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| ...so last Thursday was the 3rd time being stuck in the middle of nowhere due to my motor dying. Just after boating a fish and missing another 5 min later....I want this to never ever ever happen again....time before that was almost a very cold night at Minaki in late October...fun.
I don't have an extravegent rig my any means, but it catches Muskies. I run a 20h 2003 merc right now and can't go over the weight of that motor because of how low the boat sits.
I want to buy a new 9.9 or 15hp to get me through the year and use it as a kicker for the new boat in spring (will still be used tiller style).
What motor in this range is bullet-proof? I don't care about fuel comsumption or top speed...more important is reliabilty and noise.
Thanks for any help. |
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Posts: 5874
| What is happening? Have you had it to a dealer to get it looked at? 20 HP 4 stroke? Two Stroke?
If you are going to use the new motor as a kicker for a new boat next year, I would suggest a Merc ProKicker. 9.9 HP, power trim, electric start runs smooth and quiet. |
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Posts: 507
| No kicker is bulletproof. We attend about 20 Walleye events a year, and kickers are absolute necessities. We see all the brands at the Tech trailers getting attention from the factory Tech teams.
Have you taken the 20 into a Merc tech and had her looked over? I've owned two and was very happy with them. |
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| Every time the motor dies it goes to the dealer and runs fine for x-amount of time afterwards. All proper yearly maintainance was done. It was a great motor for about a year... I know some that have the same and it's great...but it also seems when I tell people (I work at a fishing supply store) that my motor died, the first question is repetedly "was it a merc?". So I figuered I'd try a different brand and see how she goes. Whoever that was that replied and got erased....thanks. Any suggestions besides trying to fix this motor?? I could care less if it's just a simple something that was missed...I'm mad, and will never buy that brand again....just my personal opinion....as said I know people with the exact same motor and it's fine.
Is there a Lemonaid book for outboards??? |
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Posts: 5874
| So what is the problem? Has your dealer told you what he did to fix it? Is it the same thing each time? Perhaps there is something they missed?
All the motors are good these days, but that doesn't preclude any of them from having problems. As has been mentioned many times, it's the dealer that really can make owning a boat a pleasent experience or not. Perhaps some of your anger should be directed at the dealer? That is why I asked what is the problem they are fixing.
Edited by Shep 6/27/2007 7:42 AM
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| ohhh believe me, the anger is directed mostly at the dealer...unforunatly the manufacture is part of the package. Call it ignorant, but I'm going with another dealer/brand.
...2 different problems out of the 3 times. First prob was it bogging down at high speeds, then dying on a troll or at slow speeds and the last time before going in it wouldn't start again (...back of Crow). dealer said they cleaned it up (carb, exaust)and it ran fine. Second prob was it just dying at high speeds (Minaki in the dark in October). Again, dealer did some regular cleaning and changed the plugs, filter and lower (don't know why, it was just done...this was a whole different aguement with them). This third time was the same as the second (Ash rapids)...I ain't paying anything more toward that engine for now.
I know all brands will have their problems, but there has to be one that is better then the other. I'm going to check out chapters and see if I can find a lemonaid book for outboards...there must be some pattern for previous years models to point me in the right direction for buying new.
...leaning toward Suzuki, don't think I've heard about any dying on anyone yet.
What about Honda? Anyone have any experiences? |
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Posts: 32914
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Sounds like a fuel/oil issue to me. Trolling at low rpm with the older mixed fuel/oil two strokes can foul the plugs and carbon things up. Running a very high quality fuel and oil will help, as will changing the plugs mid season and running the prescribed fuel cleaner Mercury Marine suggests.
Keep in mind Mercury owns the lion's share of the market up here, so warranty issues on a percentage of total sales is going to be more numbers because there are more out there. My son has had two Suzis, a 90HP and a 70. He had troubles with both, but as I said, both were competently repaired by a local Suzuki dealer. If he took stupid advice like that Tomcat posted, he'd have never run the second Suzi, ( by the way, both were 4 strokes, big difference here) which after a water jacket issue was cleared up (two times at the shop) ran like a watch for the rest of it's time with him. Slamr had a 90 Suzi last year and was out of a rig for his Canada trip to AML last year when an electrical component failed. The engine would run slow, then suddenly die and not start again. He had to rent an AML boat for the week, because no one was available to look at or repair the motor, all the repair shops were booked that week. NO motor is bulletproof, all will break down, and that's a fact. ALL motors are well built these days, and the older two strokes are history.
Honda builds a great engine too. Do they have warranty issues? Yup.
SOOOOO, there will be no baseless brand bashing here, just advice based on the original question. Hoe you find a great deal on a great motor! |
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Posts: 743
| Nothing but class from Worrall.
"my stupid advise" was if the same motor died twice, dont buy the same one again. pretty simple. not stupid.
If i had to guess...he wont be buying a merc...which is probably your advise, right steve?
Again... my stupid advise is "get a yami or suzuki, dont buy the same motor that died on you twice already".
50 inch grin.. you say "reliablity and noise" are important...
the suzuki is SUPER quite motor..super quite. the quitest motor i have (haven't) heard. you are already having reliabilty issues with your current motor...so i doubt they wouldn't get any worse with a different brand.
Edited by tomcat 6/27/2007 12:02 PM
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Posts: 32914
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Again, not very well thought out advice.
I sell both brands, and happily. I run Mercury, happily. I also like to keep the facts out there.
By the way, both Suzis my son owned were new, as was Slamr's. Great motors, but not bulletproof, which was the point. No motor brand is.
What part of 'two strokes like that model are no longer available' is so hard to grasp, Tomcat? If this fellow buys a Suzi, he will get up to date four stroke technology, but no power tilt for about $2700.00 My son has one, had to buy a Panther Lift for the tilt, (great running kicker) and would have about $3500.00 in a new one with the Panther Lift. If he buys a T8 Yamaha, he buys up to date 4 stroke technology in an 8 horse for a bit over $3000.00, and gets the power tilt. If he buys a Merc Pro Kicker, he gets up to date 4 stroke technology in a 4 stroke with power tilt for about $3000.00, and a motor that is the lightest of the three mentioned. NONE are built in the US.
He can buy a manual start in any of the brands for about $2200 for the Merc and $2400 for the Suzi. I don't have a price sheet for the Yamaha.
ALL the 4 stroke kickers are 'quite' quiet. I don't hear a difference between them at all, and am around all three brands constantly at the PWT and FLW events.
I'm pretty sure the 15 hp models out there will require a tilt kit to be installed or a Panther type lift. |
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Posts: 7068
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | "don't think I've heard about any dying on anyone yet."
*I'd definitely buy another Suzi, but it really did stink to have to rent a camp boat on Eagle Lake for my one week long vacation of the year....when the 'check engine' light went on, the motor wouldnt stay at anything but nuetral idle for more than 10 seconds, and it turned out the low pressure fuel pump had gone out. The dealer said he'd never seen the like before, that there was nothing I could do to prevent it, and there wasnt a Suzuki dealer anywhere near Dryden, ON. that could even look at the boat for a week. Didn't matter anyways becuase it took 2 weeks to fix the problem. However, it did get fixed and Suzuki warranty service was amazing with their customer service, constant updates and overall situation resolution. BUT, this episode really did put a big damper on a week of fishing I had been looking forward to for 9 months.
What does my story mean? Am I trashing Suzuki? Not at all! Would I buy another? Possibly. I guess I meant this story to show that Suzuki's are great but there are disasters with them, too.
The world is a very imperfect place, things break all the time. Just ask me, I've broken pretty much everything. |
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Posts: 8816
| An engine does what it does by way of burning flammable liquids. We choose to put that engine on the back of a thing that goes in the water. Fire. Water. You can expect problems. |
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Posts: 5874
| Same dealer did the repairs? All centering around a fuel issue? Cleaning the carb all three times, and then they say it ran fine? Did anybody happen to check your fuel? Fuel tank? Could it be possible that you have some dirt or bad fuel in the tank? Sounds like it could be a problem not with the make, but with the fuel source.
Maybe just coincidence, but the dealer fixes it, runs it, and it's fine. On his tank and fuel? You get it back, run it for a while, and then it starts acting up again. There has to be a reason that cleaning the carbs make it run better, and then when you get it back, it starts misbehaving again.
Just trying to help save you some dollars here. I had a 25 2-stroke, and that thing absolutely wouldn't run well on anything but premium. On regular unleaded, it would run ok, but shake like crazy at idle. Bad for backtrolling. When I ran premium fuel, it ran great, and eventuelly smoothed out the idle. Wierd, but I accepted it. |
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