Mercruiser Scorpion a bad engine???

[DanB]

OK, I have an 02 21iR on hold, and it has the Scorpion 330. I've been seeing some people who have problems with Mercruisers. I realize they are all GM-based, but something on a Mercruiser must be different than something on the PCM, vs. on a , vs. on a , and so on!

Even TigeMD says he'd never take a Merc, even if free! This is kind of scaring me, to the point of I'm ready to call and cancel the order. TigeMD, can you make it better???

[raythompson]

Re: Mercruiser Scorpion a bad engine???

Originally posted by DanB
Even TigeMD says he'd never take a Merc, even if free!

I had a Mercruiser engine in my boat that I owned 20 years and I never had any problems with the engine. It was a four cylinder with carburater (sp). I put a few thousand hours on the engine. I think the key was the engine was well maintained. Regular oil changes (probably the biggest factor), the correct oil, proper winterizing, kept clean, etc. The engine was very reliable.

[Flying Tiger]

Merc is a big name.
They offered little customer support to the service managers I've talked to.

Marine Power holds a lot of features and benefits to new buyers. And evidently,, better customer support.

Some are scared of the Marine Power name because it's sounding so new compaired to Merc.
At the boat show, most every new line offered something other than Merc.
I have Merc,, it's fine.

They are both GM vortex V8s with aftermarket
tupperware and accessories.

The only gripe I ever heard about the Scorpion is it burns a bit more fuel.

[smendez]

I've owned two boats for 9 years altogether. Both Mercruisers. Nothing ever went wrong with either engine.

I wish Mercruiser would learn from its competition and provide a 3 year warranty. Even if people don't ever use it, at least it's a way of showing that you really believe in your product.

[Flying Tiger]

Originally posted by smendez
I've owned two boats for 9 years altogether. Both Mercruisers. Nothing ever went wrong with either engine.

I wish Mercruiser would learn from its competition and provide a 3 year warranty. Even if people don't ever use it, at least it's a way of showing that you really believe in your product.

That says it all.
I think the general beef at the Tige dealer was the Scorpion was almost 4 grand more in cost,, and really offered nothing but a higher fuel burn.
I'm glad they saw through my a$$holesihsness and kept me from spending on that,

They're out to do you good there.
Heed their advise.

Mercrs are teriffic.

[DanB]

Thanks, I feel a lot better now. Sometimes it seems as if you're brain is only registering the negative things!

Re: the addtl fuel usage of the scorpion... Great! Still haven't told my wife how much more fuel we'll be using in our new V8 inboard. She thinks its going to be about the same as our old 60-horse pontoon boat!!!

[GIZMO]

Both motors will last a long time if treated good, keep good oil in them and cange it, and one of the most important things is warm them up before screaming accross the lake at 40mph.

From what I understand the scorpion is just a stroked 350, definity would not call it a bad engine.

If your conserned about the condition of the motor, have a leak down test done. That will tell you how stong the motor is.

[switchme]

The Tige dealer up here won't sell Merc's anymore mainly due to bad service & support when they had problems with them. I had an old boat with a Merc in it & had nothing but problems, not with the motor itself but with fuel pump, starter, distributor. My Tige has a Marine Power engine and I've had one minor problem with it (starter went bad). I've only had it a year though but way less problems than with a Merc. Based on my prior experience with Merc I'll never buy another boat with a Merc engine. See if the dealer will throw in an extended warranty on the deal, then at least if it does cause problems you don't have to pay for them.

[Tige M.D.]

i am not going to say merc builds a bad product. but i will say this, mercruiser has become completely obsessed with their high performanace market and has lost interest in us ski boaters. i can't tell you how many times i've been told by their tech service line "wow, never heard of that before" or, this was directly from the tech rep "it is what it is". very little help if any. i just talked to a tech from a tige dealer in northern california, he had a tranny fail the first day out, merc wanted him to start trouble shooting the problem. the problem was, there was fluid in the bilge and it slipped like crazy. is that not enough to justify replacing the trans? do you, as the customer want to wait around while your dealer jumps through mercs hoops? i did'nt think so.
i was told by an employee of merc in regards to my complaining about their fuel systems, "mercruiser builds the best engine that YOU are willing to pay for". that to me is crap. one more thing, this same person told me that their warranty department analyzes failures not to see what parts are failing but to see what parts that are NOT failing. that would mean it most be over engineered. how many of you get black belt dust all over your engine? up until around 2001 i only changed a handfull of belts. and those were for pms not failures. merc out sourced their alternator brackets to china and now they flex when the belt is tight. before that they were needing shimed almost 5/8". MY shop figured that out for merc because" they never heard of that problem before". what a bunch crap
we have only had a handfull of pcm's come through here and none have been back with a problem.
our track record with marine power has been near flawless. of the 200 plus we have sold, i can't think of any real problems we have had. i can say this, if there is any sort of problem, either the owner of marine power or his brother are on top of it. now that is service

you asked my opinion i gave it. my wifes family learned along time ago not to ask what i think, because i'll tell you.

[DanB]

I understand the issues. You mentioned PCM also & marine power. How about Indmar? I don't seem to hear too many bad things about them!

[Tige M.D.]

there is a indmar distribution center a block from me. i am friends with the guys that run it. we work on some of their engines but not enough to judge them good or bad. but, i'll say this for indmar, the two guy's that work are among the best around.