Hours On An Outbord

[bassfinder]

Is there an average hours per year that the resale value is based on like a car does with mileage ? Does anyone know how many hours an outboard should last ? I know it will depend on a number of things, just looking for an idea.

[KevO]

I think heard somewhere it was around 70 hr per yr.  

[jhoffman]

The motor on the back of my boat is a 92, same as the boat. Its never been torn apart from what I can tell. I replaced the impeller/housing in early fall. It still seems to be running well.

[Teal]

Well mine has probably got no value. Lol. Good questionthe tho. I just walked outside when i saw this thread double checked. 1060hrs. 1996 Johnson 200 venom. Still runs like a champ. Just a little cold natured tho.

[greyleg33]

Something like 40 years ago, when I was associated with the business, I went thru the Champion spark plug factory. They ran various engines there until they just gave up, the purpose was to test the plugs. In the outboard department Johnson ran 2 to 3 times longer than any other engine. We know that Johnson, as such, is no longer extant and even if it was engineering changes in 40 years.

[Shewillbemine]

Do all modern (let's say 2008+ year models) outboards have "self-tracking" hour monitors? I certainly don't have a gauge on my boat dash so wondering if a Mercury Optimax keeps track of its own operating time. 

[Fishing Rhino]

Regarding hour meters, the hour meters I've seen, such as Hobbs which I had on my first lobster boat are nothing more than clocks.  When the ignition is turned on the hour meter starts to run, even if you do not start the motor.

 

The second type of hour meter I had was a cable driven unit.  It included a tach with the hours recorded on a meter on the face of the dial.  It looked an operated the same as an analog speedometer in a car.  What it actually recorded was revolutions.  So many revolutions per hour.

 

As I understand it, on the computer controlled outboards, the computers record not only the hours run, but at what rpms, and under what load.  The warranty can be voided if the computer shows the engine was not broken in properly, or, if it has been run above the maximum recommended rpms for any amount of time. 

 

An hour meter provides some info, but not the whole story.  During my lobstering days we used the hour meter to know when to change oil.  We changed oil and filters every hundred hours.  I'd put about 1200 hours per year on the boat.  At ten thousand hours I'd have the timing chain replaced.  Every thousand hours it got new spark plugs. unning  Put a new GM 350, four bolt main in the boat in 1975.  The motor was still running great when I got another boat in 1987.  That motor had almost 15000 hours on it.

[BKeith]

Hours will depend greatly on how the engine was run, what kind of oil was used, and how it was maintained.  I've seen motor that were run on cheap oil, never decarbed and run at lower rpm only last 500 - 600 hours.  Motors running quality oil, (regardless of what you read on here by many that believe all outboard oils a created equal, they are not) and a regular does of one of the decarb agents like SeaFoam and the motors can operate at max rpm, 1,200 - 1,500 is normally no problem.  I've seen commercial operated V-6 Johnsons/Evinrudes run for over 2,000 with no major malfunctions. 

 

One of the main causes of early engine wear is carbon.  Carbon builds up rapidly with cheap oil.  Add cheap oil to and over proped engine that can not turn close to max rated RPM and carbon builds up very quickly and very heavy.  It then flakes off and gets between the piston and sleeve, working just like sand paper when it does.  There are a number of products, each manufactor has their own, designed to keep the carbon burned off and should be run through the engine at least every fifty hours, or you can keep you engine on a steady diet of SeaFoam and it does a great job at keep it clean. 

 

Over proping one is another major killer.  Two stroke engines do not like to be loaded, they need to be able to spin near max rated rpm at WOT.  Over loading one makes it run rich and can't burn hot enough to keep the carbon from building, cheap oil compounds that problem. 

 

Then no matter how one is maintained, you always have those motors that have engineering problems/defects that are going to break regardless of how well it's maintained.  At least 25% of the mid 90's OMC 200's and 225 will loose the ring locator pins in #2 or #4 piston, mostly #2.  When it does, it grenades that piston, sleeve and sometimes the whole block.  That's due to a cooling system design problem that make egt temps for  those cylinders run 50 degrees hotter than the others.  Most that know this run one jet size larger in those two carbs (for instance #64 in place of a #62).  The extra fuel helps keep the piston cooled to more closely match the others.  They all have these motors with built in problems, Merc has theirs, Yamaha has theirs and their is nothing you can do about it, except hope your motor is not one of those that's going to let go.  There are fixes for all these known problems by a good mechanic, but that's after the fact.  To do the cooling mod on the V6 OMC's the engine has to have the powerhead taken off, and the heads removed.  Then some different holes are drilled and some others plugged.  It was not until they went to the 3.3 block they actually made the changes that cure that problem.

 

Oh, by the way, many on here will say I'm FOS about the oil, which does not bother me, it's not my engine they are using that crap in.  I've seen inside enough of them to know what cheap oil and good oil can make one look like.