Why Car Engines Are BETTER Than Boat Engines?

Boat Fischer's is asking why are boat engines not engineered as well as car engines

With just oil changes, Toyotas can go 100 to 150,000 miles easily

which would be about 4,000 to 6,000 boat hours. Could you imagine if boats could go that long without a single issue

Well, Boat Fischer's, thank you for subscribing and commenting, and there's a lot of reasons why boat engines don't last as long as car engines

and the mileage to hours ratio never really, works out. I know you can do the calculations and I mean it comes out similar to what you're saying

here, but it's the environment and the way that we use a boat engine compared to a car engine

So you're rolling around a car that's only 1,500, 2,000, 3,000 pounds with no drag

The only resistance that you have on a car is air, whereas a boat, you're running around pushing 6, 7, 8,000 pounds

through water with a propeller and a lower unit using gear reduction

And your car engine is only going to run. Like you go out on the highway and you're running 80 miles an hour

you might turn 2,500, 3,000 RPM. Whereas in your boat, in order to do 30, 40 miles an hour

you're pushing 4, 45, 5,000 RPM. And then anything above that, you're running 6,000 RPM

So there's a lot more stress on it. and then you are using raw water from whatever you're running in being salt water or anything

like that through the engine and then using that to cool the system

And then going above that with pushing all the weight in the lower unit and the prop and everything

you are also just slamming through the water. So as that boat goes through the water, every wave, it's taking a hit

And so that engine is just constantly being abused, basically. and it's through all of this that they just don't last as long as the car engines

I mean, they're abused and the life is a lot harder. I mean, there are boards out there that have 10,000 hours on them

but by and large, the general recreational person is only going to get 20 years

and 3,000, 4,000 hours out of their outboard, depending on how they use it

Obviously, if you take care of it, you can get way more than that

I mean, people run in 40-year-old engines all day long. So it goes back to the care and the maintenance

But it's that RPM and the abuse and the waves and the water and the environment that the engine has to perform and live in is what makes it so hard for this piece of metal to last as long as like the Toyota Corolla, which, you know, Toyota Corolla is going to run

run for 500,000 miles with no problems. But other than that, that's kind of like the gist of it

I wish there was, you know, something better, but that's just kind of what it is

Alex says, good afternoon. I have a question. I have two OX66, 250s

and one is dumping raw fuel out of the exhaust. Can you assist

Thanks for your videos. Alex, there is a whole lot going on here

Um, without looking at the engine. You know, you've got a lot of different things

So in order to kind of talk about it, if you've got raw fuel coming out of an engine

that is because it's unburned. So either, one, there's way too much fuel getting into the cylinder

and then that is just not being burned. Two, you're not getting spark

Your spark plugs are not firing, so the fuel is not getting ignited. Or three, you're not getting any air into the cylinder

and therefore you don't have combustion. Raw fuel is going to come out

So from the beginning, I would be checking the fuel pumps, the low pressure fuel pumps

There's three of them. They have diaphragms on the back of them. If there is a problem with those fuel pumps, it will leak fuel into the crank case

And that will, one, it won't supply enough fuel to your VST to keep the engine running

So you'll probably bog down around 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 RPM, you know, some mid range

You're going to bog down because you're going to run out of fuel. and it's going to run pretty horrible

You're going to foul plugs quite often. And then after that, there's going to be the VST

So in your VST, if the float is messed up, if the needle valve is messed up

if the float level is not correct, you could be filling the VST

It goes out of a vent because it's a vapor separator tank, and that vent then goes over to your intake

and it will dump that fuel in the intake, which will then just feed it to the engine

The engine's not going to be able to burn it, and it's going to just dump it, right out the exhaust. Now, there is also an O2 sensor on a OX66. So if there is a problem with the O2

sensor, it will tell the computer whether it's running rich or lean. If it tells the computer that

it's running lean, then it's going, the computer is going to try and feed more fuel to the engine

to rich in it up. So if you have an O2 sensor problem, that could cause raw fuel to come out the

out the exhaust. If you have an injector problem, so let's say the injector is stuck open

mechanically just stuck open, gets debris or something in there and it won't close

that will just dump fuel into a cylinder and come out. A lot of times it's not enough to notice it out the exhaust

If you're noticing it out of the exhaust, a lot of times it is something else

because there's enough fuel to fill each one of the cylinders. If it's just one cylinder

you're not going to see it as heavily. So there is that caveat

A bad spark plug is the same thing as an injector. If it's not sparking, it's not burning the fuel

And then it's just dumping the fuel out the exhaust. Now, there is also the TPS that will affect it

So if the TPS is messed up, it is telling the computer an improper reading

A lot of times you're not going to have a steady RPM. So you'll have other symptoms there

But if your only symptoms are, you're just dumping raw fuel. It's usually something, one of the other things

Now, it could also be the computer. So the CDI box on that engine is what controls the injectors

So the CDI reads information from TPS and from the map and from the trigger and then from the O2 sensor

Now, if that CDI fails, it will tell the injectors to stay open longer than they should or whatever the case may be

and it will control the injectors and keep them open, which will dump that raw fuel into the cylinder and then write out the exhaust

So there's kind of like a hundred different things that could be happening

to have raw fuel coming out of the exhaust of the engine

So you're going to have to like do some serious troubleshooting. Like you're going to need to go through

And then, you know, OX66, the problem with those is you can't hook up a computer to get codes

You need to get a winky blinky which is like this little light thing that plugs into the front it will you know it blinks and gives you codes So there is that But you know that going to kind of cover the gambit of what you know could be going on to be dumping that

raw fuel out. It could be, you know, any number of those things. And it's just going to be a

diagnostic thing of trying to cross each one of those things off and make sure everything's

right. Again, if the trigger's messed up, like if it's not telling it

to trigger and fire at the right time, but I don't know if the trigger really controls fuel

injector sequences, opposed to just the timing of the spark for your ignition coils. So not 100

on that one as far as an OX66 is concerned. I could be wrong on that one. That's the only one. I don't

know about the trigger controlling injectors or if it just controls ignition coils. So there is

that. Lobes wants to know the reason, oh, Loebbs is just telling us the reason the avatore

which is a Mercury Avatar electric engine, we saw it down at the boat show. The reason the

avatar lower prop shaft drive is so beefy is the electric, or is the actual electric motor which

drives the outboard is located there. The top part of the engine is all battery and the computer

plus tiller controls. So we were talking about how beefy the lower unit looks on the avatore

And then also there's other electric outboards out there that the bottom looks very beefy

And that is because the electric motor, the actual motor, the actual thing that is driving the propeller is down in the lower unit

And everything else up top is pretty much controls and a battery and that kind of stuff

So interesting, good comment, good to know. I mean, you look at some of these electric outboards that are coming out

they are getting a beefier lower unit when they're all in one. I did see Mercury has a some of the bigger stuff

Mercury had, well, looked like an 115, but it was debadged and it was just all white, said Avatar

and that one had a regular lower unit, all that stuff. And then there's also other ones that are like, you know

the Vision Marine and the Evo and the, uh, a cell or E cell is what

I'm not sure what it is. The EVDs like, or EVDs like, or EV. EVDA. There's so many different companies, but a lot of those, same thing. They're using

outboard lower units and then the actual motor is up on top where you would normally have a

powerhead. So that's kind of a difference there that I noticed is, you know, some of the smaller

stuff. The motors in the outboard in the lower unit. And then on the bigger stuff, the actual electric

motor is on the top. Fishing Freak. How long will these polytanks last if you use non-ethanol

fuel. I have a 99 hole and was reluctant to use the tank that's under the deck because it's

original. Using a portable tank now, but six gallons doesn't last too long, would really like to

use the 60 gallon tank instead. Honestly, a poly tank lasts for a really, really long time. Normally

the failure point of a poly tank is the fuel sender or the pickup, and then after, you know

so long, then a poly tank will crack. But that's a, a little bit less

It takes a long time for that to happen because usually the cracking comes from sun exposure

and the plastic drying out, which the fuel will do that. But usually it's a pickup problem or a sending problem

and it leaks out of that. Honestly, you know, this is on a 1720 Key West

If you got the same boat and I would be trying to use that tank

like I mean, six gallons, you know, like you said, you're not going to go very far. So I would definitely be trying to use the tank

if you're using a portable tank now, then your only risk is having to go back to the portable tank

But I would take that polytank and look at this cinder, see if that's leaking

pull the pickup and probably put a new pickup in it. Be very cautious

It does suck like if something breaks. If it does strip out and you have to pull it out

on a Key West, usually there's like an insert that's welded into the plastic on the bottom

it's like crimped in there. So a lot of times you can get the pickup out

There are some other brands that have polytanks where that insert thing is not really

as stable and it will spin. So that could be a problem

But getting that pickup out, if you mess it up, pulling it out, then you can use JB

weld plastic weld or you can get a plastic welder for cheap off Amazon and actually just, you

know, plastic weld, a new pickup in there. It will keep it from leaking and you'll be able to use

the tank. So as long as the physical tank itself does not have a problem, you can pressure test it

suck everything out of it, and then make sure, you know, you don't have a leak in your vent or your

rig, you know, your fuel fill. And I'd be trying to use that tank. Like fill it, you know

don't fill it all the way up the first time you get it going. But put 10 gallons in there. And after you've

sucked everything up. You know, definitely make sure you got a water separator on the boat. So that way anything that's in that tank

because if you haven't been using it for a long time, it's probably got junk in there. And, you know, as you fill it up

it's going to wash the tank out and be pulling all that debris out of the tank

So make sure you got a water separator to catch all that debris. But 100%, I'd be trying to use that tank

I mean, six gallons. I mean, like you said, you're not going to go very far

So go for that. Chris Ramos, whenever I try and grease something

I pull the stupid fitting out and ruin the threads and it turns into a whole thing

I know it's my fault. We've all been there, Chris. We've all been there

It happens all the time. The, I mean, the grease fittings, that's what it is

Sometimes it's even better to just go ahead and pull the grease fitting out and try and clean it

If it's an older engine and it has not been greased in a long time, then go ahead, pull that thing out and, like, push the little ball thing to clean it out

And you can even soak it, you know, put. spray it in a little cup with power tune or something like that and soak it

freed up or crow, anything like that. And yeah, but we've all been there

We've all been there where the grease fitting broke off or that Zerk fitting broke off

And yeah, it's a whole ordeal and it does suck. J.P. Gundron

Very interesting. I just put a riser bracket on the back of my 11 foot tiny teeny

So the cavitation plate on my five horsepower outboard is level with the back of the boat

It flies when on plane with the weight distributed in the boat properly

but ventilates when you try to turn. Seeing this video where you say an obstruction can cause air bubbles

has made me realize I didn't take into consideration the rib that runs down the center

of the boat hull underneath. The plate is level with the flat of the hole

but higher than the rib down the center. I think when I turn, I'm getting air off of the rib that makes the motor ventilate

100 like 100 this talking about an engine if you are losing RPM in your turn or you getting prop slip or you overheating all that stuff matters

So like it all plays into there. If you are getting air bubbles to the engine, like when it's trying to pick up water to cool the engine

and you're getting air bubbles like say a transducer or a through hall fitting or, you know, a strike

anything like anything that's in it in front of the engine, whenever water comes across the bottom of the boathole

and it hits an obstruction, it creates air bubbles. And then those air bubbles go back

the engine sucks the air bubbles up. If it's on the prop and you're mounted too high

you will vent the propeller, so you will ventilate. I mean, you will slip

You're creating prop slip. So 100%, you've got to get the mounting heights correct

And then also, yeah, if you're turning and that rib is there and it's creating air bubbles as you turn you

you got to think about a boat as it turns it banks you know it it rolls into a turn so one side's

going to air out and the other side's going to dig so um yeah you that probably i think you figured

it out 100% that's awesome something else to note is that i've seen i need to call somebody to

see if it did fix this problem but we have seen where twin engines, one will overheat based on the tow

So let's say you've got your two engines. They're supposed to be like straight with a little bit of toe in

So that way it'll help the boat track forward. Now, if the engines are towed too much or one is towed like too much and it's not straight

you can have where if you see how this is turned like this

it's supposed to be able to pick up water on this side and this side

but if you've got one engine that's turned like this, I've seen it where the water coming in like this

it is actually getting air on the backside of this, and it's sucking air up into the cooling

and it would actually overheat as you were cruising around at certain speeds

And all had to do with the tie bar between the two engines

and making that engine crook like this to where it was sucking in air. Talking about ventilation, I mean, that's a whole other topic right there

but Anthony, why does my grease gun keep getting stuck on the nipples

It's a 2003-200 horsepower VMAX Yamaha. That's back to the same thing with breaking off the Zerk fittings

It happens. So most grease guns, some are worse than other ones

There's like little teeth in there. They like grab onto the fitting

And most of them you can spin the little tip. So probably the tip is just too, it's too tight

So put it on there. You might have a cheaper grease gun

Even some of the more expensive grease guns, it'll do that same thing sometimes. So you can just unscrew it, put it on there, tighten it up, pump it up, and then unscrew it again to get it to pull off

That's usually what's happening is the adjustment there where the teeth is going on to it and it's just it's just gripping it

And you need to loosen it up to allow the teeth to pop up and release the fitting

so that's just all it's going on there and we've all been there so don't worry about it art life geez

man the technology is amazing but there's always a but we're sorry boaters unless you want an

under 200 horsepower mercury you'll need to mortgage your home to get one and really high voltage

and water catering to millionaires seems to be their business model anymore no wonder boats

brands like the hatsu and suzuki are really becoming the affordable reasonable choice

that's kind of been the discussion for a few years now. That's why Suzuki has taken so much market share in the market

is that they are more affordable. Yeah, Mercury and Yamaha and even the boats

I mean, everything is so expensive that, yeah, like, unless you got a lot of money, you ain't buying new stuff

I mean, this is probably a boat show comment, talking about the different boats, the brands and all the tech that's in the boats

these days is they are packed full and everything has gotten so expensive and heavily

crammed into the boat that most of them, I think a lot of boat brains are actually trying

to make their boats more like, you know, family sport type models to where there used to be

it's like, this boat is a fishing boat. Like, that's what it is. You get on the boat, it's set

it for fishing. You go fishing, you come back. That's it. Like it's not, you know, in any sandbar boat

but nowadays, pretty much every single boat brand out there is trying to make a family-friendly type of boat

and, you know, doing away with the strictly fishing type of boat

So, I mean, the market kind of dictates that too. So, you know, people spend money on stuff and what people spend their money on

That's what dictates the market. And so brands are going to cater to whoever's spending money and what they're buying

and if that's what people spend their money on, then that's what they're going to make

So there's, there is kind of that. But other than that, yeah

they definitely do cater to it's a different world. I mean, it honestly is a different world these days

The days of go to college, get a 30, 40 year corporate job and stay there

those days are gone. I mean, there's so much money out there right now with social media

and all these influencers and everything. like it's it's the money that they're pouring in if you go to the down to Miami or any of these

other places and look at the sandbar like there's money rolling so who knows bill jones what

is your favorite outboard well that's going to depend bill because i mean i'll run anything i like

i like all the brands i don't have one brand that i'm like yeah i wouldn't run that um

favorite engine to work on is going to be a mercury varrodo l6 because it's so easy um

And making something super easy is obviously something that I care about

because I'm the one that has to work on it. So there's that

But at the same time, huge fan of the Yamaha 4.2 and the F-150

And if I had to pick a favorite, probably going to be the L6 Verado

So that's probably going to be my favorite. Gary, the biggest thing is the weight

A lot of people have to carry a motor sometimes. So we're talking about two

two strokes and four strokes. And, um, yeah, that's a big deal, Gary

Like if you have to carry your motor, like, you know, let's say it's on a tender or, um

you know, you've got a little canoe or a little John boat or something like that

And you got to carry this engine like 100%, like going from a 40 pound two stroke to a 80, 90 pound

four stroke. That's a big deal. Like when you got to carry this motor from, you know, the house

house down to the dock and then put it on the boat or put it in your car when you get in

the ramp because there's a lot of people out there that have little John boats and stuff like

that or little canoes and stuff they put them on top of the car or inflatables and stuff or even tenders like if you live on a sailboat or you have a dingy like say you got a you know cabin cruiser like a silverton or something like that and you you know take your you got

a dingy on it so you take your boat out to an island or whatever or some place some river and then

you want to get in the dingy and run around well some of these places do you have to take the

engine off of the dingy and they you know based on the way they store it and tow it so yeah that's a

definitely a big talking point for a lot of people. I don't think we're going to get into the two-stroke discussions today

That'll be, we'll talk about that next week because that is a hot topic. I mean, there are so many people out there still running two-strokes and you do not want to

mess with the two-stroke mafia. So we're not going to get into that discussion today

But that's a very good point, though, Gary. I mean, that's a very good point because, yeah, if you got to carry the engine, I mean

another 40, 50 pounds is a big deal. This is your captain speaking

Amazing, even though Lake Tahoe Patrol shows the E-Tech over four-strokes because they're cleaner

Talking about two-strokes and four-strokes, again, I mean, I'm trying not to get into this discussion today on this episode

I want to wait until next week. But that's interesting. They did that in the Keys, too

The FWC or Coast Guard, I can't remember, but they did that

They went over to the E-Tex. They bought like eight or seven, eight or nine of them or something like that, quite a bit

And they didn't even make it like a year. They blew up like two or three of them and they took them all off the boats and

scrapped them. So that is funny that the Lake Tahoe Patrol, a place where they probably are getting

you know, going to ban two strokes eventually that they would pick the old 11 roons over those

And then Richie says, I'm building a Chris Craft 213 C.C. Right now getting a new floor, then rigging a 200 merch

just going to be an old fishing boat, but I love the lines. Me too, dude

I love a Chris Craft. Chris Craft is a very, very pretty boat

I mean, the lines and everything, yeah, it's super classic, super classy

It's almost like, you know, that, it's like a timeless type of look

Like it just looks clean, you know, all the time. They've never, I can't say that, but there's like, most

Most of them, by and large, most of the Chris crafts are like, you look at that boat

you're like, oh, wow, that is a good looking boat. And then at the same time, if you've ever looked at a brand new Chriscraft, wow, they are pricey

I mean, like, by and large, you spend $300,000, $400,000 to start with

Like, that's to start with. You ain't even got no engines on the boat yet. You just got, you're going to get the boat

So like most of their boats are, you know, in the high 20s, 30s, and you're looking in the half a million, $600,000, a million dollar boat

Like it's, they are pricey, but they, I mean, I give it to them, it's a beautiful boat, but I just couldn't spend that amount of money on a boat

So yeah, to buy an old Chris Craft and then fix it up and restore it, like 100% I would do that all day

They're, they're very pretty boat. I mean, very, very pretty boat. Terry says, what do you think about the 2003 200 horsepower HPDI engine

I think it's a phenomenal engine. I mean, that V6 200 HPDI is the 150,200 is solid engine

I mean, I know a lot of people still running that engine. Clean fuel and maintenance

As long as you do those two things, like, they'll run really, really good

If you get poor fuel, though, and you start getting trash. in your fuel system and you start having, you know, running problems because you're running bad

fuel or a lot of ethanol through them. They don't like that. So that's no good

And then also if you neglect them for too long, you know, most of them are 20 years old by this

point in time. So it is definitely, they need to be oiled and greased and cleaned and like, you know, CRC protected

But as long as you take care of them, solid, super reliable. I got no complaints on a, on a 200

100 HPDI and and even if you get one that's older like you clean it up and go through everything

usually you can you can make them last now the bigger ones they're you know they're a little bit

more finicky so you know we'll just leave it at that bastmeister maneuverability during docking

with twins is a big plus talking about two separate you know having one engine for two engines

and yeah, twins, the maneuverability that you get with two engines is, yeah, it's a game changer

I mean, you can literally turn the end, you know, turn the whole boat on a dime

You can get into a slip. It really, really helps when you are in a really tight marina

And, you know, that's a big problem with a lot of people. When you go out on the water, a lot of people get intimidated by going into really tight marinas

or places where it's like, you know, there's a lot of boats around you or there's a lot of people watching

having two engines gives you way more control because you can back up and do, you know

a lot more maneuverability with those two engines than you are with a single engine where you're

whipping it back and forth and trying to, you know, use the wind and the current and, like

float over here and then push over there and you got the pole of faith out and, like, you know

it could become an entire spectacle, especially on really tight marinas where you got out of

the boat sticking out at you and like you got to turn around or get it

to the end. We're like, you know, we've through this whole spot. So definitely big, big, big difference

to have two engines. Little Dina, I was in Alaska and it's like Honda World out there. I couldn't

believe how many big following. North, the northwest is Honda land for sure. I think that's the only

place Honda has a like, you know, a footing in the marine industry

in the northwest Washington, Alaska, that whole area up in there in Canada

I know a couple of dealers and some technicians that work up in that area

And yeah, that's definitely, definitely tons of people run Hondas. It's amazing how well a Honda does in cold saltwater

But then you take that Honda and you put it down here in Florida in the hot saltwater

It just doesn't hold up the same. So, you know, hopefully that

that'll eventually change and we'll see them, you know, come a little bit farther along

We've actually talked about this. I think last week that Honda was, you know, coming out, they're building a boat with Scout

They've got a new BF350, even though the thing is massive. They're putting effort into it and we'll see exactly how far it goes and where, you know

it all ends. I think it's a good step for the industry. There's more, you know, more of them, you know, the more builders and more manufacturers

the better, the more choices that we have. but yeah, the Northwest 100% Honda land all day

Christopher Williams address. I can send the Triple Guard grease to 100%

Send it to Aaron Hilligan