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Posts: 1023
| Curious if any Opti owners have had an issue like this with their motor.
Motor is a 2011 225 Optimax. 375 hours on it.
Runs just fine with the engine down, gets on plane just fine.
When I get to 4700 RPM's and higher, it feels like the boat loses power for a second, then gears back up, then loses power, gear up....etc.
I took it to a dealer and had a mechanic look at it. Told me I was hitting an RPM inhibitor. K. I've changed nothing to the boat, added nothing, took away nothing. And it isn't right. Asked the mechanic to fix that, he had no clue as to how.
So, I was told he would water test the boat and then fix it.
Turned out he cleaned the fuel system, found a bad "coil", fixed that, and changed plugs. ($680) I was told it was all good.
First time out? Yah, same stuff, still can't reach top end speed without the engine losing power on the higher RPM's.
(And there was no way it was water tested, as it did it right away when I got it back.)
I thought it could be a worn hub on the prop. Then I was told that if that was the case it would lose power when it was under it's greatest load, which is getting on plane, and it is not doing that.
No dings in the prop, skeg is just fine.
So, it is going to a new mechanic, a Merc only mechanic, on Monday.
Just curious if anyone else has had this issue and what else it could possibly be.
The new mechanic said that there are a lot of computer controls in the motor and it could be a simple air sensor that is messing things up. But who knows. |
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Posts: 14
| I'm not a marine mechanic, but sounds like a computer/ECU problem to me. Would be curious to hear what you find out. Definitely need to take it to an authorized Merc repair shop. |
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Posts: 256
Location: plant earth | clogged fuel injector/injectors or fuel pump
Edited by jdeezay74 6/29/2021 8:19 PM
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Posts: 1086
Location: Hayward, WI | Compression/leakdown test? If one coil failed it is very possible that others have/will failed, common issue. Need to know fuel and air pressures on an Optimax, will need to be lake tested and know what they are when problem occurs.
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Posts: 1023
| Update: I heard back from the mechanic. Got a very thorough explanation of what they did to diagnose the problem.
Air/fuel pressure, check. Spark, check. Plugs, didn't seem "new" as I was told the other dealer put in new ones, but they were fine, check. Coils, check. Cylinders, check. Prop, skeg, check.
After they rattled these off, I was told they had a staff meeting to discuss the issues on my engine. They came up with a few other ideas.
Checked the exhaust, apparently the Optimax engines can shift a little bit and throw off the alignment of the exhaust which leads to this issue. Nope, not in my case, all good.
They checked out the gaskets on the gear case. Guess they keep water from being sucked back up into the engine, and from letting water get to the exhaust. Ran water through it, and yes, both gaskets were leaking water. Enough water to cause a problem, but not enough to get water into the powerheads or exhaust.
They said that this would case the issue I'm having.
Told them to go ahead and scrape off the old gaskets and get the new ones on there. Was told that the parts were pretty inexpensive, so they would also give me new plugs, new lower unit grease and a new water pump, since they had the engine apart. The cost was in the labor involved.
$1,200. Boat should be ready in another week or so. I'll post after I've run it to see if the problem truly has been fixed. |
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| Good luck, hope they found the problem. Reading your description of all they did, I remember why I take my motors to a pro, rather than trying to solve any issues by myself. |
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Posts: 1023
| Got the call, boat is ready to be picked up, so I'll have it on the water this weekend!
And...the total cost was $1,000. Was told that the gaskets came in fast and the old ones were so bad they didn't need much labor to scrape off.
The mechanic said that they want me call them next week to let them know if the problem is fixed. They are very confident that this was the issue. If not? They said to bring it back and they would start over again, but not charge me labor to take the engine apart.
Feeling really, really good about this mechanic. And I'm almost at the excitement level of an 8 year old at Christmas time. |
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Posts: 1023
| UPDATE: Well, got the boat on the water this weekend up. I wasn't able to get it on plane and run it at full power, but I was able to make a nice run and had the RPM's between 4800 and 5150. Engine was strong and smooth. No missing power at all. In fact, we were going 54 miles and hour at one point, and the engine still had plenty left to give.
I could be imagining things, but I thought it was more powerful on take off, too.
For anyone out there that is experiencing issues with a Mercury motor, I highly recommend Nimmer Marine (just south of Fond du Lac off of 41). 920 923 4749.
I was told that if they can't fix a Mercury, no one can. And..."they" were right. |
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| Nimmer has been around for a long time and with FDL being the Mercury headquarters, number of Mercury dealers and factory trained service people but they have always had an excellent reputation for service. |
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Posts: 1023
| I've been able to get the rig out on some smaller lakes and get it to top end speed. Yah, issue is totally fixed. Very powerful engine right now. More power on the hole shot, great growl and speed on the top end.
2 people, 619 Ranger VS, 225 Opti and it is getting 54.5mph and sometimes 55. I've gotten the RPM's up to 5475 and that is about where they stop.
Very, very happy. |
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