Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

[myoldboat2]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

nobody wants to take a shot at this? c'mon, just a list of merc sterndrives in order of reliability, and a similar list of merc engines. i know you guys have the lists in your heads.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

Here is a good thread.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=342772

Even has a quote from Nate in it:

Doh! There you go throwing past comments in my face. Who are you, my wife???

Look, I've been so intimate with my 470 in so many ways how could I be anything but madly in love with it, or at least in a love-hate sado-masochistic clothespins-on-my-nipples sick, disturbing relationship?

 

[steddy]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

Alright, I'll take a blind stab at it. With any Merc larger than the 5.0, stay away from the Alpha 1. Once you get into the 5.7 and above, opt the Bravo. I've heard a few horror stories of common sterndrive failure under heavy stress when the Alpha 1 is coupled to too much horsepower. The classic case of too much engine coupled to too little transmission.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

They most certainly are not ...................

I've replaced to many to call them that.

I think that if the previous owners of my boat did to a 4.3L (or any engine for that matter) what they did to my 470, it too would have had to be rebuilt. All the way down to the non-existent exhaust shutter, this engine was "ridden hard and put away wet" for 22 years.

 

[natemoore]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

Alright, I'll take a blind stab at it. With any Merc larger than the 5.0, stay away from the Alpha 1. Once you get into the 5.7 and above, opt the Bravo. I've heard a few horror stories of common sterndrive failure under heavy stress when the Alpha 1 is coupled to too much horsepower. The classic case of too much engine coupled to too little transmission.

Funny you should mention that. My next door neighbor has a 23' Chapparal with a big V-8 and an Alpha One drive. A few weekends ago, he snapped his center socket (which couples the two u-joints) and really messed up his drive.

 

[steddy]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

Funny you should mention that. My next door neighbor has a 23' Chapparal with a big V-8 and an Alpha One drive. A few weekends ago, he snapped his center socket (which couples the two u-joints) and really messed up his drive.

Yeah, they'll do that.

 

[flyer4ever]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

This has been a very disapointing thread. After reading all these posts I'm convinced I made a huge mistake buying a boat with a stern drive. I've always had outboards and have never had any problems at all. Everything I've read shows me that these things are big problems. I'm glad I found this site before I blow any more money. Anyone want to buy some more problems? 1986 Glastron OMC 3.0 cheep. I'm not waiting for problems to happen. THANKS for the insite everyone and good luck! I give up.

 

[steddy]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

This has been a very disapointing thread. After reading all these posts I'm convinced I made a huge mistake buying a boat with a srern drive. I've always had outboards and have never had any problems at all. Everything I've read shows that things are big problems. I'm glad I found this site before I blow any more money. Anyone want to buy somemore problems? 1986 Glastron OMC 3.0 cheep. I'm not waiting for problems to happen. THANKS for the insite everyone and good luck! I give up.

Oh, yeah!!!! Gotta love those noisey nasty smelling 2 stroke outboards!!! Wait - what's that you say? They make them in a 4 stroke version now? Too bad they're low horsepower. What's that you say now? They make a 225 HP version? How much is it? $15000??????? That's more than I paid for all my I/O boats combined!!!!!!

Try fighting a 30 pound salmon around the big hulking head of an outboard. Never mind they add 3 feet to the back of the boat for tight storage. Gotta love that genius use of space for the water catch basin right in front of the engine, too.

Outboards sure are nice when they die, though. Just go out in the middle of the lake, unhook it, and watch it sink.

Naw, just kidding on all the above. Outboards are OK. There sure is a lot less to go wrong with them, and when something does break, they can be much easier to work on from an accessability standpoint. Easier to replace, too. Inboards have their advantages/disadvantages, too: Maneuverability, draft, etc. Sterndrives can be a bit of a complex animal for sure, especially when it comes to the annual maintenance on thing - Impeller, bellows, engine alignment, etc. But, if you know what you're doing, don't do anything it's not designed to do, and you take care of it, you have the best of all worlds. Shallow draft, maneuverability, service life.

 

[Polar_Bus]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

Well, even though i'm a fairly new boater, I have some recent in-depth experience of both a Merc Alpha 1 GenII outdrive, and a 1992 OMC King Cobra outdrive.
I do CNC machining and also dabble in some fabrication as well. In hindsight after spending 9 hours welding, custom fabrication, and bushing rework on that OMC outdrive's gimbal housing, I quickly came to the conclusion that OMC drives are absolute garbage. From primarily an engineered standpoint, and secondly from the quality of materials (garbage pot metal aluminum) vs. The Mercruiser Alpha outdrives...

 

[myoldboat2]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

We're starting to get some good info here. Would love to hear more. In another thread, there is discussion of replacing a 120 or 140 with an inline 6, 165hp. These are the types of comparisons I'd like to see compiled--what can be fitted/swapped with what, what has better reliability, etc. That type of info would be invaluable to many of us.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Which Makes & Models of I/O's to Avoid?

As a shadetree mechanic who bought a dead/neglected 1992 3.0L Mercruiser Alpha 1 Gen II back from the dead with great success...

And as a shadetree mechanic who very recently purchased a dead/neglected 1999 Volvo 5.0L GL with SX drive back from the dead with similar success...

I'll add one thing that I have discovered switching from Merc to Volvo.

Part prices and choices are greatly different.

For example, whenever I needed to buy a water pump, alternator, prop shaft, or similar part for my Mercruiser, I could jump on the internet, Ebay, and just about everywhere else and compare MULTIPLE different prices on OEM and/or aftermarket parts. Often I found great savings. Those dang Mercruisers are EVERYWHERE and parts are PLENTIFUL.

And now that I have made a switch to Volvo and am shopping for similar parts, I'm discovering that my choices in parts are FAR, FAR fewer, and the prices are SIGNIFICANTLY higher. And salvage parts are much less available in my neck of the woods as well.

The repair processes and labor times are very similar...neither seems overwhelmingly easier or harder to work on...if anything I'd say the Volvo has been easier with more accessable parts. BUT...the part prices have been rather salty compared to what I was used to. With fewer opportunities to comparison shop.

Just another consideration I thought I'd bring up.

All that said....I like owning my Volvo better. Of course, not exactly apples to apples comparison....as the extra 4 cylinders obviously doesn't hurt on my "new" boat!