# Mercury sucks



## Outdoorsman17 (Dec 28, 2005)

the mercury optimax outboards suck. Never threw a light for temp or oil. Just threw a rod and seized up. The only oil I ever ran was merc DFI/OPTIMAX at 35-40 a gallon . I don't know if I'm more sad or pissed:sad:


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## walleye50 (Jan 10, 2011)

Outdoorsman17 said:


> the mercury optimax outboards suck. Never threw a light for temp or oil. Just threw a rod and seized up. The only oil I ever ran was merc DFI/OPTIMAX at 35-40 a gallon . I don't know if I'm more sad or pissed:sad:


that really sucks man,
how old is the motor:rant::rant:


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## We Go "Fishin" II (Jun 22, 2010)

Dude that sucks......What year and size.....got me a little concerned...cuz I got one too!


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## ZPS (Feb 18, 2008)

Time to make a good decision then........ Get your insurance money and buy a yamaha 4 stroke. Only mess with oil once a year when you change it!!


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## Outdoorsman17 (Dec 28, 2005)

1998 150 hp optimax


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## Outdoorsman17 (Dec 28, 2005)

ZPS said:


> Time to make a good decision then........ Get your insurance money and buy a yamaha 4 stroke. Only mess with oil once a year when you change it!!


Yeah, I would love a 150 4 stroke Yamaha, got an extra 12 bills laying around:yikes:


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## mrbreeze (Aug 13, 2008)

13 years old... Do you know how many hours are on it? Most merc shops have access to factory reconditioned powerheads with warranty for a fraction of the cost of a Yammy, and as far as I am concerned it is tough to beat a Merc all of the way around, especially with their dealer support network.


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## Outdoorsman17 (Dec 28, 2005)

Probably 500 hours it been a pos all along


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Outdoorsman17 said:


> Probably 500 hours it been a pos all along


At 250 hours my Optipop 150 was on powerhead #3. I sold the whole boat because I was sick of it before it's 2nd year was up. Newer Optis seem to be better, but I run Yammies now.


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## walleyehookups (May 12, 2009)

Were the injector service bulletins ever serviced? There were service bulletins out for the 2.5L Opti injectors pre 2001.


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## Outdoorsman17 (Dec 28, 2005)

walleyehookups said:


> Were the injector service bulletins ever serviced? There were service bulletins out for the 2.5L Opti injectors pre 2001.



Nope. Jans sport shop in goodrich was about the same service I got out of the motor. I had a 90 hp tiller yamaha on my 1890 lund that was flawless. I guess I'm in a better boat but not motor


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## walleyehookups (May 12, 2009)

walleyehookups said:


> Were the injector service bulletins ever serviced? There were service bulletins out for the 2.5L Opti injectors pre 2001.


This is why many reffered to them as optipops. The injectors on the pre 2001 were junk and had to be upgraded this was the only change in the motor for the New 2001 year model which are absolute work horses. At the same time though if Im able to get 500 hours out of my 2.5L Opti Ill be thrilled. Not too many 2 strokes going beyond those numbers before some type of rebuild needs to be done. My 2001 is just getting to 200 hours now but has never and will never be trolled with so those hours are 75% WOT 5700 RPMs and 25% 4100-4800 RPMs.

I would highly recommend the guys at LBM for any further service done to your current or any other motor you get. Tim their head mechanic is one of if not the best Mercury guys around and has spent his fair share of time on my motor.


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## ZPS (Feb 18, 2008)

Yamaha's are a bigger investment up front no doubt. But you get to gain that extra storage room when you get rid of the oil resivour, gain fuel economy by leaps and bounds, and expect your motor to last past 2000 hours without anything done except changing the oil. In my opinion if you are serious about fishing its a cheaper investment for the long run. If you go over to the west coast, theres a reason that 80 percent of the saltwater guys run yamahas.


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## SalmonBum (Feb 28, 2001)

I have been saying it for yrs that the Mercs are junk. When I fish in florida all the guides down there use Yammi's.

Well, the small 3-15 hp mercs are not bad, but the bigger "electronic" ones blow.


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## walleyehookups (May 12, 2009)

Here is what I find funny all you guys bashing Mercs. In the late 1990's merc traded their Optimax technology to Yamaha(HPDI) for Yamaha's small 4 stroke technology. So dont jump on the bash Merc bandwagon too soon. 

With that being said if I have to repower or I buy a new boat I personally would run an ETEC. Their reliability is much higher than both so far but Suzuki is still ahead of them all. Currently Suzuki is offering a 6 year warranty with their outboards. For us around the greatlakes you dont hear much about them but Suzuki has the East Coast wrapped up.


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## barryl (Apr 21, 2002)

Au Gres Marine also has an excellent Optimax mechanic, Lynn (not sure on the spelling). I had my 99' 135 rebuilt last year and it has been purring since. He advised to have the injectors checked about every other year for those motors. I had 4 bad fuel injectors and 1 bad air injector. Having it rebuilt was the cheapest option at the time.


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## SalmonBum (Feb 28, 2001)

walleyehookups said:


> Here is what I find funny all you guys bashing Mercs. In the late 1990's merc traded their Optimax technology to Yamaha(HPDI) for Yamaha's small 4 stroke technology. So dont jump on the bash Merc bandwagon too soon.



You can give anyone the plans to build the perfect motor. If they have the talent, skills and tooling to get the job done, well thats a different story.


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

I'm with Salmon Bum

Killed a few Mercs in my day (although I currently run a 9.9 4 stroke on my river boat) and have since run nothing but Yamaha for the bigger boats. Cold starts are never an issue. Now I'm looking for something bigger and it better have a Yamaha (or two)


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## ZPS (Feb 18, 2008)

The ETECs still have the fundamental problem of having to fill an oil tank with two stroke oil. To me that is an extra cost after you have your boat payed for, and the stuff isn't cheap. Any engine that has to electronically mix oil and gas to me is asking for trouble. Just keep it simple and get a 4 stroke. Oh by the way, there IS A GOOD REASON that the 4 stroke yamahas are more money. Get what you pay for.


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## SalmonBum (Feb 28, 2001)

ZPS said:


> The ETECs still have the fundamental problem of having to fill an oil tank with two stroke oil. To me that is an extra cost after you have your boat payed for, and the stuff isn't cheap. Any engine that has to electronically mix oil and gas to me is asking for trouble. Just keep it simple and get a 4 stroke. Oh by the way, there IS A GOOD REASON that the 4 stroke yamahas are more money. Get what you pay for.


Etecs are still good motors for an oil burner. Something to consider is weight. Not sure about the big 300 hp motors, but 2 strokers is normally lighter than a 4 stroke. I am looking at Dinghys right now, rated at 15 hp. I already have a 2 stroke 15 and a buddy is gonna get a newer 15 4 stroke on the same boat. I would bet a hambuger mine will be faster, and being a man, that is the most important thing :coolgleam.


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## Outdoorsman17 (Dec 28, 2005)

ZPS said:


> The ETECs still have the fundamental problem of having to fill an oil tank with two stroke oil. To me that is an extra cost after you have your boat payed for, and the stuff isn't cheap. Any engine that has to electronically mix oil and gas to me is asking for trouble. Just keep it simple and get a 4 stroke. Oh by the way, there IS A GOOD REASON that the 4 stroke yamahas are more money. Get what you pay for.


The Yamaha two strokes we not to shabby either
Look at the price of a 150 Yamaha 4 stroke compared to a 150 optimax, not a whole lot of difference. If I was buying new it would be pretty much a no brainier


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## Chairman (Aug 18, 2009)

The older Opti's after a long idle time needed to be brought up to rpm slowly so the computer could get from almost pure gas to mixed. Later motors had cpu's that corrected this. If I have a long river idle or such, I put the boat back in neutral then back in gear before I take off. Mine is a 225 from 2002. No problems with it. Powerful and reliable.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

In the late 80s the woman and I made trim/tilt units for Mercury. Their quality at that time was very good, they were even chosen to machine the Corvette engine. Then they aquired Force and that is where there problems started. Force, as everyone knows, was a K-Mart motor and always had issues but the bean counters only could see the profit margin  
I remember when the Mercury Engineers visited one time, they told of the Force "Frizbee Five". It was a five cylinder that had a severe design flaw in the crank that caused the flywheel to disengage.


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## Sasquatch Lives (May 23, 2011)

I have sworn off OMC and Mercury crap years ago. Get a Yamaha and not only will it run great for a long time, but you won't have to make all those trips back to the dealer for all the nickle and dime stuff. They are simply a superior engine.


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## Mr pike (Sep 14, 2009)

Sorry to hear about your engine. I hope you get something so you can get back out fishing. While all the Yamaha guys are jumping all over this to promote how great Yamaha's are, do any of you know who the largest engine manufacture in the ( World ) is? I will give you a hint, they also (Invented) the 4 stroke outboard well before any other brand. Honda gets no props at all from most any guy on here and that to me is insane! Compared to other brands, Honda spends next to nothing on advertisment yet they are good enough for the Coast Guard. I have a 2005 150 Honda V-TEC and Power Thrust 9.9 kicker. I do my own oil changes and i have well over 500 hours on the kicker and over 300 on the 150, Not 1 single problem of any kind. If you spend another dime on an engine for your boat, you need to check out Hondas. Good luck with whatever you get.


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## bombcast (Sep 16, 2003)

Honda. Gas and a yearly oil change. Loved it so much (it's a 97) that I kept it off my old boat and put it on my new Alaskan CC. Have romped and pounded on it for years and years, it's never let me down. When it's time to re-power I'll gladly buy another Honda. 

Piss on Merc- have no patience for a motor in the shop.


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## Ausable Junkie (Oct 2, 2002)

Ditto on what Mr. Pike said. NOONE has produced more internal combustion engines than Honda. They have all the bugs, gremlins, and weak points worked out.


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

An independent observation;
This is not an intentional scorekeeping with a clip board and stop watch.
I just hear the cussing and "crank, crank, cranking"...

I spend many, many hours shore fishing at some of the launches on the lower BM.
Rain, sleet, snow, ice...fall through late spring.
I've watched hundreds of boats pull up, launch and start the motor, or not.

In my opinion, in order of dependability just from watching folks try to start them, either recoil or electric:

1. Yamaha: 1-2 tries
2. Honda: 1-2-3 tries
3. Nissan/Suzuki: 1-2-3 tries
4. Evinrude/Johnson/Mariner: 1-2-3-4 tries
5. Mercury: 1-2-3-4-5 tries


Probably not the entire fault of the motor's either.
Some old Sears motors start 1st or second pull!
The guides running the big Yamaha's and other better running motors probably take better care of them.
Some other's boats and motors don't look like they've ever been cleaned or covered, let alone change oil. 

One poor fella was a hoot...he and three others he was taking out for their first time winter fishing.
Took them 10 minutes to load the boat, then launch. 
His Mercury wouldn't start after launching so they trailered it back up.
His chums were unloading and having a few passes of the brandy...to "warm up".
Meanwhile he checked the motor and it started up on the trailer fine.
They reloaded.
Relaunched...wouldn't start.
Retrailered...Started fine.
After over an hour and a half of dinking (and drinking and cussing) around in the snow they discovered that when the motor was in the down position, in the water, it was pinching an internal wire and shorting out...tilted up on the trailer the wire was clear.

By this time the battery was dead and no one had jumpers...they left and I didn't see them again.


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## East Shore Jon (Feb 16, 2004)

I guess I'll be the odd one and say that I love my optimax. 2003 200 HP. Fires right up. Awesome power. Lighweight and dependable. I've heard lots of "stories" good and bad from every manufacturer. Every single manufacturer has someone with a bad experience...

I will be buying another Optimax.


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## Matt V (Dec 8, 2004)

East Shore Jon said:


> I guess I'll be the odd one and say that I love my optimax. 2003 200 HP. Fires right up. Awesome power. Lighweight and dependable. I've heard lots of "stories" good and bad from every manufacturer. Every single manufacturer has someone with a bad experience...
> 
> I will be buying another Optimax.


 
I love my 175 Verado, it start's up as soon as you touch the key. I was a little leary about buying a Mercury, now that I own one I am glad that I did! 3 year's and no problem's at all. Owned a Yamaha F80 before that for 6 year's without a single problem as well...


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## Quack Wacker (Dec 20, 2006)

bombcast said:


> Honda. Gas and a yearly oil change. Loved it so much (it's a 97) that I kept it off my old boat and put it on my new Alaskan CC. Have romped and pounded on it for years and years, it's never let me down. When it's time to re-power I'll gladly buy another Honda.
> 
> Piss on Merc- have no patience for a motor in the shop.


 
I am with Bombcast, I have a 25hp, 5hp and 2hp Honda and I cannot imagine running or owning another motor. Love em, solid, reliable, starts easy, smooth running. Built like a vault. I will choose to power/repower any boat I own with a Honda. 

If Honda was not an option I would only choose a Yamaha, which are excellent motors as well. 

My days with Mercury are over.


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## shametamer (Jul 22, 2001)

beyond the verado, i would not recommend any merc..especially the pro kickers..lol.............i've had honda, suzuki and etecs recently..all have performed at peak levels..still searching for nu boat and my first yammie...lol


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