs
regards Vic

[davo]

I've seen a lot of 4 strokes with 4000hrs on them and no issues. Regardless there is a lot of variables. If thrash your engine when it is cold or not service then you will reduce engine life.

[Angla]

Funny what the computers can tell you. Mine said that I have used 5000 litres of fuel in the 430 hours of use. Thats an average 11.6 litres per hour which I think is pretty good considering I do do some 35 litre hours.

Cheers
Chris

[Noelm]

the motor will almost certainly never wear out, something else will kill it first, if it has been well serviced, is proped correctly, then rust/corrosion, dud water pump, water in fuel, oil system failure or something else will kill it before wearing out, trust me on that one.

[cormorant]

Be nice if manufacturers actually listed the duty cycle for their motors based on a standard method of load / revs / hours. Duty scycle of injectors , computers , electronics superchargers , valvetrain as they are offering such short warranty but charging such a large premium for the motor.

The biggest problem with motors in the next few years will be teh new pollution laws and teh cost of meeting them.

Then like with commercial diesel stuff you would have a idea of value and costs per hour.

We have used a small 2 stroke that came off a commercial boat originally and used for a further 15 years and it still comes up Ok compression and I wouldn't want to know the hours it did before we owned it but keeps on running. Have had others only last 400hours and one about 20hrs in larger motors - ouch

Any larger motor under reasonable load built in the last 10 years should be pretty mechanically solid and baring effects of ethanol fuels should have the mechanical quality and tolerance to last two to several thousand hours if treated well. The killers will be seals and electrics as most have the metal wearing bits sorted.

There are duds in most brands line up and they are often the "weak" motor

Motors that are overloaded ( especially 2 stroke) or are required to run high in their rev range constantly ( especially 4 stroke) on a boat will always have a shorter life. The right motor on the right boat driven appropriately will give a good life most of the time.

I am seeing a few 4 strokes having early failures as they are being on boats that should have more HP and owners are reving their rings off constrantly to get performance they want - thought they bought. Same as the old overloaded 2 strokes where they were sold too smaller motor for the rig and at lower revs that laboured.

I won't even mention gearboxes and trim units as even if your motor lasts 5000 hours how many of those do you put on.

Next no mention is computers , electronics and injectors. by the time you have done XXX hours you may have changed a lot of components - that ain't cheap.

[Noelm]

fully agree, I know a few guys that operate yamaha 4 strokes commercially, and before they ditch their old engines (still not worn out) they have replaced starters, trim units, steering bushes, gear shifts and all sorts of other stuff (and a few that die and early death) as cormorant says, the actual motor wearing parts are pretty well sorted.