2020 Mercury 250 Pro XS

[bobby b.]

22 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Oh it shouldn't be "toast" if you shut it off as soon

So here is my new 2020 Merc 225 ProXS story, sits on a 2021 Ranger Z519.  I would like to particularly hear from Wrench on this one.

I broke in the motor as the book required.  At about 30 hours, I changed the oil myself and found a small amount of water in the oil - see pics.  I took it to the dealer.  They in turn called the factory rep. and looking at the operating history, determined that the engine had not been heated up in recent outings.  They asked me about it and I told them in recent fishing trip I had started the motor and backed it out of the dock, dropped the trolling motor and started fishing because at that time of year the fish are within 200 yards of my dock.  After fishing I would start the motor and drive back to the dock hardly getting up on plane.  They did lots of checking (compression checks, etc) and determined that the recent use just before the oil change did not allow the motor to warm sufficiently and created condensation in the motor.  The dealer took the boat out and ran it "hard", drained some oil and all appears to be OK.  The issue was documented by the dealer and factory rep. just in case.   I was told that all was OK but it would be best that I heat the motor up most of the time.  The thing is that during the cold winter months some of my best fishing is close to the dock so after fishing I now take a 6 mile run at about 40 mph to heat things up.  Cold drive and pain in the posterior.  I have the Merc ECO gauge and the motor parameters connected to the Garmin console.  The engine water temperature never gets up to greater than 125 F unless I trim all the way down and run at idle which blocks the pee hole some and raises the temperature to about 135 F.  Running the 6 miles at about 40mph raises the oil temperature to about 180 - 190 F, maybe 200F. 

The Factory rep. said something to the affect that the thermostat set at 125F so that these motors can be run hard in the heat of the summer.  This did not make sense to me in that they could set it higher and and still cool the engine well in the summer when it open wide. 

[fishinwrench]

That appears to be a considerable amount of water.  Not merely condensation in my opinion. 

Keep an eye on the oil level (dipstick) to see if the level is noticably increasing. 

And if it is, take note of the color of it.  Milky white is water contamination, and no noticable color change means that fuel is entering the crankcase.  

[IdleTime]

Agree, cheap insurance and needed something to do.

Talked two authorized repair centers, neither had any concerns with future warranty. Protecting the engine is the purpose of the "Engine Guardian System". 

We'll continue to run it after impeller replacement. So if you see us on the water, stop, we may need a tow.

 

[fishinwrench]

They sure were quick to deploy a fuel/water sensor, and tie it into the ECM.   Wonder why there's no oil/water sensor ?  

Things that make you go Hmmm 🤔