Dock Holiday

Picking up a new Baja 36 Outlaw this Wednesday with 500 EFI's and XZ drives.

The dealer told me today that the break in period per Mercury on the 500's is 30 hours. This seems excessive considering the 454 and 502 in the last two boats I had were only 10 hours.

Is this correct?

I have several friends that have run them wide open right out of the box with no problems. They can afford to and don't keep their boats more than a couple of seasons. I need to do everything I can to make mine last, but this just sounded excessive.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Mark

Dock Holiday

Thanks very much Troutly, I appreciate getting that information.

Mark

Miami

Baja Boss - either you misunderstood the dealer or the dealer is way off base. If the latter is true, i would be wary of any additional info the Dealer gives you.

Good luck with the new boat. You will love the motors!

audacity

let it have it!! u don't break-in a chain saw saw'n twigs now do ya!!??

hell that's more than 1/2 a race season!

Dock Holiday

Miami,

I DID NOT misunderstand him. My wife heard me question him three times on this because it was so excessive.

Audacity,

I agree with you, but I can afford to buy a chain saw everyday, these 500's are a different story. I want to do the right thing to assure long life.

Thanks Mark

audacity

really!!!...i'm VERY serious...think about it???...if a race boat's engines can last ONE season/10+races....that equates to a damn lot of poker run and pleasure boating...by the way,,,,i broke my pleasure boat in the same way! many hours later, still no problem!

Miami

Baja Boss - the reply from Troutly is a direct quote from the owner's manual you will receive. I know as I have the same manual. Mercury has to warranty the motors. They at times can be conservative. Break them in the way you will use them! It will not hurt these motors to run full throttle in the beginning. You need to do this for the dialing in process. You do not want to run full throttle for a long time. Vary the throttle settings above 3000rpm to allow valves, rings, seals etc to seat @ different operating temperatures. Five hours goes by real quickly.

Thje worst thing you can do for the motors is break them in at low RPM's.

Stop woorying. They will be fine!