How was the reliability in the early years of the Verado 350sci motors? I hear so many different things. Some say they grenade, others swear the run like any other outboard.

Just trying to get a handle if there were years to avoid or specific issues to be aware of.

Thanks

Important part is how well were they maintained. And by whom as they needed to be fully trained to a T on those apps. Verado's seem to have a lot of changes and updates thru out the years for many reasons. IMO I would probable not want one. Not sure of the 350's but the 300 and down had a lot troubles with gears and gear cases. Merc changed all of that from the first couple of years for the Verado's after all the failures. I could look further into it. What I would do is have a very well trained Merc Verado Tech check them out. Make sure he is certified with Verado's. These are a different animal than your standard Merc outboard. I am not trained on them but know a little about them. They need to be maintained to a T. I do know that for sure.

The 350's are pretty much bullet proof. Lowers are the strongest merc has made for a verado.
Although some others can chime in I don't remember any updates or changes made to the 350 and haven't heard of one grenading. I have had several and also regular verados with Ecu changes to 350 with 0 issues.
Lowers were a problem with boats that got airborne. Basically like a bravo. With dts it's very hard to pull back on the sticks smoothly and re entry would break them. The hd lowers fixed this.
Lot of crap info out there but the verados have proven to be the most reliable four stroke on the market.

I have several close friends with them and they are no better or worse for reliability to an optimax. Worst I seen was one of them stopped, they got it started and back to shore at idle. Once there we pulled cowl and noticed a few teeth missing on ring gear. Still turned over but wouldn't start again after we stopped it at bank.
Turned out it had ingested so much sand leaving the shallows it blocked solid every water gallery in the engine, so much so that the temp sensor was insulated by the sand and neither alarm nor guardian ever went off. It had cooked the motor and locked up! Hence missing teeth on ring gear trying to start again.

Anyway insurance covered that one, but other than that just minor sensor and dts faults. They are a good engine IMO. I'm keen on one.

Many of the issues with early models were a result of a lack of training by unauthorised/non certfied tech's misdiagnosing an issue - which caused a greater problem in a hurry...

Also, some people thought that the bigger OB's were going to be beyond expectation - strap a pair of verado's to a boat with the characteristics of a barge and then expect it to hole-shot like a 16' checkmate .....and then complain why some gearcases were an issue. ( no different than an XR with too many ponies attached and a heavy hand on the throttles)

Service history/location is key to what surprises could be waiting/neglected

Thanks for all of the info.

Hi!

4 years no issues. Best engine I ever have owned since in bought my first one 1974 😄

Cheers Toffen

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Another good thing about these Verados is that you can use these fly-by-wire controls and they're index-less, so none of that annoying clicks!

All Verado's are DTS = digital throttle and shift.

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....and the 350 comes in 3 great colors today:

Photo Credit: Mercury Marine https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/