mercury outboards

[carp master]

im looking at buying this used boat an 07 but it has a 90hp 2 stroke outboard on it that was made in 2000 do think it will be a very reliable outboard or do they break down and are they loud?

[BoxMN]

We used to have a 90 merc but a '87. I believe they are still the same motor, basically, but not positive. If it is 3 cylinder then it is.

It was not loud (but would be compared to a 4 stroke), it was easy on gas compared to our Classic 50, but it did suck it at WOT. It was not extremely powerful, but it was powerful compared to the 90 4 strokes, those things just don't seem to want to even get out of their own way That is just MHO though, not trying to start a war here... ha!

We fished and skied a lot with it, and used it alomst every day of the summers, as we had my Dad, my then 17 year old brother and me all using it. The only thing that EVER happened to it was we needed to change to hotter plugs and we had one stator go out in 10 years. Other than that, just gas and oil and gear lube in the fall. Very reliable.

edit - oph yeah, we trolled a TON with this motor. You could see when it would load up a bit bit, by seeing more smoke, then we would just pull the lines, go for a short and fast ride, then back to trolling and we were good for a couple more hours of trolling again. Trolled about 2.5 mph with 18" SS prop.

Good luck.

[MuskieJunkie]

I always raise an eyebrow when I see a hull and motor that far apart in years. Why happened to that motor that it's no longer on it's original hull.....

I had a 2001 Merc 90 2 stroke (ELPTO I think they're called), I've acutally owned 3 motors just like that over the years, and it was very loud and used a lot of gas, about twice as much as the motor I have now.

As far as reliabiltiy it was good, I had a lot of problems with the power trim and it was always a pain to get the engine started (pump the ball, hit the choke, feather the throtle...) but the motor itself was solid.

With all that said I probably wouldn't buy another one, there are a lot better options out there IMO.

[bassNspear]

i wonder why they have it so different. Usally its the other way around, where they have a older boat and a newer motor.

[marine_man]

They are reliable engines... aren't really known as problem motors. Depending on what you're comparing to, it will be louder than a 4 stroke, and burn quite a bit more fuel than a 4 stroke, but compared to other two strokes of a similar hp size it'll be about the same.

They are cold blooded, and take a little time to warm up, but they are not a bad motor by any means.

marine_man