How old is too old

"I am new to outboards and am

"I am new to outboards and am hoping to purchase myself a second hand boat. I am wondering what sort of life one could expect to get from an outboard. One I looked at was a Suzuki 100hp with 500 hrs on it, would this be nearing its end of days.

Thanks"

"I've never bought a new m

"I've never bought a new motor straight from the factory, cant afford it, and frankly some last forever, some have issues out of the box. Read the forum for a while and you will see for yourself. I would say start with checking compression. if its good, check how it runs all the way through the RPM range. check the lower unit oil, is it milky, dirty, gritty, or looking clean? run it for a while to see if they were trying to hide something. If they dont let you run it, dont buy it. use common sense. Many old motors run better than newer ones w/ a few hours on them. its how they were cared for, workmanship etc. good luck."