
Posts: 3504
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
If you are searching for a new motor, the number of hours on a motor really does not tell you much over the long haul....reason being is that a motor might see heavy usage at high speed pushing a big boat, or it could be slow trolling for hours at a time. Looking at maintenance schedules can be a good predictor of how the engine was taken care of, but it says nothing about the engine itself.
THE best two predictors of how well an engine is performing overall is a compression test AND a leak-down test. There are plenty of other items to look at, but these two would be the best to have performed on any engine one might be considering to purchase. All other items such as electrical components, carbs/injection systems are all fairly simple as compared to a complete engine tear-down and rebuild...
As for a general idea of motor hours, I would say 50 is pretty close for the average use of a motor over a year unless you are trolling or traveling vast expanses of water.
Steve
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