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Engine break in period? 300 Mercury Verado

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:01 am
by Regency254LE3_NW
Hello, I am new to boat ownership and have enjoyed this forum posts and help from the more experienced folks. We recently have agreed to purchase a use 2016 Regency 254DL3. It has 50 hours on it and is being traded to the dealership, Bass Pro, after one season due to the owner moving to Hawaii and buying another boat more suited for those waters. It has a 300Hp Mercury Pro Verado. Does anyone know if these engines require a break in procedure? If so, does it make sense to ask the dealership to down load the engine history from the on-board ECU to be sure this had been done correcty?

Re: Engine break in period? 300 Mercury Verado

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 11:14 am
by zoom650
Here's what I did to my Verado I got from a Verado mechanic forum that I think has since dried upper and no longer active.

For the first two hour, run for 10 minutes not to exceed 4,500 RPM, then wide open throttle (WOT) for one minute. Repeat.

Then for the next 8 hours, run at any RPM, but WOT only for 5 minutes at a time.

Do not baby the engine.

Also, check the owner's manual. I'm pretty sure it's got break-in period covered.

I don't know about downloading the ECU history.

Re: Engine break in period? 300 Mercury Verado

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:40 pm
by Bamaman
At 50 hours, your motor will have been broken in. Run it like you wish.

The deal about breaking in 4 stroke motors is that they run very cool. Sometimes the rings don't heat up very much and they don't get properly seated--resulting in a little (or a lot) of gasoline blowing past the piston rings. The gas mixes with the oil and the oil level rises--commonly called "making oil." This happens in the Yamaha SHO motors more often than in the Verados.

Many owners prefer to warm up the motors well before going full throttle. And if the engine makes any oil, run the tee total piss out of the motors to seat the rings. For those with bass boats, that can be a pretty hairy 5-10 hours @ 75-85 mph.

On any new or relatively new 4 stroke outboard, I'd just caution anyone to watch the oil level closely whenever you go out. I try to keep mine at mid-point on the dip stick.