Optimax help

[Gerry Zagorski]

There are issues with most high pressure 2 stroke engines in the 99 - 2001 class outboards.... All the manufactures rushed to get them to market to conform with the new emmission standards and they were all blowing power heads like mad.

Evenrude had 2 stoke Ficht - no longer available and replaced with Etec

Mercury had 2 stroke Optimax - now they are pushing Verado 4 strokes

Yamaha had 2 stroke HDPI and they are now pushing 4 strokes.

Just check out the used boat listings with the motors listed above and you will see they are selling on the cheap for the reasons above.

I would steer clear of any of these motors and if I happened to have one and had a failure I would cut my losses and repower with a different motor rather then sink more money into them. If you can't afford new power and want to save some money I would consider repowering with with the straight older technology EFI 2 strokes (non pressure injected).

[hammer4reel]

I have an 07 Opti 225 with 1030 hours on it. First issue I have had with it was the shift selector switch not show the trans was In gear and putting it into safe mode.
was a 37 dollar part.
while checking that over I saw the compressor bearing had alot of play in it.
figured was best to change it out now instead of break down on the water.
800 bucks.

Other than that it has run great for me, and I push it hard.

I think using the Opti oil, while expensive has helped me have alot less issues than those using cheaper 2 stroke oil

[Flygaff]

I seem to have the problem solved. The fuel lines had broken down and just fouled everything up. They now seem to run great again. But there is always something. I now have one of my primer balls sucking down and shutting off the fuel supply. I think it may be more fuel line crud getting into my flow scan. This weeks project. I really need to get it perfect before a shark run

[Suckafish]

Who did u end up using I have mercurys and just got them and need good mechanics in case of problems

[Gerry Zagorski]

Fly - If you're still having issues, first place I would look is the fuel lines.

I had a buddy that was struggling with a simialr issue and it turned out to be a 6 inch piece of fuel line he negelcted to replace. That section of line would collapse and cut off his fuel.

The other thing that could cause fuel flow issues is the tank not being vented properly. One simple way to test it is to run the boat with the fuel fill open.

If all else fails, one way to see if its your tank and lines are the issue is to run the engines off protable tanks. If they run fine off the prtables, then you know the issue isn't your engine.