Hours on a 87 Yamaha 90

Just wondering what people would consider alot of hours on a 1987 90hp Yamaha Outboard? Looking at buying one that has not been opened up or rebuilt..

I'm sure under the right conditions / operation it will have a longer life, just wondering at what point hour wise some of you wouldnt want to touch it.

Thanks
Mike

[jb123]

either have a tech inspect it or
check compression,lower unit fluid/pressure test,wrist pin play and just in general how good it runs....i HAVE bought motors that i didnt run first... but its not good practice.

[jonp]

Hours on a 87 Yamaha 90

Generally speaking I believe anything beyond a 1000 hours I would not consider. Again this is difficult to judge. JB makes good points to check a few things. I have the same engine in an 89 model. Bought it several years ago, I have no idea how may hours are on it. Stone cold my compression readings are 125, 123, 125... After warmed up I would expect to be higher. Lower unit has always been clean. These engines are well designed and still made today almost unchanged. If you see readings of about 100 across all 3 Cyls then that would lead me to believe this baby has some time on it... Just my thoughts though.

Another thing to consider is the type of boat it was on. High performance bass boat would tell me that it has a lot of time at higher RPM. On a pontoon boat maybe no so much... If the boat is a basket case and poorly maintained that would tell me something else. Also fresh or salt water?

Good luck

Jon