Four Stroke Longevity...

[HMBJack]

Now that the V6 series of Four Strokes (F225, F200, F250) are getting up there in age from when they were first introduced, can you share your legitimate experiences with HOW MANY HOURS they ran before they began to fail or require MAJOR service (like > $2K)?

This is in context of Saltwater use and excluding the Dry Exhaust issue which affects some, not all, engines.

I'm hearing 3,000 or 4,000 hours with good maintenance and a little luck.
What are your experiences?

Thanks

[HMBJack]

Yeah, I suppose ALL of these engines will EVENTUALLY develop the exhaust stack problem.

I run twin 2006 F250's. Just over 1,200 hours now. No issues so far (knock on wood) and I took up the LU leg every time I do a water pump change.

If the exhaust stack issue develops, I'll fix it. I have twins so an overheat won't disallow me from getting home.

Interested in other experiences here. Thanks.

[fairdeal]

I have over 1700 hours on my F225TXRD

IIRC I did the mid-section kit at ~1000 hrs.
(still have not done, or needed, the crankshaft sleeve)

No other major work.
Has always, and continues to run great - as good as new, IMO.

Here's the breakdown on the hours its seen:



Now, I purchased an ECU a while ago from a 2006 F225
(I wanted to add NMEA 2000 output)

I don't know why that 2006 engine was being "parted out" -

but here's the running hours that comprised it's entire service life:



I see many posters (other sites) who insist that "outboard motors want to be run WOT"
and "you need to run it like you stole it"

I am no expert. But I do not subscribe to that point of view.

[boscoe99]

It is a given that certain operational use will diminish the life of a motor. Any motor.

111 hours over the red line RPM is abuse IMO. 2042 total time out of that motor appears to be reasonable.

There are some water taxis that run daily, all day, at moderate power levels, that have reached more than 8000 hours total time.

Charleston Water Taxi Puts 8,700 Hours on Second Set of F150s, Repowers with Third Set | Yamaha Outboards

[panasonic]

It is a given that certain operational use will diminish the life of a motor. Any motor.

111 hours over the red line RPM is abuse IMO. 2042 total time out of that motor appears to be reasonable.

There are some water taxis that run daily, all day, at moderate power levels, that have reached more than 8000 hours total time.

Charleston Water Taxi Puts 8,700 Hours on Second Set of F150s, Repowers with Third Set | Yamaha Outboards

I would bet that if they ran them engines at wot all the time they would never have reached that amount of running time.

I have seen people who treat their machines with respect, whether it is an airplane, outboard, car, motorcycle...ect, and I see people who give everything they have with an engine, hell. The former always seem to come out on top, and their machines last longer and have way less problems...

But saying all that. All machines have problems, some more than others. But everything I see with Yamaha on it seems to work well, and with proper attention, lasts many years without major trouble.

My two cents on that.

[pstephens46]

It is a given that certain operational use will diminish the life of a motor. Any motor.

111 hours over the red line RPM is abuse IMO. 2042 total time out of that motor appears to be reasonable.

There are some water taxis that run daily, all day, at moderate power levels, that have reached more than 8000 hours total time.

Charleston Water Taxi Puts 8,700 Hours on Second Set of F150s, Repowers with Third Set | Yamaha Outboards

10 hours a day. 2 years.

[fairdeal]

Charleston Water Taxi Puts 8,700 Hours on Second Set of F150s, Repowers with Third Set

Impressive but not surprising.

I am curious tho, as to what their experience was with the balancers

[pstephens46]

Charleston Water Taxi Puts 8,700 Hours on Second Set of F150s, Repowers with Third Set

Impressive but not surprising.

I am curious tho, as to what their experience was with the balancers

Maybe part version 5 has hit the mark....

I am curious as to how they were propped? Did it read 14000 lbs?

[boscoe99]

Charleston Water Taxi Puts 8,700 Hours on Second Set of F150s, Repowers with Third Set

Impressive but not surprising.

I am curious tho, as to what their experience was with the balancers

It would be interesting to know. Same balancers as originally installed or did they proactively update theirs from time to time? Or do their mechanics know what and how to listen to the balancer in an effort to determine when it needs to be replaced?

I do believe that balancers were more likely to fail on low time aging motors than they are to fail on high time new or aging motors. That is, the lack of use seems to contribute to their failure rate IMO.