I've read and heard many times the past few months about the new 4 strokes eating gas.
Does anyone have any experience running both?
What is the real time difference in gas mileage / fuel consumption?
I've read and heard many times the past few months about the new 4 strokes eating gas.
Does anyone have any experience running both?
What is the real time difference in gas mileage / fuel consumption?
I had a 225 Optimax on my boat before installing a new 250 proXS four stroke. During the break in period the 4 stroke seemed to use a lot of gas, certainly more than the optimax. I now have about 14 hours on the four stroke and it does seem to use a tad more gas than the optimax. Of course the Optimax I had was a standard 225 and not a pro XS model, if that makes any difference. The increase from a 225 to a 250 could account for more gas so that may not be a fair comparison. I love the V8 four stroke though and really don't have a big problem with the added gas consumption. Like all of them, if you run a lot at WOT, you gonna drink gas regardless if it's an Optimax or a 4 stroke. I typically run about 4 to 4500 RPM's and that seems to be a good cruising speed and at that speed, I can't tell a lot of difference in the 225 and the 250 as far as gas consumption is concerned.
I will be interested in hearing what others say they have experienced between the two.
I repowered my 21SDC Bullet from a 2S 300XS Optimax to a 4S 300R and dont notice any difference at all in fuel consumption.
‘17 Bullet 21 SDC ‘20 Merc 300R 1.60 SM 1E081012
Had a 200 Pro XS and now a 200 4S V8. Not identical, but similar 19 foot BCB hulls. Same gas mileage.
2019 BCB Classic
Merc V8 200 4S
The new 4 stroke is definitely not as fuel efficient at high RPMs as the opti. Neither is my SHO. There has been a few of us to run all 3 motors on the same hull.
2003 Stroker with 2014 SHO
2012 21RDC Bullet with 2016 SHO
Take into account you are feeding a V8 vs. a V6 so getting the same mileage tells me the V8 is more efficient. This is my 1st 4 stroke and first Black motor so I don't have a reference.
1995 Viper 201D
1995 Johnson Venom 200
Gas mileage is for sissies
IndianOutlaw confirms what I have been hearing. I've heard from others the SHO also eats gas, and this is from people who do not run wide open.
justsomeguy, I know that the opti's don't inject fuel until the exhaust port is closed, so there is no lost burnable gas. I don't know when the 4 strokes inject fuel. If it's during the valve overlap period then raw fuel goes out the exhaust. Plus 8 cylinders would have more drag than 6 cylinders regardless of the motor type. And it takes additional HP to drive the cams and other moving parts.
2 stroke heads can have a near optimal shape for combustion efficiency, not that the do, but they can. 4 strokes don't have that luxury as then have the valve placement to deal with,which changes the combustion chamber from optimal shape. It doesn't mean thay can't be efficient. I've been amazed by my 4 door F150 with coyote 5.0 V8 getting over 22 mpg on the freeway, even with 4.09 gears, while all my past trucks of all brands got 12 to 14 mpg.
I'm asking about real world economy as I'm considering selling my Stroker 300XS and getting a bassboat that is wider at the front of the front deck. (I turn 67 next week). And on some of my tournaments I make long runs. I don't want to run out of gas.
Repower on a 2009 Z21 Intracoastal:
Was a 2009 Mercury 250 Pro XS.
July 2018 repower to Mercury 250 Pro XS CMS V8
4 stroke. Straight up actual comparison
with the same Level 1 Merc Monitor in place for both engines. This evaluation was done after 50 hours and corrected propping to achieve the required average of 6200 rpms on the V8 as compared to the 2 stroke that was correctly proped to 6000 rpms.
No BS.
1. The V8 uses more fuel. +4.7% more at optimum cruising speed of 4200 rpms. +7.6% more at WOT 6150 rpms.
2. V8 has a little better low end performance. (No it doesn't pin you back in the seat)
3. Mid range is the same for both.
4. The top end gain for the V8 is +2.3 mph.
Overall:
I got rid of the 2 stroke well before the bottom fell out of the market for them. Waited 2 1/2 months for the V8. I don't have to pour DFI oil in this one and the simple/inexpensive oil change is every 100 hours. I lost the weight of the onboard oil & oil tank.
Thanks for the good objective information.
Who really asks about gas mileage concerning a boat? Go fishing stop worrying about it.
J D
I'm right there with Ya... I don't understand the question either... I know no one wants to waste by it isn't a daily drive, it's a luxury item... DanOriginally Posted by Chainslinger1959
For those of us that have had multiple high HP boats (boat #13 for me) the fuel mileage, while not one of the top 3 things, is always a question when comparing engines. This being a new V8 four stroke, most folks want to know the comparisons to the previous 2 stroke technology.
And for folks like me that often make long runs, like 60+ miles each way. And my current gas tank only holds 38 gallons.
I would assume that Mercury and BRP have the same information should someone wish to find it. Got better things to do that check on MPG on a bass boat.
Looking at Skeeter/Yamaha Performance bulletins:
A ZX200 with 200 SHO (My current ride) gets 3.52 MPG at full throttle
A ZX20 with 250 SHO gets 3.25 MPG. Of course you are going faster.
An old ZX200 with a 200 HPDI (my old ride) gets 3.37 MPG.
The best MPG for each was at 3000 RPM about 30 MPH. Hell, I'm an old man and I run faster than that.
Looks like negligible difference between the SHO and the HPDI. Didn't go way back and looked at carb'ed motors. Who cares?
I've been running Yamaha's since 2002. Regardless of what model, they get between 3 and 3.5 MPG running hard. I'll bet the other manufacturer's are about the same.
Face it guys. If fuel economy is important, then you got to get out of the throttle. Surprise ! Surprise !
I put the following table together comparing a 250 SHO and the new V8 Mercury Pro Xs. This performance data is from Yamaha and Mercury. Since I currently have a 250 SHO, the SHO data below is consistent with my NEMA 2000 gph Lowrance display. On my Ranger Z251C, I get over 5 mpg at 3000 RPMs. At 5000 RPMs it runs tad under 4 mpg. The trick is to find the most efficient RPM and run there. It makes a big difference in fuel economy. If you want to save on fuel, interface your engine with your depth finder. Mercury is a little tricky since you need to covert the Mercury proprietary CAN bus to a NEMA 2000 interface. So you need a Mercury NEMA 2000 gateway interface and may need an additional black box if you don't have smart craft gauges.
RPMs ProXS 250 4S gph Yamaha 250 SHO gph Yamaha 250 SHO Lynx gph 1000 1.3 1.5 1.6 2000 3.1 3.6 2.9 3000 5.3 6.3 6.8 3500 6.6 9 9.8 4000 10.2 12.1 12 5000 14.4 17.5 16.8 5500 19.3 21.9 20.5 6000 23.5 22.7 23.2
Published charts are nothing but a calculated guess as its not being derived from the actual boat/engine/rig in question.
The Mercury level 1 monitor provides all the performance data on the engine including best fuel economy and it can be displayed on the Lowrance MFD but there is no reason to do that. It's all on the monitor.
That's all fine and dandy but let's say your current 2 stroke gets 23.5 gph and the new 4 strokes gets 22.7 gph at 6000 rpm's... You're not gonna make the switch???... That's negligible, $3-$5 an outing... I just don't get the hang-up... Dan
Some guys need a selling point to tell their wife. LOL
My wife can do math, so that calc would never fly. Lol
96 Viper Coral202 225 Opti serial#1B011431
Always nice to know if it's going to cost more per average trip..
Depending on how many trips per year it could make a big difference. Although its not apples to apples my new 250R gets better fuel mileage than my 300XS did. For myself the big difference was going from 91 octane to 87 octane and not adding $30 a gallon oil.
If one is really concerned about fuel consumption you might look at getting a more efficient hull.
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