Outboard motor rebuilds

Hello Everyone.

I've never owned a boat before and am in the market for a used boat. I've done some extensive "shopping" around on some of the facebook used boat pages and here on TFF. The one thing i see often are people mentioning that their motor have been rebuilt. So i have a few questions about rebuilding that would love answers too. **Note, my budget has me looking for a boat in the early 2000. So most engines are 1999 to 2007ish.

1) Do you have to rebuild a motor once you hit a certain number of hours? I've seen multiple boats have rebuilds with a wide range of hours on them. Ranging anywhere from 300 to 800 hrs.
2) Should i be concerned if a boat has had a rebuild motor with less than 400 hrs?
3) What are some indicators to a boat needing a rebuild? Compression numbers? metal shaving in the oil, etc.
4) why do people rebuild motors? Mechanical failure? parts wearing out? a time change issue (when a motor hits 500, 1000 hrs)
5) Lets say if i own a boat for 5 years and don't put heavy use into it, how many times would i rebuild the motor?

Thanks for your help. I look forward to the replies.
Joe

1. No there are lots of motors running with over 4,000 hours
2. Yes. There are a lot of low budget low quality rebuilders.
3. Compression and leak down test will tell all you need.
4. My experience on seeing lots of motors getting traded in, the seldom used, low hour motors don’t last nearly as long as a well maintained high hour motor.
5. Should be none.

Quality oil and fuel, proper maintenance go a long way for putting high hours on your motor.
The #1 reason for blown motor is over heating.

There’s going to be other opinions those are mine from experience.

I second all the above !!!!!!!!

Pat,

Thank you for your response. What are some ways a motor can overheat? Impeller going bad?, low oil quantity?

Thanks
Joe

Weak impeller or sucking up mud or a ice bag.
The newer motors will record over temp alarms in the computer.

If you’re not comfortable doing a motor inspection then paying a quality tech to do it is always money well spent. If a seller balks at having an inspection done then walk away, not worth the risk.

Rog that, Pat. Thank you for the info.

I’ll tattle on myself just to let you know we’re not always as smart as we think.
Craigslist ad for 90 Yamaha w/no lower unit for $600. I went to see it, the motor didn’t have ten hours on it. You can tell with a bore scope how worn the cylinder and rings are. Story on motor it was on a lifeboat for a 100’ yacht. Water collected in the lower unit and froze, cracking the lower unit. Perfect for me, I run a jet and had the exact unit for that motor.

Now the lesson.
I’ve replaced every electrical and computer component. ECU, stator, coils, solenoids and relays. Apparently when it comes to electrical components it’s true if you don’t use it you lose it. So my $600 motor hasn’t been that great a bargain. Lesson learned.

Yep, and now you can teach others the lessons you know.

Obviously this is a subject that lights my fuse.
There are some quality rebuilders, some are frequent contributors here.
I'm not going to talk about them.
Here's two I would avoid like a ten foot rattlesnake...
1. Blackbird, he's heavy into internet marketing, his work is junk. Customer brought in a V6 merc done by him, not ONE gasket was used, even head gaskets. Just orange pookie, that was the 2nd worse job I've ever seen.
2. The absolute WORSE job? Winner by a long shot, Captain Mac in Austin. Guy brought in a boat for trade in, "just rebuilt" Ok, let's take a look.
Three of six pistons didn't have rings installed. Not some missing, ALL missing.
Like I said before, there's some really good ones, and there's some shady characters, be cautious.

Nightmare stories for sure.

Dang, that’s crazy. Thanks for the heads up.

i wish there was a forum on NIGHTMARE rebuild company's or people! I could add one to the list, make that 2!