Why so many new powerheads?

I bought my boat in 1997, brand new from Fun n Sun and have never had to replace the power head. My engine doesn't have an hour meter on it, but I can imagine there are well over 1000 hours on it. Why am I seeing so many three and four year old boats with new power heads and fairly small number of hours on them? FYI, I've always run mid grade gas and good Mercury oil. But I use ethanol gas( or non when I can find it, but rarelyl), don't have a water separator in the fuel line that I'm aware of, and have NEVER used a fuel additive. Someone have a good explanation? Thinking about buying a new (er) boat because of all the new goodies on them, but man...that's a little scary. Especially with the prices of newer boats.

Yamaha did a voluntary replacement on their SHO's a few years back. I just wonder if the newer ones are still having issues?

And Mercury has compressor issues... seems to be such a gamble on the brand.

Seems like they will all blow up , bad fuel is some of the issue , lots of guys let their boats set for months at a time . Just my opinion , as a ASE master auto technician . Lots of guys run their boats wide open for miles , and just burn them up . Run any high horsepower engine at red line for long periods of time , and they break . For the money the manufacturers are charging for power heads , they should be ashamed ... But the problem may lie , in the nut behind the wheel !

More parts controlling fuel/oil/air mixture on the new DFI motors vs. carburetor motors.

A lack of maintenance and/or low usage adds up to a disaster with outboard motors.

I would rather buy a boat with 300 hours on the outboard (that has been maintained properly) that is 2 years old than one that has 50 hours and is 5 years old and was used sporadically.

Ethanol and direct injection engines.

A lack of maintenance and/or low usage adds up to a disaster with outboard motors

Why would low usage be an issue if maintenance was done correctly?

Low usage has noting to do with it. Usually its from stale fuel that's been sitting a long time is why people equate it to low usage. If fuel stabilizer made for fuel with ethanol us used regularly then its a non issue.

I believe that 150 and under are tanks. They will last a long time with proper maintenance. 200 and up do everything right and they still pop. Just they price you pay for speed.

They don't make money on powerheads that don't blow up,

My little 2006 model 115 Merc is bullet proof!

ever watched boats at the lake? People drive the hell out of them and bass boats are the worse. People run them trimmed too high and hit a wave and the prop breaks loose and many times there goes the motor.

That can be avoidable to a degree if the captain knows how to drive.

lack of maintenance letting them sit too long between running an poor operating choices like in the winter backing it off the trailer an hammering it an some are just mechanical failures .

Too much red line will kill any motor, when it was time for a new motor I found a 1979 Johnson 150 , now before you say 1979 !!! , I like the older models, they are easier to work on , parts are cheaper and I think they where built better, just think about it back then companies didn't cut corners to make a profit like they do today. I checked out everything before the cash traded hands and after a little TLC she is running like a top, now with all that being said I think it is 90% how you take care of something and 10% luck

Speed kills, I have had over 10 different bass boats in my life, from 65-250 hp, Johnson, evinrude, Mercury, never lost a power head or lower unit, take care and good maintenance, not concerned about how fast I go.,
The ole golf pro Harvey Pinnick said one time, the woods are full of big hitters,
Boat shops are full of fast boats

Think about this, what is the avg price of a new truck or car, around $30k? A new bass boat maybe around $50k? What would happen to an auto maker that had so many engines go bad? People just expect and accept a boat motor going bad then turn around and buy another new boat in a year or two.

Not much incentive to truly build bullet proof motors any more

Not nearly as many blow motors out there as people think there are. Not many people post just to say their engine has been just fine. When someone does post that they lost a powerhead then all the keyboard commandos come out of the woodwork to pile on the band wagon. Think about it for a minute. If a large a percentage as people think it is were really blowing up the manufacturers would have gone under long ago.

I read all over forums how 2 strokes are made to run at 100% RPM range at all times. Get it up there as fast as you can. I guess all these guys are idiots?

I don't know myself, I've rebuilt one powerhead from the 90's due to the po running it with the oil injector empty. Blew a hole through the crank case. Nasty stuff. But since then that engine has been great for me. Yamaha 175. I like to run about 3000 rpms (30-35 mph) most of the time, then once or twice a trip we'll get it up to 55 and let him run a bit for 5 minutes. That's all the top-end we do. I do mix my own oil on top of the injection though for extra peace of mind, pulling my ratio down to 32:1 if my oil injection is working right.

My father (71) drives the same way and he's still rocking a 175 Johnson from the 1980s, full compression and runs like a greased jet fighter.

TMD 11111, the reason I started this post is from looking at a "newer" boat to buy. I can't really afford a "new" boat so used is the way I'm going. But if you look at a lot of the posts for used boats, a surprisingly larger than expected number of them list a new power head as part of the maintenance. My motor is a 1997 Mariner 225. I've run it fairly hard and (knock on wood) never had to replace the power head. The motor has I'm sure well over 1000 hours and probably closer to 1500. It just surprises me how many seem to have new power heads on them in less than 5 years.

The concept of durability by design left outboard manufacturers long ago as it has with most all engineered products bought and sold on the pubic market, sad but true. Its the dirty little secret that all producers of manufactured products engage in but nobody wants to talk about. Outboard manufacturer could easily offer "bullet proof" designs again, but in doing so wouldn't allow them to fully maximize the profitability in parts and repair work etc. that they have come to depend upon as part of their overall profit margin. But at least they offer costly after the sale warranties to offset any miscalculations in their design model......Right.

Everybody has a different name for it, the design engineers that I have worked with at CAT have (in closed circles) referred to it as the "pre-determined point of failure". At CAT, as with most top down engine designs, its the heads, valves, pistons/rings, rods, bearings, crank, sleeves, packing and a few other components I don't recall off the top of my head right now. Design a unit to operate right up to that pre-determined sweet spot and your golden, under design it and your into it for early failure costs of parts and labor, over design it and your loosing the profits of potential customer paid costs of parts and labor.

The marine industry's model of profitability by design is no different than 100's of other products, and some are better at it than others which explain some of the isolated model issues that crop up from time to time leading to recalls and mid year design corrections. More durable and dependable products aren't likely to hit the open market anytime soon so long as the consumers continue to keep picking up what manufactures are laying down. For the exorbitant prices we pay for products these days we deserve/should exspect better than what we're getting .

A lot of guys also run them hard when they first get them after break in and as much as possible before the end of the warranty period. Then they slap a new powerhead while under warranty just to be safe and then they sell em for a new boat... Nothing wrong at all with a boat with a new powerhead depending on maintenance and break down of hours into RPM's

I believe it is running them hard before letting the metal warm up. I know lots of Opti owners that do not have a smartcraft guage. I live and die by mine. Make sure it warms up enough the open the thermostats before any kind of running.

As usual lots of references to proper maintenance. In reality there is very little maintenance required on a 2stroke besides changing the lower unit oil and water separator filter once a year, new water pump impeller every 2-3 years and spark plugs ever 100-150 hrs or so.

You are saying guys are purposely blowing them up?


Reason I ask is I just can't see a manufacturer swapping a powerhead that is not blown under warranty. Also can't see a guy shelling out $5000 or more to swap one before they sell it.

I think he was referring to them running them into the ground and busting them, getting a new one put on under the warranty period, and then selling it as a "new" engine.

youre right but a lot dont know

Bad or old fuel, followed by cheap oil are the two main reasons for outboard failures.

I think he's referring to the guys that buy Walmart batteries simply because they have a liberal return policy and they return perfectly good batteries right before the warrantee period is up. Hades is full of those people! :-)

Im not saying they are blowing them up on purpose. I'm saying that while it's under warranty some people aren't as cautious when running. Since it is under warranty run it hard, run it however you want to amd if something happens it's under warranty. Heck I know a guy that purposely ran onto some rocks while under warranty so that he could get a new lower unit/prop put on so he could sell brand new. People do this all the time not just with boats.

Lot's of different opinions in this thread. So I'll go ahead and add mine.

I think the two major reasons for outboard powerhead failure rates in bass boats are:

1. Ethanol in fuel, which collects water and lowers octane after sitting for a while in between trips. (Lower octane will increase detonation.)
2. Owners not warming up the engine. Warming up the engine only at the start of the day isn't good enough. Guys run to a spot and fish for an hour, and what do they do... crank it and gun it to WOT to the next one. Motors need to warm back up again after they've cooled off before you punch it to WOT.

That wouldn't be covered under warranty. That would be an insurance claim. And it's called insurance fraud.

The bass boat industry is seriously contorted.
Many manufacturers are addicted to "pro staff" programs to move boats because they have priced themselves out of the market.
The "pro staff" guys are basically driving a rental car.
If it blows, who cares, it is under warranty and they will have a new one shortly.