Only place you can get leaded gas as far as I know is Aviation fuel and it is on the way out. Banned as of Jan. 2018 per my FFA service bulletin's. It has been illegal to sell leaded fuel or fuel additives with lead for automotive or marine use since 2013. Be sure that motor is an EFI because I do not like the 99-2000 DFI they are a pain to keep running right.

Agree the DFI is way more intense....Whole new ball game there.

I have a 2000 225EFI that has 300 heads, fuel and ignition ECM's, fiber reeds, and lightweight flywheel... I modified it as soon as the warranty was up. It now well over a 1,000 hours and runs like a top. Pushes my Gambler in the low to mid eighties all day long. Great motors. A New LU 6 years ago.

Change the plugs, fuel filter, water impeller every year. thermostats every 3 years.


Gman

Gman, who did the work on your motor? You?

Yes

The EFI'S are some of the best motors Mercury ever made. Change the water pump, fuel filter and lower unit oil once a year and their pretty much trouble free. Alot of these running today have over 800 hrs and never been rebuilt. Not as good on fuel milage as the Optimax, but when you can run hundreds of hrs vs a few hundred hrs for the Optimax on engine rebuild the xtra you spend for gas is not so bad. Most Optimax's with 3-400 hrs have already been rebuilt

WOW!!!!

Sorry about that, I meant 300-400 hrs.

I don't believe that. I have 334 on mine and the compression is still within tolerance. Never had a serious problem with it. Also its one of the 2000 models.

I Said most. I have some customers that have 600 hrs on theirs.
Look at the classifieds. One out of four boats with Optimax's has a new powerhead @ 300 hrs,400hrs ect. They will not run as many hrs as an EFI was the point i was making.

Everyone can argue over the average hours, but your overall point is well taken.

Around here they are referred to as "Optipops", but the ETECs and big block HPDIs are equally susceptible as well. All these engines run so lean there is no room for error.

The advantage to the Opti's is they are the most fuel efficient of the three.

End result is the DFI owners save money on fuel compared to the Merc EFI and Yammie OX66, but as a collective group on average the DFI owners will spend more money on rebuilds than the than the gas savings over the EFI motors. Individually, there will be winners and losers.

I own a pair of HPDIs (offshore boat) as well as a 2001 Merc 225 EFI and a 1987 carbed Yamaha 200 on bass boats.

The EFI is definitely the bad a$$ hot rod that I love to drive

I'm not quite sure on the logic behind the statement that "most" Optimax motors get rebuilt by 300-400 hours when the anecdotal information offered says "one out four you see advertised with 300-400 hours have been rebuilt." Even if true, consider

1) For that scenario, the math says 25%, but that's not "most" in my mind. To me, "most" implies at least 50%
2) Judging the field of boats for sale is biased as many people get convinced a motor is "bad" if it blew, so their tendency is to sell it. More people with a trouble-free motor tend to keep it - while people with a troublesome motor tend to sell it. Such a survey is more accurate if done at a ramp, not via for-sale listings.