Mercury Optimax (or not)

[RiverRogue]

Just wondering how many of you have run the Mercury 200 Optimax. I am in the midst of a real dilema. Here is the deal....2001 with 90+ hrs., some use in salt, mostly fresh water though with regular year round use. Never o'heated or abused...HONEST. Use only recommended Mercury Opti oil. Now the fun part. Ran 10 minutes up from Chinook Landing last Monday when it quits. DEAD! We drop anchor and fish and am able to move around on my 9.9 (which was just rebuilt by Merc, under warranty because it dropped a valve right through the piston!!!) If you are picking up about now that I am becoming a little concerned with Mercury, you are right!!! Anyway, back to my Opti...Stopped back by Cascade Marine with this thing. Got the usual we will get right to it...is probably nuthing to worry about! :rolleyes: Well you guessed it. This baby is gonna cost me $3500smackolas!!!!! And I am getting a bargain. :jester: You see, there is this little tip of the injector (a pintyl?), that just fell off in the cylinder and sorta imbedded itself in the piston. Granted this is now a little over a year out of warranty, and I should be grateful because Merc is gonna discount a new power head down to $2250 and buy six new injectors at $276 each, and p-head is $6400. The total cost of this could reach over $13,000. Yes!! You are reading this right. So, should I be grateful? I guess, but at only 90 hrs,, I am thinking Merc is not doing enough here???? I certainly am not happy. :shrug: Oh, BTW, Cascade has never seen one of these occurances and Merc says it is extremely rare...yeh right. :argue:

[1pump]

A whole new powerhead and 6 injectors because you chowed 1 piston? Unless the pintle fragmented and migrated thru the whole powerhead I'd be skeptical.
I've never owned an Optimax but I've heard a lot of bad things about them.

[RiverRogue]

Update...Going to pick it up from repair. Just got the good news and it aint pretty. (sorry....gotta vent!!!!) Mercury is stickin it to me to the tune of $3800 bucks, (including labor). This guy will never buy Mercury again. This stinks. Is it any wonder people are buying foreign made goods??? One piece of advise...If you are lookin for new outboards, stay away from the OptiMax. As for me, I am lookin at Honda's from now on.

[StinkyH]

Man - what a headache!

When I bought my Sportster from NR - the salesman(GetBent) steered me clear of that 200 Optimax and advised that I get the 175 SJ. Said that the Optimax has had some troubles in the past and that I was better off going with the 175 as it's a proven design.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

StinkyH

[Crayfin]

I just gotta say--Cascade Marine told me that me Merc was shot '99 85 Jet with less than 50 hours and charged me accordingly to tell me that and then I took it to another mechanice that said it had not even been tuned and he tweeked it for about 10 minutes and now it runs great!

Just gotta say---I will never take another thing to Cascade Marine.

Todd Crawford

[snit]

I'm in the market (sshhhh...don't tell mama) for a different boat. I'm looking at Alumawelds with a offshore bracket. While trying to decide what motor I want to go with, all the salesman I've talked to said either any 4-stroke brand, but if I go with a 2-stroke (cheaper) stay away from the optimax :shrug:. I'm looking at the 150hp models. That really sucks for ya!!!!

[Zodiac-Fisherman]

2 words,

Yamaha, Honda.!!!

Honda's will last forever, however they can be a little bit more spendy then its competitors.
Yamaha's are reliable, lots of Salty dawgs will run yamaha anyday.

[RiverRogue]

Further update...Got to Cascade a little before 5pm. to pick up boat. Manager not in. Wanted explanation of warranty. No one knew for sure. :shrug: Invited to come back next day. :argue: Seems someone would/should have answers to basic questions, such as warranty info. Guess they figured I wouldnt mind taking a few more hours out of my day to travel again up from Salem. Whatever happened to Customer Service?? :whazzup: I had a number of questions regarding this whole thing that no one could answer or that they should be handled by the manager. Its too bad there isnt a certified Mercury repair site here in Salem, not that I will need one much longer. :depressed:

[StinkyH]

Someone should send a link to this thread to Cascade Marine. Bet that might help with your bad customer service! :smash:

StinkyH

[Sourdough]

To heck with Cascade Marine. Send the link to Mercury. As if that will do any good either.

Now a tale. While in Belize, I noticed that everyone ran Yamahas. I asked why, thinking that maybe there wasn’t a Merc dealer/service in the area. I was told that Yamaha is the only motor that will stand up to the salt. Anything else will only last a year there. So everyone runs Yamaha – hence no Merc dealers either.

Add to that info that Chris Vertopoulos ran his Yamaha for seven years with NO problems. Good enough for me. I’d go Yamaha.

[diehard2]

Take a good look at the 140 4 stoke Suzuki. They often run a special,you get 3 extra years added to the normal 3 year warranty. I have a 115 on a 20' hard top Duckworth. You can hardly hear it run at an idle. I troll with it more than the 8 hp Honda.

[fishinbuddy007]

i hope i am not breaking any rules here.. but, "stevens marine" in tigarg is a very reliable repair shop for mercs.
i'm sure millwakies store is good too, but never sent my stuff there. so i wont say for sure. i just couldn't be happier with stevens work. i was called several times to autherize extras as the project progressed. and i know alot of guides get there work done there too. i'm not saying this to promote a peticular bussiness, (not that they need it) but i just want to help ANY one who needs an honest mechanic. also, they got alot of pull with merc, so i wonder if they could have got you a little better deal yet than 3800 bucks. it sure is a bummer to hear about your troubles with the optimax.. i hope your back on the water reelin em in again.

p.s. i did not buy my boat OR motor from stevens, and they still treat me great. :smile:

[snit]

Another thought regarding Mercury Marine. A buddy of mine purchased a new Talon with a 90hp 2-stroke jet this summer. The motor just wouldn't run right...backfiring, a fuel leak, and a "growl" in the pump. After 3 times back to dealership where it was purchased ("runs great", "adjusted card, etc"), my friend was very frustrated and he placed a call to Mercury Marine HQ asking for another reputable dealership that could fix his engine. He was given another name of a Washignton dealership, but before he could call them to schedule an appointment, the original dealership contacted him begging for another chance. They had it "fixed" the next day :shocked:!

So maybe the squeaky wheel gets the grease?! :shrug:

[Troller]

I bought my boat in 2001 and put a merc 200 carb 2 stroke havent had a problem. I have about 180 hours on it so far. Makes me glad I didnt get the optimax. I didnt have the extra money to spend to get the opti. If I would of had the extra cash I would of like to go with the honda 4 stroke. I would keep after mercury and keep asking to talk to their boss and then if you get their boss and no luck ask for their boss. Some times it works sometimes it doesnt.

[CapNRiverMan]

FYI. I've got a Mercury 200 opti jet on my north river. It's a 2003 with only 30 hours and its in the shop right now. Dealer thinks it is a bad throttle postition sensor? Don't know for sure. :whazzup: Hope it is nothing expensive. It starts fine, but when I throttle up, at about 2300 rpms, it shuts off.