JasonSmith

The EFI motors are not affected by the valvespring problems that the carbed engines did. There was a cam change & a material change that has corrected this potential problem.
As far as what needs to be done. Well the valve covers should be removed & the valve springs inspected for corrosion & breakage. If there are brolen springs you are looking at about $300 for a set of springs & locks per engine. I would assume that it would be about $500 - $750 per engine for labor at most any marine shop.
I would not be afraid of a HP500 or HP525EFI engine. I would buy a boat with "blue" engines way before I would one with black engines. Even though I did buy black engines this time around, I would have bought blue if there had been a choice.

Rippem

first you say they are not effected, then give details on what needs to be done...

two different animals and parts collection.

I stand by my post answering the asked question about used pricing, it's on the mark as to the reasons why the spread isn't as big as some think it should be. (namely 500EFI engined boat owners)

mpally

I think Jason is speaking of the carbed 500's when he is refering to the repairs.

Rippem, if I am reading you correctly, you would go with the black motors?

Let me clarify myself, I am speaking of 500EFI's, not the 500 HP's. We would be looking at 2000 or newer 36 Outlaws.

drdread

The retail upgrade from the 496 HOs to the 525s on the 405 was over $80k!!!!!! It still was expected to run under 70..........I went with the HOs. Yes, it is our cruiser............I kept the 302 that had HOs in it as well. It ran 77.4 on GPS and had a little more in it. I just sold it.
I'm shopping for a Spectre cat for my fast boat.............I like the 32 with 525s, 600s or the Ilmores................. I've got to let the $ wounds heal from selling the 342 and the 302 and buying the 405................OUCH!

flyboyaa1

Fresh water cooled, its the only way to go. I have 496HO in my 2006 35 OUTLAW. The motors turn my labed 28 Pitch Bravo one porps at 5200rpm At 75 mph on the GPS all day long. The 500EFI is a great motor for sure, But So is the 496HO. any one who says otherwise is not being honest.

craigbaja

[QUOTE=flyboyaa1]Fresh water cooled, its the only way to go.QUOTE]

YEP I hope to be out on LOTO THIS New Years day too

Rippem

yes, I do have HO's in my 353. I am very happy with them. They run great...fat torque.

They have been on Mobil 1 since the second change and have NEVER used one drop of oil. Push my 10,000 lbs of boat 70+ any time, and are quite eficient at cruise. I read somewhere that they are engineered to go 1000 hours of reasonable use with good maintenence.

There's no "bling" factor (though it is available) but they are workhorses!

I couldn't justify the $ for 5-6 more MPH with blue.

As far as bling, well...I dig sun, beer and chicks. Opening my hatch to show off is far down on the list.

Rippem

as far as the 500EFI's being free of issues tell me how many are making 350-400 hours without at least top-end rebuilds.

How many do you see for sale on this threshold and why? and how many do you see that have made these hours and are advertised as "freshened"?
freshened by who? and why? did they do it right? ect...ect...

are you getting the picture yet?

I'll call you when my HO's break say...the 700 hour mark, with nothing but oil/filter, fuel filters, and a couple of plug changes.

try that with blue...

and see why they sell for much less than the original difference in color$

Dock Holiday

We pulled ours down at 300 hours because I wanted to build more Horsepower. Everyone i know including the Mercury Engineers at the Miami boat show and a good friend that helped develop the 500EFI, Mr Keith Eikert all told me to leave them alone.

Merc told me with proper maint (IE OIL & FILTER) and if you don't abuse them or overheat them they are good for a solid 500 hours.

I have a good friend in Jacksonville, Florida that just six months ago pulled the 500's out of his 38 Scarab to do exactly what I did to mine. His engines looked GREAT and he NEVER in 500 hours had a mechanical failure. This was the first time the engines had been opened up. And I got to tell you he RUNS THEM HARD.

Another buddy has a big Donzi 38 ZX with 500's and he ran over 500 hours a year ago.

The problem is that the original 500 HP with a carb had bad value springs out of the box and they were failing at 200 hours. We are talking 7 to 8 years ago now. This is old news and has long been corrected, and has never been an issue with the 500 "EFI" engines.

Another myth is NOT run them wide open throttle for more then 30 seconds. The guy that rebuilt my 500's was on my boat for the Jacksonville Poker Run before we pulled the engines. He told me to see if I could break them, that he guaranteed me that with 300 hours and the excellent maintenance schedule I had preformed that they would not break.

With 4 people on board we ran "WIDE A$$ OPEN THROTTLE" all the way back from Palatka to Jacksonville non-stop. That is 70 Miles.

When we pulled the engines down they looked excellent. One head gasket on the the port engine had got very thin between two cylinders. He traded me some of his labor for the stock cam, heads and valve train. They are all running today in another boat.

Believe what you what to believe, but you get out of any engine what you put into it and how you care for it. I also know a guy in Florida that bought a brand new 32 Sunsation with 496HO's last year and the crank in one engine BROKE with 10 hours on it. Merc gave him a complete brand new engine.

I suggest that you run them hard after break in, and before the warranty is out. If they don't break, you will be cruising for many trouble free hours to follow.

I have four years and over 400 hours now on my CMI's and no problems yet. They are expensive, but I would buy the same in a heartbeat if they failed. They look, perform and sound awesome.

P.S. Mobile 1 15W50 every 20 hours TOPS, or after every poker run. Fram HP 4 filter and drive fluid every 20 hours.

Dock Holiday

Run them just like any other engine. Service them well and enjoy. You will find that you do have to do a LOT of polishing, becasue they look so awesome you will want to lift your hatch at the dock and show them off.


A complete top end rebuild will usually run about $1200 per engine. To totally freshin them you will spend about $4000 to $4500 per engine.


Absolutely NOT. I have seen too many of them now with 500 trouble free hours. Call Merc and ask them first hand if you don't believe me. Unless you abuse it, don't service it, or just get unlucky it will last a lot longer then 300 hours.

They have the "BEST" internals. You cannot build a higher quality motor. They are HAND built in the Merc racing department. I saw a special on Discovery about building engines and Mercury was one of the companies showcased.

Did you know that Merc use to build the engine for GM that went into the Corvette?