Shep - 2/24/2014 1:46 PM
Zib - 2/24/2014 12:52 PM
I know the early Opti's (150 HP & up) had issues with the power heads.
My buddy has a 2000 100 HP Merc 2-stk that has around 1800 hours on it & he hasn't had any issues with it since he bought it used in 2008.
The issues with the 2000-2001 Opti's were the 3.0 liter
(200 and 225 HP
). The 2.5 litre motors
(135-175 HP
) were solid all the way through. Even 1999 3.0 litres were pretty reliable, as the were the analog version of the Opti. The Extreme one had a 1999 225 that had a gazillion hours on it until last year, it finally expired. The 2000-2001 digital version had some fuel rail and injector issues.
As said, any of the carbed 2 strokes were solid. Also, the Merc EFI's, too.
4-strokes were all solid, except the ring issues with the earlier Yammy midrange 4s motors. Making oil issue. The FICHT motors were 2-stroke3 OMC's attempt at a direct injected motor. They had more issues than the Optis did.
99 Opti 135 should be a good motor, of course depending on how it was maintained and how used it is. They did go through plugs once a year, and they were not cheap then. Don't know about now.
