Optimax Direct Injection first Model year?

[tz9s5f]

Im looking at purchasing a used boat and I want to know what year optimax offered a direct injection outboard? Are these motors computer controlled? Any help would b greatly appreciated....

 

[galamb]

I believe the Opti's first showed up in 1997 with maybe the 200/225 horse models and then added the others over the next few years.

There was a few bugs in some of the original design(s) which cause a few minor modifications. I think by about the 2002 model year they had them pretty much ironed out.

Yes, they are computer controlled and the computer is fed by "multiple" sensors - you don't work on these with a screwdriver and a multi-meter in the driveway.

They have two fuel pumps, a crankcase driven one and an electric - two sets of (different) injectors - fuel injectors to get gas into the fuel rails and then direct injectors to get the gas into the cylinder.

The oil/gas/air is not mixed together like on other 2 stroke models - the oil/air gets to the cylinder the traditional "2 stroke" way and then when the piston is on it's way up the gas is "injected" through the direct injector, so you can never bypass the oiler on these and run mixed gas.

Likewise, "dino-oil" is a no no, you will need to run DFI rated oil since you don't have the gas diluting it and carrying to where it needs to go.

The Opti's are an outstanding motor but if you are looking at a very early one it could be coming on 16 or 17 years old and since there is no "track history" beyond that, because they didn't exist, you may not want to be the guinea pig to test their life span, because they can be quite costly to repair.

If the motor gets an "ok" from a tech (and I would only have a certified Merc tech do the check), depending on the age you can determine a value for the motor as part of the larger package.

Of course the horsepower will determine the value if it checks out.

A brand new 200 or 225 goes in the 13-14K range, a 150 is about 10K and you can get a 90 for about $7500.

At 5 years old I would be hard pressed to pay half the cost of a new model and older than 10 years, if running well should go for a couple grand at most...

 

[faztbullet]

1996 was the first year production and they had more than minor problems which Mercury has pretty much fixed with recalls and updates.

They have two fuel pumps, a crankcase driven one and an electric - two sets of (different) injectors - fuel injectors to get gas into the fuel rails and then direct injectors to get the gas into the cylinder

Pretty close as engine has air and fuel injectors. The high pressure fuel pump supplies fuel to fuel rails and uses the belt driven air compresser and air injectors to atomize the fuel charge as its injected into cylinder. These are usually the two areas that if you a problem this is where they will be. The fuel rails have problems rusting, tracker valve problems and air compressor failures. Any Optimax after 05 is a good one and you can get serial number and call Mercury to see if engine has had any major warranty claims or updates...