Bad News on OptiMax!?!?!

[IwishIdid]

Took my rig to the shop for a pre tournament check up. Got the dreaded phone call about my motor. Said #6 was 15 p.s.i lower on compression than the rest. Said it was just a matter of time before catastrophic failure. So what to do? I told them to put the plug back in 'er, I have to have it. I don't know what to do. $2500.00 to $3000.00 to repair or go on and drop $10000.00 on a trade. Its a 2002 225 Opti with 223 hours on it. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. I can see many sleepless nights ahead! Motor has been fairly, if not the most reliable one I've owned. Just my luck I paid the boat off MONDAY!

[Jerry Blake]

I would get a second opinion and see if you get the same results and then go from their.

If you decide to get a new motor I would highly recommend a Suzuki Four Stroke. I have over 600 hours on mine without a lick of trouble. A Marine Dealer here that sells Suzuki and other brands and works on all of them told me he services several Suzuki motors that are in rental fleets with over 6,000 hours on them and they've never had to put a wrench to them other than oil changes and maintenance.

[TAE73]

I would also make a phone call to mercury, just because its out of warrenty they still might be willing to help, its worth a try.

[Minnerman]

My dad's yamaha blew up just after the warranty went out. The dealer he bought the boat from called them and they personally came down and rebuilt his and gave him another years worth of warranty. Like TAE73 said. either call them or have your dealer to call them.........tell'em you gonna get a Yamaha or Suzuki and you're going talk bad bout theirs and they might help out.

[Razorback Crappie]

Call Mercury!!!!! They'll help you for sure. If you really wanna get under their skin, tell 'em when you bought the Mercury, you were first considering an e-tec (evinrude) but felt just "more comfortable" purchasing a Mercury. If they don't help right off, ask to speak to supervisors until you get one that will offer you some relief. Worst case scenerio, bite the bullet and get the e-tec.

[Vince Gray]

There is a place called Brooks Marine in Bauxite Ar. they are a complete marine machine shop, and they do good work. about three years back I burnt up a piston on a 90 evenrude andf they rebuilt the power head reasonable, I was quite pleased.

[J White]

Seems like I remember hearing something about a class-action suit
against Merc for the 2000'ish big block Opti's - not sure the details,
but I think they settled with a lot of people.

[Wiskers]

Seems like I remember hearing something about a class-action suit
against Merc for the 2000'ish big block Opti's - not sure the details,
but I think they settled with a lot of people.

I believe I remember hearing something about that also. Might just be worth looking into.

[FishnLine]

As Andy Griffith would say "Just call the man!" :D

[FisherMike]

Could be nothing more then a blown head gasket or exhaust gasket. I think it's a little premature to panic. Has it ever been overheated? That will definitely cause a gasket problem. Even if it hasn't been I'd do some checking on the gasket.
Really you don't want to be running it if there is a problem though. That, could really lead to serious damage.