TRL Outboard repair for 250hp pro xs 4s?

[Champ188]

9 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Yeah, best to stay calm and give them a fair chance to treat you good. 🤞 

Paying for any extended warranty offer just feels like a scam to me.....but I have absolutely no experience with it, so my advice is worthless there.   As hard as it is going to be to get parts for that motor in 6-8 years, personally, I wouldn't even consider it unless it was REALLY CHEAP.   Take that extended warranty money and go buy lottery tickets with it. 😊

And if you DO decide to buy the extended coverage, deal directly with Mercury, if possible. I bought my 2013 Ranger new at a dealership near Truman Lake in Warsaw, MO. I had a power pack fail that was covered under extended warranty, so naturally I took it to Ulrich, but Kelly called me a couple of days later and said "You don't have extended coverage." I think I hollered "BULLS***!!!" into the phone, but Kelly insisted that I had no extended coverage, even though I had paid $3,500 or so for the 7-year Platinum Plan. My salesman was working at another dealership by this time, so I called and asked him if might know anything about it. He checked on MercNet and sure enough, it showed no extended warranty. I immediately contacted the dealer I bought it from to see what was going on, and naturally, they had no idea. However, within a couple of days, MercNet was showing me fully covered. I recall the dealer telling me when I bought the boat that I didn't need to do a thing on the extended warranty ... that they would take care of everything because that's how they rolled. Well, seems the $3,500 check got "lost" and never made it to Mercury. I was told later that it was not uncommon for some dealers to pocket that money in hopes that an extended warranty was never used. If a claim did come up, they'd claim (as my dealer did) that the check somehow got lost.

[fishinwrench]

4 hours ago, bobby b. said:

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the car manufacturers stopped using interference engines some years back.

Are Outboards generally interference engines and if so why?

Not generally, no.  And I'm not 100% sure that the PXS is.....but that's the only reason I can think of to explain why they don't offer a replacement timing chain for a motor that is only a year or two old.  

Typically most non-interference engines have timing BELTS.  And interference engines have timing CHAINS.  

I haven't done a full study on the bigger 4-stroke outboards.... because other than doing regular maintenance, there's no sense in me ever learning to work on them.  I know that I'll never-ever be rebuilding one.

 

As for WHY they might be designed that way......To increase compression and make for  cleaner emissions.  Definitely. No other reason.

[IdleTime]

I too have a 2020 250 ProXs and purchased the 4K extended warranty for my piece of mind. So for we have 80 hours on the motor and just put over 300 miles on it the last couple of weeks on Table Rock. The motor is mounted on a Ranger 620 so it requires the 5 inch extension in the lower unit. Previously this 5 inch extension has changed colors after running the engine for as little as one hour, it has been replaced twice already and will be looking for a third. The lower cowls also "blister" the paint. The cowls have been replaced once already and will be looking to have them replace again. Mercury say's it is a paint issue.

To the dealer question. I too look to the forum for advise and opinions. In May my friend had issues with his motor and I recommended Ulrich. Ulrich did get him in when no one else would look at his problem thought the part that was required would take months to get. My friend agreed to leave the boat with Ulrich for the summer so they could fix and he'd pickup in September. Ulrich was very responsive in May and during their sales pitch to install a new motor and have a cover made for this boat. My friend opted for the new motor and cover.

The boat was picked up the second week of September with the new motor but the cover was not ready. Once at the resort he remembered that Ulrich did not return his boat key, many calls to the dealer and messages left, he received a return call a week later.

The installation of the motor is horrible (IMO), the wire bundle coming from the throttle pass through a new hole in the side wall, the hole was located to far from the throttle which left a bunch of capped wires hanging in the open, also the rod locker below the new hole is full of drill shavings. The rigging in the splash well is a mess, hydraulic steering hoses are positioned over the fuel fill (difficult to add fuel) and the engine rigging should have been placed in the convoluted tube as the motor has the correct receptacle, whats another $35 when spending 12K on a new motor.

I know there are a lot of good experiences with Ulrich, but this one has some snags. I only write this because my friend is advanced in age,  trusted our opinions and paid in full in advance of delivery for all services. Still no cover.

Seabass - keep us posted on Mercury response please.

I'm calling my Warsaw dealer now to confirm my extended warranty,

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, IdleTime said:

Mercury say's it is a paint issue

They expect you to believe that after all these years (R&D) they still haven't gotten their Paint figured out yet ?

Then again..... it's obvious that after all these years they haven't gotten ignition and charging system components figured out either.  There isn't a Mercury on the planet that hasn't needed multiple Stator/Switchbox  and voltage regulator replacements during their first 10 years of life. 

Then as they progressed into DFI and computer controlled technology the list of "Sure To Fail" parts just became even greater.  Now you can add ECM's, Compressors, Throttle position sensors, injectors, and fuel pressure regulators.    

Meanwhile they still haven't gotten PAINT perfected.       In defense of all the dealerships out there...... I promise, it isn't THEIR fault.   😔

[Flysmallie]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

They expect you to believe that after all these years (R&D) they still haven't gotten their Paint figured out yet ?

 

 

It's not a paint issue. It's a using cheap coatings issue. It could be resolved but they refuse to pay for the coatings that would hold up. It's not rocket science but I'm sure they are saving some bucks and padding their GP. 

[Jim Elam]

6 hours ago, IdleTime said:

I too have a 2020 250 ProXs and purchased the 4K extended warranty for my piece of mind. So for we have 80 hours on the motor and just put over 300 miles on it the last couple of weeks on Table Rock. The motor is mounted on a Ranger 620 so it requires the 5 inch extension in the lower unit. Previously this 5 inch extension has changed colors after running the engine for as little as one hour, it has been replaced twice already and will be looking for a third. The lower cowls also "blister" the paint. The cowls have been replaced once already and will be looking to have them replace again. Mercury say's it is a paint issue.

To the dealer question. I too look to the forum for advise and opinions. In May my friend had issues with his motor and I recommended Ulrich. Ulrich did get him in when no one else would look at his problem thought the part that was required would take months to get. My friend agreed to leave the boat with Ulrich for the summer so they could fix and he'd pickup in September. Ulrich was very responsive in May and during their sales pitch to install a new motor and have a cover made for this boat. My friend opted for the new motor and cover.

The boat was picked up the second week of September with the new motor but the cover was not ready. Once at the resort he remembered that Ulrich did not return his boat key, many calls to the dealer and messages left, he received a return call a week later.

The installation of the motor is horrible (IMO), the wire bundle coming from the throttle pass through a new hole in the side wall, the hole was located to far from the throttle which left a bunch of capped wires hanging in the open, also the rod locker below the new hole is full of drill shavings. The rigging in the splash well is a mess, hydraulic steering hoses are positioned over the fuel fill (difficult to add fuel) and the engine rigging should have been placed in the convoluted tube as the motor has the correct receptacle, whats another $35 when spending 12K on a new motor.

I know there are a lot of good experiences with Ulrich, but this one has some snags. I only write this because my friend is advanced in age,  trusted our opinions and paid in full in advance of delivery for all services. Still no cover.

Seabass - keep us posted on Mercury response please.

I'm calling my Warsaw dealer now to confirm my extended warranty,

Ulrich is friendly.  They have parts in stock that are sometimes hard to find elsewhere.

 

My experience with their service leaves much to be desired.  Have had multiple negative experiences there over the past 8-10 years.  Some here seem to have had great experiences, which is why I used to drive from Springfield to use them.  No more…
 

Sadly, I don’t know of a great alternative at the moment.
 

 

[Dutch]

If he is still there, Brian Hayter is a good wrench.  He did all of my Optimax work for the 14 years that I owned it.

[Terrierman]

Closed by request of OP.