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BF150 Thrust Bearing Failure

S3silver

S3silver

New member
So my Mercury 150 just took a dump after 7 years of steady use. I figured can't go wrong with a Honda (I have a 1993 Accord that is still going strong) and just pulled the trigger on a used 2008 BF150 due to arrive any day now. Supposed to be a good running motor. I was very excited about this new to me motor until I started researching it some more and found that the thrust bearing can fail at any time without symptoms or warnings, even on motors with very low hours. My excitement just went away!

Now, my question is, which years did this failure affect or are all years affected? Serial # range?

Thanks in advance.
 
That little bit of information applies to the V6's only, never heard of a BF150 thrust bearing failure in the 13 years I have worked on Honda outboards
 
And over the last 8 years or so that I've been on this forum, not heard of a thrust bearing issue on the 150 or any of the smaller Honda's
 
S3 - read all those posts. Surprising to me. But they seemed like real life issues. As an owner who tries to do all of my own maintenance and repair, I have great confidence in Honda's and specifically in my 2007 BF 225. At 2100 hours in all kinds of saltwater environments - the Chesapeake and in the Gulf Stream off Hatteras - it has been mostly flawless. Yes, there are some design issues, but that's true on most every brand of outboard.

The commercial fishing folks in this area swear by the Honda's - everything from the 90's to the 225's. Of course they run them every day, but it's typically a slow and steady run. As a general statement, the more an outboard is run, the better it runs. There are commercial fishermen in the Caribbean that put 10,000 hours on old 2-stroke Merc and Johnson outboards. The USCG has traditionally put 5,000 to 6,000 hours on Honda's they hang on their RIB's.

So, bottom line, I guess it's a crap shoot. Run the boat as much as you can, be a stickler about maintenance, and hopefully you will have a long and uneventful service from that 150.
 
Thanks Chawk. I like to do maintenance and repairs by myself also. I also believe the more you run an engine, the better it'll run.
 
Thanks iang6766. Being fully retired allows me to take the time. And growing up working in my dad's auto repair busines, I don't have any inhibitions about turning a wrench.

BTW - You sure know a lot about these Honda engines. Where are you located?
 
I down under in Aus. I enjoy this forum and I have learnt a lot from it and figured it time to give something back. Sadly, a lot of product failure in the marine environment is a result of ignorance and neglect. People will check their cars every week but will not so much as lift the cover off their outboard between services.
 
Hi all. Just wanted to give an update on my '08 BF150. It came with all the necessary equipment to install (motor, wire harness, control box, shifter cables, key and ignition switch). Install wasn't too bad (done all by myself). Gave her the routine maintenance: new thermostats and gasket, engine oil, gear oil, fuel filters, fuel/water separator filter, checked spark plugs, new impeller, etc. She started right up and ran really good. Super quiet compared to my Merc. I've had it out twice now with about 6 hrs use on new hour meter with no issues (previous hours unknown but supposed to be low). My boat is a 2004 20' aluminum Jetcraft 2025SK. Spinning an aluminum 3-blade prop 14.5x19 (this is all I have at the time) she's running just over 36 GPS knots at WOT. Not too fast, but I'm not a speed freak anyway. No idea on RPM yet; just finally got the tach working correctly. Mind you this is a 25" shaft and my boat is only 20" so it's sitting lower in the water than ideal. I couldn't pass up the great deal so I bought it anyway. I'm not too fond of jackplates, but we'll see later.

So far, I'm really pleased with the purchase and how the motor is running.
 
A jacking plate will pay for itself in fuel savings, you can't expect the boat to perform with half the leg under water.
 
Totally agree with that. The basic jack plate is not expensive and relatively easy to install. Best performance will be when the anti-cavitation (actually anti-ventilation) plate is even with the lowest point on the transom. That is, unless you have an offset motor mount, then raise the anti-cavitation plate one inch for every foot of offset.
 
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