Wanting to know what the ups and down are of the Mercury outboard line. Anyone own a 200 Mercury outboard with the 3.0? Good? Bad? Stay away from? I’ve seen a few things about the optimax? Good? Bad? And xr6? Good? Bad?
The 200HP+ optimax’s are bulletproof as long as they are newer than 2001. The first optimax that came out that were the big V6 200hp and bigger had issues the first couple of years. The smaller option 150hp or less were fine. The new ones are good.
The old XR6 were great motors! The 2.5 liter seemed a bit better than the 3.0. That said I believe they are all over engineered, meaning tougher than they probably need to be. I’m a Merc fan!
My son had a 200hp 3l EFI it was bullet proof and the most awesome sounding motor ever.
Stan 
i have a 02 225 opti. it has been a great motor. the problem with the first opti’s was a cooling issue and you could burn up a cylinder. i was told early on by a merc tech to warm up the motor good before you hammer on the throttle, especially during cold water periods. it was the same two cylinders almost every time, the two at the end of the cooling loop. the serial number will tell you if it was manufactured before or after the fix. i think i remember something like the second half of 02.
stan
i think that the opti’s sound WAY better that the efi’s….just my opinion
How about just the 3.0 200hp? Good? Bad? Any Mercury tech please chime in.
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