Hi!,

At last I have the possibility to order a V8 450R for my ol Phantom 25. The 400R has been a fantastic engine, but this season is the last with warranty.

The 450R has been on the market for a while now. Any issues you know about?

Thanks!


Cheers Toffen

No 450 owners will speak up on this site for fear of Mercury not covering their warranties. Since I don't own any Mercury product under warranty, I can tell you what I'm hearing from multiple sources in the industry, as well as owners of the 450s. They're having a lot of issues with the new 450s - gearcases, propshafts, wiring harnesses, motor mounts, powerhead oil leaks, exhaust can issues in the mid, etc. A buddy of mine that was going to order a pair of 450s from a leading Merc Racing dealer was told to stick with his 400Rs, as they're having nothing but problems with the 450Rs. I'm not trying to say they're all bad, as my buddy out here with a 340X/450R rig has not had problems since he received the boat last Fall, but there's no doubt that a lot of them are having issues. Everybody has jumped on the outboard bandwagon thinking they can just run the things for hundreds of hours with no problems, and that simply isn't turning out to be the case. They're still more reliable and WAY cheaper to own and operate than an inboard boat, but don't expect them to be 100% reliable and trouble-free as everybody seems to think.

185+ hours on mine with no issues.

34' MTI

I'm guessing you're one of the lucky ones Greg. Several 450R propshafts were lost at the MTI Run you just went on, as you know. I lost a shaft on my 400Rs at 40 hours, then put 1-piece shafts in both lowers and they haven't had an issue since, that I know of anyways.

I saw one CC with a lower issue but the case was whacked. I think they hit something.

And one 34 lost a shaft.

I don't know of other issues with 450s or even mechanicals on OB boats. I did hear about some bumper boats at Gilbert's lunch though.

Other than the CC, a 390 lost one and a 340 lost both. I heard it was a great run though, and glad to hear you guys had good weather for the most part (windy some days).

Have quite a few clients running 450's on both cats and CC's with in excess of 150 hours and none have experienced any issues with them thus far. The couple shaft issues I've heard about were either impact related or possibly operator error ( winging them ).

Is there anyone that has some good amount of hours on them? In the 500-1000 range?

I believe several CCs are at that range. I know for sure the 57 CC w the tower is at like 700 or so. He runs to the Bahamas almost every weekend without a 2nd thought.

My experience...I have about 240 hours on my motors, triple 450R on CC. I've owned the boat for 13 months, motors been down for total of 4-5 months at various times. Mostly due to diagnosing, parts being on backorder etc.

Each of the 3 have had their own issues. complete wiring harness was replaced, the fuel supply module was replaced, boost valves, multiple sensors etc. I've had each motor run into guardian many times (and currently is). Not sure what is up with my motors but, I can't seem to get them settled. Ive been on 4 poker runs (3 of which motors had pretty limiting issues), been offshore (80miles) and lost a motor. I've come to learn that stuff happens but, this is just too much for me.

Expensive hobby and at 65K/motor I don think its worth the performance. I would've gone with more dependable 400R. Saved a bunch of money and had a lot more fun.