OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

[boltbreaker]

Ok, Here's my delima. I see that the Johnson/Evinrude repair forum has 30,000+ topics posted and the Mercs only have 16,000+. Are the Merc more reliable than the Johnnyrudes?<br /> Maybe there are just ALOT more Johnnyrudes produced than the mercs.... anyone have any numbers on production figures over the years?<br /> I repair outboards locally and it seems like I see a lot more OMC stuff needing something. <br /> I also have been speaking with a dealer locally that has been in business 35+ years. He has dealt in the OMC's and the Mercs,,,, and now just carries the Mercs and says he has "no-use" for OMC garbage.

 

[Scali]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

OMC's not garbage.<br />I've owned a few of both & have been boating for 30 years.<br />The V 4 OMC's were my favorite OMC I had a 90 Johnson looper, great engine.<br />The Merc 40 HP 4 cylinder is my favorite Merc own one now, love it. <br />Point is both makers put out good motors & weak ones too..<br />Having said that on average the OMC's may need slightly less tinkering basiclly the carbs & fuel pumps seem to need more attention with the Mercs.<br />Thats been my experience anyway, but I love my Merc.<br />I hope some of the Techs chime in on this one, I'm curious what they have to say ..

 

[walleyehed]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

and now just carries the Mercs and says he has "no-use" for OMC garbage.<br />

Too bad the E-Tecs are going to WRECK his Merc business....Go back and tell him he might as well start looking for a job....<br />In the 70's and 80's when we went to the lake, it was common place for someone to run us down 'cause they new my dad was a dealer and a wrench, and pull up and say, hey, my engine ain't running quite right, can you fine-tune it for me??? Dad would jump in the boat with them, help them try and get there MERCURY running right, and we'd set there floating around, maybe troll a bit, and my Dad would always be hotter than a firecracker when they came back....<br />He siad at that time, if he ever owned a merc, he wanted us to have his head examined...of course that was a long time ago...Merc has a few good ones, OMC had a few Bad ones, but over-all, OMC outsold Merc about 3 to 1 up to about 1990.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

Look at the posts and you'll see there's a lot of posts from '60s and '50s and sometimes '40s Johnny/Rudes that arn't matched by the Merc forum. Why? Because OMC sold more, and more have survived the ravages of time & salt water.<br />If you go over to The Marine Doctor's forum, you'll see almost twice as many posts for Merc troubles as J/E ones. Does that mean Canadian Mercs are more failure prone?

 

[rodbolt]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

they all break<br /> some had issues that others did not. in my opinion both were junk but I have owned and worked on about all the brands. all break. job security. I hope the new E-tecs live up to the hype. would be nice for a change. 5 years of salt and neglect will tell.<br /> if you read the fine print on the 3 year no maint schedule it may or may not fit your profile. however its never mentioned in the infomercial. they will suffer the same blown pistons as the rest due to cooling and trash fuel issues. of that I am confident .<br /> so for now ill keep the job I have

 

[Scali]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

Since the ETEC was mentioned it's only fair the the Verado be mentioned too..<br />A couple of home runs by both companys..<br />Also the fact that some Mercs are really Yamaha's or Tohatsus & some Johnsons are really Suzukis should be mentioned too.

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

A couple of home runs by both companys..

are you REALLY insinuating that the verado is a home run...???<br /><br />what a terrible idea. i hope i NEVER own one. anytime you take a SMALL cube motor, and stuff a supercharger on it and try to squeeze more out of it than it naturally should be making, your reliablity ratings just went down the drain.<br /><br />merc had something good years ago, before the opti-bomb, back when they made their own motors. now they are just *****

 

[Scali]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

I am " really insuating " the Verado is a home run, OK a triple.<br />Maybe the fuel consumption is a little high & the weight too but they have been from everything I've read extremly reliable.<br />Go to the Thehulltruth.com & search it.<br />I forgot where I read it but the president of Mercury recently called the engine " perfect " .<br />Supercharged engine or not I bet these engines will continue theyre track record of reliabilty..<br />People are buying them up .<br />Myoutboards, do you think these motors havent been very reliable & impressive to date ?

 

[moderator1]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

If the Verado is "Perfect", why did the E-Tec get the EPA award????????

 

[Scali]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

I didnt say it but it's because theres been no<br />powerhead replacements or faliures to date.<br />It was a reckless thing to say but one thing for sure these motors have been extremly reliable to date.<br />Theyre being tracked @ thehulltruth, do a search there..<br />The ETEC won the EPA award due to it's excellent fuel economy.<br />Heck I may go for the ETEC too but Verado's is a pretty impressive unit

 

[DJ]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

Look at the posts and you'll see there's a lot of posts from '60s and '50s and sometimes '40s Johnny/Rudes that arn't matched by the Merc forum. Why? Because OMC sold more, and more have survived the ravages of time & salt water.<br />

I agree. There were just more of them and the older ones just seem to keep going. I can attest to that, owning four of them older than 1975. All of which run perfectly.

 

[JB]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

Because there are so many older JohnnyRudes and they are less expensive to buy and maintain, the owners of those engines are far more likely to do their own maintenance. A few hours in the shop cost more than the engine.<br /><br />Those are typical of the people who come here. . . to ask for or to offer help.<br /><br />That's why JohnnyRude posts so far outnumber other makes/families.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

yep<br /> merc usually does not support a product long after it is no longer in production. OMC did for years. but both made decent stuff for its day. I still think that some of the DI stuff and some of the 4 stroke stuff is and was brought to the market to soon and without a realworld test. a couple months on a bass boat with a factory support team is not a real world test.

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

Myoutboards, do you think these motors havent been very reliable & impressive to date ?

impressive, no. anybody can build a supercharged 4 stroke.heck, you used to be able to buy a supercharged dodge omni 20 years a go,maybe merc stole their technology...hahahahaha<br /><br />im not a merc basher by any means, i own 2 of them now and have owned 2 others in the past. i also currently have 5 omc's and 2 old clintons. ive run and owned everything but a yamaha. im not brand specific. i buy and use what i think will work. omc had/has some stupid ideas as does/did merc. i LOVE my two mercs i have now, and still to this date, the favorite outboard i ever owned or even ran at all, was my 1976 merc 1150 inline 6 TOWER OF POWER, and this was just last year! talk about reliability!<br />im not doubting the reliability of merc verado, well maybe i am, BUT.... im sure merc can build a good, lasting motor. but why a supercharger.it is in no way practical. boaters have always wanted to get the most from the least. they want good usable HP with the lowest amount of weigt. <br /><br />merc is all proud of the fact that they made more HP out of the smallest cube motor they possibly could. but they forget to mention that they added a few extra pounds. more than most boats can handle. yeah, sure its neat and cool to have a SUPER chager and has the "wow" factor, but i think they went about it a lil "AZZ-BACWARDS" they added MORE weight and MORE moving(breakable) parts and all the while adding NO NEW TECHNOLOGY. superchargers were around decades ago.<br /><br />they made a BIG, HEAVY, GAS GUZZLING motor that is too heavy to hang on most older boats, so maybe, just maybe, with their brand of thinking, you'll go out and buy a whole new rig so you too can have the next BIG thing, the verado, seeing as to how they own a bunch of the boat companis that use verado anywho.... this could go on and on.....

 

[Scali]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

I agree with you in principal about a supercharged motor not being a great idea but theyre are blown motors that can rack up the milage/hours, my brother had a Saab turbo that when sold @ 276k was still running perfect..<br />I believe it's possible to build a supercharged outboard that will last as well.<br />The engineers on this project were the best & they really did theyre homework threw a ton of $ into it, so not to have another early Optimax situation on thier hands.<br />If the Verado's reliabilty continues to pan out then the facts that theyre superharged, somewhat thirsty, will be superseded..<br />I'm just pulling for these motors because the future of Merc may be riding on it !

 

[moderator1]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

I'm just pulling for these motors because the future of Merc may be riding on it !

That's why Evinrude took their (Mercs)horse out at the knees with the E-Tec..

 

[Laddies]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

As long as everyones getting in their 2 cents, thought I might as well also, Mercery - E-Tec. we can all argue all day, if they are running they are great, if not they are junk. I don't work on most of the new technoligy engines.(h-ll I can't even spell it) so I don't even care about them, That one of the things I wonder about were do you get them repaired. When I ask a couple of local E/rude guys they said no problem the E-Tec is not anything but a Ficht warmed over by the French Canadians I thought Ficht wasn't very good, So I looked under Ficht on the internet and under (Mr Wizard/ whats next for OMC part II) that OMC versions of Ficht technology in many cases infringed on Orbital Tech. patents, it gets more confusing as you read all the wheeling and dealing that when on between the major players in the buyout of OMC. So I guess the first question that I have ever ask one this site is, either one any good, beond the Media Hype from both manufacteres neither have a track record, there predecessors certianly were nothing to brag about. If my 2 cents meant much and if I was asked I would respond to it in the old fashioned way of don't buy anything till it's out a couple of years to see how it goes, let someone else get the bugs out of it. I think it's to easy to get wound up in new product from manufactures that we favor and give bad advice---Bob

 

[Trophy23]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

I think you pretty much nailed it --- with some good insight and advice, Bob.

 

[ziemann]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

Based upon the question....I smell a troll....

 

[rodbolt]

Re: OMC vs MERCURY MERC MORE RELIABLE?

but does anyone wanna bet that E-tec,Verado, HPDI or four strokes put ol rodbolt on the unemployment line .