2018 Mercury Pro XS 250

Pretty bummed out today and very disappointed in Mercury. My 2018 Pro XS 250 ( 2 stroke) blew up today. Was on the lake last Saturday and all was fine. Went to lake at daylight this morning and hit the start button and motor made awful sound. Turns out it came apart on the inside. All systems check were okay. Go figure.

Anyone have thoughts on this? Motor had 420 hours and well maintained . I'm very meticulous with my stuff and take very good care.

Going to get new powerhead and not sure if I should keep the boat / motor ?

Anyone else have this kind of strange bad luck?

no warranty?

I am not doubting you but usually a motor comes apart when its running, not when you engage the starter.

I am curious if you had no issues when you shut it down the last time.

It happens,

Are you sure it wasn’t the compressor that grenaded?

That was my first thought also.

Mercury Optimax 200 had more trouble than any motor I ever owned. Never the power head. Two compressors and a lower unit.

Running 200 Suzuki now. No issues but only 100 hrs. Opti had 600-

I hope it's something minor that has been overlooked. If you own a boat, it's when not if. Only a matter of time. I have been extremely fortunate that I've only blown one engine in my 35 years of boat ownership, and it was my buddy's boat. I paid half to get it going again and then we sold it......the infamous RedRanger. It's sad that you have to spend around $80K to get a loaded new boat and still have to worry about engine blowing up......they're all high performance until they blow!

hate to hear that--
400-500 hours is about the normal life span of the compressor.

Yea, I have extended warranty and that's the silver lining. It is strange that the engine was running fine last Saturday when I loaded the boat, cleaned it up and put back in garage. Out to the lake yesterday, hit the start button and a bad knocking and clanging. Just doesn't make sense. I agree, engines usually go out while they are running.

The mechanic did a quick check and found pieces of metal lying in bottom tray. Not sure if metal from a piston, etc... will have to wait until they tear it down. Hopefully not totally blown but the mechanic thinks so. And as usual, the service center is backed up for two - three months and with supply chain issues possibly delaying parts. Who knows.

Now hoping I don't have any issues with Mercury warranty. Thanks to all of you that responded.

There are two types of motors. One that has blown and one that will blow.

Trust me, it sucks way worse when it's not under warranty.

Did he pressure check all your cylinders ?

I feel your pain, I maintain my stuff also and my Yamaha did the same to me. After having new powerhead installed I should have sold it immediately while there wasn’t any more issues. Look under boats&motors YAMAHA OIL LEAK for rest of story. If I had it to do all over again I would dump it. Love the boat hate the motor.

That's true of anything mechanical. Those Pro XS 250's are almost bullet proof. But, as you say....

I sold my boat which has1997 Yamaha 150 ProV to my buddy and I still get to fish out of it. Motor still runs as good as the day I bought it. Everytime I get to fish with him I always wonder why I ever sold it. The other boat I bought has sucked me dry.

As stated above, CHECK YOUR COMPRESSOR. They will make horrible noises when they take a dump. On the Optimax, it's not IF the compressor goes out, it's WHEN.

The one on my 225 went out at around 510hrs. If you do find that yours took a chit, take it to a shop and have them flush out and test all of the air injectors and the lines. Replacing the compressor itself is a pretty easy and straight forward job, but you'd better at least have a shop do the flush on the air system... Or you'll really have a blown up motor next time.

Far from it.....

If you have a warranty take it to the shop and let them sort it all out. It's a boat, they break

I found out today that #6 cylinder on my motor has a hole in it. Mechanic said Mercury would be sending a new powerhead and be like new. Sounds great but what the heck causes this? I had the same thing happen to an Evinrude on another boat I had and thought I was making a better decision going to Mercury.

Should I sell it and get a four stroke? Are the four strokes better? Keeping the 2 stroke and just a matter of time before it happens again?

Not saying this was the problem. It usually happens in winter with cold water temps.
Optimax motors need time to heat up. Motor block needs to heat up.
#6 cylinder is the one that goes with the infamous cold seize problem with these motors
#6 is the last one in line for the cooling-warming water.
The piston is hotter than the engine block and expands inside the close tolerance cylinder..
Basically the piston expands larger than the diameter of the cylinder. And it destroys itself.
Optimax motors need to be warmed up to at least 120 Deg. before you put your foot in it.
A bad thermostat will cause you to cold seize one of these motors. Especially in cold water.
No expert just aware of this problem. Always run a water temp gauge and monitor it.
Thermostats are always plugging up .If one is stuck open you will never get to 120 deg in cold water