Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

[kailec00]

What are the differnces in these two motors other than 190 vs 220? I have heard that the carb motor will give you a little extra power if needed to pull a heavy person up, but the 220 gets better gas mileage.

A lot of posts about the carb "dieseling", does the MPI not do that? Which is a better motor for a 19ft bowrider I/O that will be used to pull mostly kids on a tube and wakeboard? Most adults would be 200 pounds or under and know how to ski.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

Always get more power, when you need it, it's there! In many boats more power can be easier on the fuel if you aren't running big speeds all the time.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

The only advantage a carb engine might have over the mpi in towing, they are typicaly geared slightly lower. BUT that is to compensate for the lower power output, so......
MPI engines don't "diesel" because when you turn off the key, the injectors stop - no fuel = no run-on

Are you shopping new or used boats?
New - get the one you are happy with
Used - get whichever is in the boat and don't worry about it.

If you are worried about towing power - don't let the power difference concern you. I personally believe the 190hp to be artificially low - marketing but that is a topic for another thread. The real issue will be prop selection - big gains to be made there for relatively small money.

 

[kailec00]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

It will be a new boat. Tahoe Q5I. I am not sure what prop comes on it. I am looking for boat that will get me into boating at a resonable price. This boat fits my wants. What type or prop would you suggest then, will be paired with the Merc 220.

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

It will be a new boat. Tahoe Q5I. I am not sure what prop comes on it. I am looking for boat that will get me into boating at a resonable price. This boat fits my wants. What type or prop would you suggest then, will be paired with the Merc 220.

You're putting the cart before the horse. Get the boat and see what it does or doesn't do. Don't just start throwing props at it until you have some specs to go by.
Once you have that info, post a question in the prop forum for what to adjust to....... if needed.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

Probably the biggest advantage FI has over a carb is ease of use and maintance...But when FI fails it can be spendy..190-220 hp not much difference in the real world...Now a 100 dollar pair of trim tabs can make a huge difference

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

I own a 2003 Crownline 18.0 Bowrider with the 220 MPI. What I like about this motor:
Starts pretty easily every spring when I wake it from winter hibernation. For the first start up, cranks maybe 2 seconds, then fires, runs a few seconds, then dies. Re-try, it cranks a second or two then fires and runs smoothly. And that's after it's been fogged. The remainder of the boating season, it starts immediately and on the first try- every time. Not sure how that would compare to the carbed 190. I've had other carbed engines that were a little harder to get running after seasonal storage.
The motor has plent of power to do anything I've asked of it so far. That includes pulling skiiers of various levels of abiltiy and size, as well as tubing.
Nobody I know wake boards, so no experience there.
Fuel injection pairs with electronic engine management really well. That I think optimizes power, and economy.
As was said previously, no dieseling or run on with FI since gas is more positively stopped at shutdown.
Overall I don't regret having this motor one bit. Not to say I'd not have also been happy with the 190.
I run a 14 X 19 4 blade SS prop, which seems to be ideal for my use.
Prior to that it was a 14 X 21 3 blade AL prop. The SS prop lets the boat go on plane at a lower speed, can stay on plan at a slower speed, and does a better job of pulling ski's and tubes then the AL prop.
What I'm not wild about is the location of the fuel filter. On my boat anyway, it's not an easy reach and it's difficult to get a good enough grip on the filter with any kind of filter wrench I've tried. So last time I just removed the mounting plate and filter as a unit, and loosened at my workbench. Worked fine. Not sure if the 190 would have a similar issue there.

 

[kailec00]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

Thanks brewman, you seem to have answered all my questions, including the one about the prop. Would like to get everything figured out before I buy so that I do not want to make an expensive swap on motor.

 

[jrampey]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

kailec00,

Check out this forum on Tahoe boats...

http://forums.iboats.com/Tahoe_Boats

lots of good info here. I have a 07 Q6 with the 4.3l 190 carb engine... it has run well - just recently had a few issues - turned out to be a loose connection on the kill switch! otherwise all has been good. I have both a 4 blade aluminum solas 19p and 21p props. The 19p gives me great hole shot and low speed stability... I can hold the boat at 16, 17, 18 mph or any speed I want for wakeboarding, with a top speed of 45.5 mph. 21p gives me 47 mph. One requirement for my boat is the smart tabs. My boat porpoises badly without them, don't know if that has been designed out of the hulls or not.

My boat seems to have plenty of power - don't have any way to compare though. The injected engine does have a more sophisticated control module which has an hour meter embedded - and can read out diagnostics if needed, even can connect to electronic gauge clusters - I think.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

Since you have decided on an engine you are good to go. The package includes a merc prop - take it, you paid for it. Use that prop during your break-in/learning time.

Then after you have some time on THIS boat, you'll be in the position to make decisions about your prop requirements.

You will NOT save any money trying to select the RIGHT prop at the time of sale.
1. You don't know what you want/need yet, so you will NOT get the right prop
2. Bass Pro, doesn't exactly have a great prop selection anyway.

 

[kailec00]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

Thanks for all they advise. I know for sure that I will not be using Bass Pro shops, but will use a local dealer instead. Heard bad things about Bass Pro shops and boats. Thanks again everyone

 

[kenny26]

Re: Mercuriser 190 carb vs 220 MPI

I recently got a tahoe 195 i/o deck boat with the 4.3L 190HP TKS (turn key start) carb'd. Power is not lacking, it starts like a car, turn the key and its running. With the stock 23P prop i'm getting close to 50MPH at WOT. If you've got the extra $2k for the MPI go for it, but i wouldn't hesitate to buy the carbed version again.