Question for you Merc Racing 200 XS owners

[AllyDave]

What are your recommendations for annual and/or periodic maintenance on the 200 XS. I bought my Allison last Thanksgiving with a 2001 Merc 200 XS on it. It had about 130 hrs on it at the time. Just before I bought it, the previous owner had it "maintained" including new spark plugs, lower unit lube and seals, new water pump, etc. I have put perhaps 30-40 hrs on it since then. Water pressure appears to be good, 5-7 psi at idle, 15+ at higher rpms. Starts and runs great. Temps look normal.

Does the XS require any annual maintenance that you would not normally perform on lets say a Merc 200 EFI or Optimax?

[V6MERC]

I'd also recommend running Merc "Quikleen", or Yamaha "Ringfree" in your fuel every tank if you're not already... This will help keep the carbon deposits down...

[Props4u2]

The quick kleen is a good idea for injector cleaning. Mercury Premium + oil (which you should be running) already has better cleaners added than Yamaha's ring free, a lot of the yam guys run prem + so they don't have to add ring free.
Just a little bit of info to those interested.

[V6MERC]

Really? I had a Yamahaha guy tell me the the ringfree was a far superior product over the Quikleen... I'll stick with my Quikleen for sure!!!

[JOEALLY]

Dave, that is basically the same routine I had when I owned that rig, sho do miss it!

[Props4u2]

Darryl,
The Quick Kleen is only for the fuel system. Mercury Prem + oil has the additives that are as good or better than ring free.

[V6MERC]

Thanks for the info, Lee...

[55excl]

What about Sea Foam Lee? Enrico

[Props4u2]

I have never used sea foam, I hear it's good but I like to stick with what the manufacturers recommend. Since they are the ones warranting these things I would think they would only recommend the best.

[K-DAWG]

Not so sure I agree with you Lee. I think Seafoam is as good or better than the manufactors stuff. They recommend there own not only because they made it because it cost more and they make money on it. If warrenty were the issue then they would only allow you to use there stuff.

[Props4u2]

The law is if they only allowed you to use their product they would have to furnish it to you free of charge, so I'm told.

[fishnfireman]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Props4u2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The law is if they only allowed you to use their product they would have to furnish it to you free of charge, so I'm told.


</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's the way I have seen it............
In more than one court case...The only way a manufacture can force you to use there product is to give it to you.. they often try to make you believe that your warranty is not good unless you use a certain product. however in this case so long as the oil is up to the specs written in your owners manual. they cannot dictate what brand you use.
I'm going to side with Lee on this one..There are a lot of oils out there which are just as good and maybe better than Merc's.. truth be known I bet most of them start life from the same barrel.. However in this case-- it's more about what is added to that oil....

[K-DAWG]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fishnfireman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

That's the way I have seen it............
In more than one court case...The only way a manufacture can force you to use there product is to give it to you.. they often try to make you believe that your warranty is not good unless you use a certain product. however in this case so long as the oil is up to the specs written in your owners manual. they cannot dictate what brand you use.
I'm going to side with Lee on this one..There are a lot of oils out there which are just as good and maybe better than Merc's.. truth be known I bet most of them start life from the same barrel.. However in this case-- it's more about what is added to that oil.... </TD></TR></TABLE>

While I appreciate your opinion on oil and Agree that Mercury makes one the best oil. I wasnt talkin about oil. I was talking about SeaFoam............................

[fishnfireman]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by K-DAWG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
If warranty were the issue then they would only allow you to use there stuff.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm with you now. I think

Like Lee.. I was referring to your comment about warranty and the fact they Can't make you use (there stuff)

I can't say good or bad about the sea-foam. as I have never used it. I used the Quick kleen for years .however I have not used any additives on this new 3.2 ltr yet..just burn the Premium+.

i figure to run some thru it pretty soon ---just to see how much carbon it has in it.
After about a year of fishing.

[55excl]

Why would you not use a de carbon additive every gallon of gas since new????

[Props4u2]

Mercury premium plus oil has a decarbon additive. If the proper oil has been used, then a given engine would have had the proper decarbon additives since new.

[20xdBake]

I run SeaFoam and stabilizer in each one of my rigs Have burned nothing but Merc Premium Plus in my Promax and nothing but Pennzoil in my 260. Only reason I used Merc oil in mine was it was given to me when I bought the engine.

SeaFoam deffinatley keeps the injectors clean, was recommended by my engine builder who uses Brucato

The law you are talkin about is the Magnuson-Moss Act, I was edjucated on this when I blew up a 99 225 3.0 liter that was about 4 months old. Merc said they wouldn't warranty it since I ran Pennzoil, but it was tcw-3 rated. Long story short, they had my boat back as fast as possible when my Pennzoil rep had a talk with the dealer

[Props4u2]

I would say that was your dealer saying it wasn't covered, not Mercury. Mercury has never asked me what brand of oil the customer was useing.

[20xdBake]

I would say you are right Lee, the dealer I bought it from turned out to be kind of a joke. They went belly up not long after.

Lee, I wasn't trying to make anyone mad sorry if I stepped on your toes in this thread

[Props4u2]

I don't think anyone is mad, certainly not me. Nothing wrong with opinions or sharing what works, that's what this board is all about.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!