Mercury Warranty

[redfishedition]

I don't post much but I wanted to tell my story about my first experience with Mercury standing behind their product.
I will start by saying that I have been a Yamaha owner for the last 20 years and they have been great to me. I had the opportunity to purchase a Trition boat at a good price and it had a 225 opti on the back which I was excited to own my first Merc, I have always liked the way Mercury outboards have looked but years ago they did not have the best of reputations. With the hype over the Mercury's fuel mileage, speed, and oil consumption I figured that it was time to make the switch and would also afford me the opportunity to go American.

I bought the boat 700 miles from my house so to say I was skeptical would be an understatement but I saved 5k and decided to give it a try. The first day I put the boat in the water I noticed that the motor had a hesitation but the boat was quite a bit heavier than my other one and I was not completely sure wether it the weight of the boat making it seem as though there was a hesitation or what.
Get back home and I have Optimax oil all over the motor and in the splash well area. My dealer told me that the method used to fill the main oil tank from the sub oil tank that the mechanic probably over filled it to clean it up and that it would go away. The next morning I noticed oil dripped off of the lower unit and I thought it was the same oil.
The next trip the same thing with the opti oil, but this time the oil was pouring out of the weep hole of the lower unit. Pulled the bottom plug and it was 70% water. Took to the dealer and the shifter seal was cut from the factory and the motor ran 15 hours with that problem. The gearcase checked out and the seal replaced no problems so far. Still had the opti oil in the splashwell again and I thought maybe I did not get all of it cleaned up. Still had the hesitation and a definate miss at WOT. The Mercury software never showed any codes for the miss.
3rd trip to test the gearcase and the opti oil still coming out the lower unit fixed but the miss and hesitation is a problem, told the dealer 700 miles and he is still saying I will be fine put some hours on it.
4th trip still having oil in splashwell and a miss. Took it to a local dealer and told the service manager that theres a problem and he called me the next day and told me that the bottom oil line going to the main bearing on the crankshaft the fitting was sheared off and the motor had 27 hours on it with no oil to the bottom bearing. Had it not been the bottom one (oil draining down downhill) it would have smoked the crank the first trip.
Dealer fixed the line and we put the boat in a lake to try and address the miss that the computer still is not showing. PUt the boat in the lake and the service manager was with me and I thought it for sure would not do it but as soon as the boat came on plane it missed and he said I felt it already. We spent the next hour with the computer hooked up testing cylinders and dropping them out trying to pinpoint and the motor ran like crap. While all of this had been taking place I made phone calls and did lots of complaining because I had no confidence in this motor what so ever.
This story is allot longer than I have written.
Summary:

Mercury sent me a brandnew dressed out 07 powerhead and the motor is running fine and I am finally seeing the fuel mileage that has been talked about. Kudo's to Mercury for standing behind the product and telling me that they will do what it takes to make me happy.
If things go like I think they will I am a Mercury Man.

THANKS MERCURY

[lugger]

my 250 pro xs blew within the first 6 min of sea trial , i will say it was no falt of mercs doing or quality . , but they had a new on there inside a week . new one a proper rigging , i have put over 300gal of fuel through it , glad to here another opti fan out there

[bmahoney]

180 degrees from Suzuki warranty! they suck

[redfishedition]

Hate to hear about your situation, hopefully someone will get that thing fixed soon. I guess we all have gotten lemons before.

Good luck.