Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have always owned 2-strokes and now have added a 4-stroke on my first pontoon purchase. On initial ownership of the 4-stroke, I am liking it. Crazy quiet, no primer bulb to deal with, fuel economy.

Anybody else have a 4-stroke (mine is a 90 hp 2012 Mercury)? Any experience? Pros? Cons? advice?

Great forum folks - really enjoy the community!

The only con I have found is having to change the oil every year. In terms of expense and time, it's no more and maybe less than that involved with keeping a 2-stroke in oil. Are you saying your 4-stroke doesn't have a primer bulb? Mine still has the bulb, but overall starting is much more reliable than the 2-strokes I've dealt with due to the electronic fuel injection. I love my 90 HP Suzuki. I turn the key and it goes vroooooom! (knock on wood ).

love my 4stroke, I always had trouble with 2 stroke if I trolled alot.

yellowk9 wrote:...Are you saying your 4-stroke doesn't have a primer bulb?...

I'm thinking he has EFI where you usually don't have to bother priming the ball and have no choke to deal with.

4-strokes are definitely the way to go for larger motors that never have to be carried. For the little ones, I'll continue to be a 2-stroke fan until they build a 4-stroke with a comparable weight. Yamaha is close with their new 9.9, but you still can't strap a 4-stroke upside down or on either side to your quad. I can portage my 27-lb. 2-stroke Mariner 3.3hp over my shoulder and swing it around like a carnival ride. Drop it back in the water and it starts first pull and is none-the-wiser of what just happened to it.

Different strokes 4 different folks.



LC.

No primer bulb, no choke - EFI.
Just hard to break the habit of going to prime and choke before each start!

Really like how quiet it is - we usually just troll around slowly on the lake so it's definitely easier to have a conversation en route.

The primer bulb has another function. It operates as a check valve.

I do agree that once you go 4 stroke you will never go back. That is particularly true if you are not going fast all the time. I was OK with my 75 2 stroke until they discovered manatees here and put in a bay wide slow speed zone. It killed the 2 stroke.
Even so my 60 4 stroke was far more reliable over the same basic period (10 years 3000 hours). It just started and ran. No cleaning carbs, no spark plugs every year, no "sneeze stalling", no smoke or any of those other 2 stroke things.
I put in 2 idle solenoids, a fuel pump and 2 sets of plugs in 3000 hours and I probably didn't really need the plugs. It certainly didn't make any noticeable difference.

My 90HP 2 cycle Optimax Direct Fuel Injection (DFI) still has a primer bulb and it is pretty quiet. No carbs, no choke, the only time I ever notice any 2 cycle smoke is when it first starts and puffs its first cloud. At slower speeds (under 4k RPM) you can have a conversation with passengers in any corner of the pontoon at a reasonable volume/tone. Our main noise polluter is my wife's radio volume... sheesh I think she may be going deef!

All my outboards in the past had been 2 stroke from Carb to EFI to DFI. But since we got the new Merc 150 EFI 4 stroke we Love it! Changing the oil and filter is so easy and quick. I can see in the future that there will be no 2 strokes.

Assuming EFI stands for "electronic fuel injection" I'm confused. My motor has electronic fuel injection and I still prime the bulb at the beginning of each outing. Are there boats out there that literally don't have a bulb on the fuel line or is it just that it doesn't need primed often?

I have never needed to prime mine and its a 2 stroke. I think the fuel injected motors do a better job of keeping fuel in the rails and pump for easy starting. The only time I used my fuel bulb was when I thought i could use it to get a siphon started (it didn't work that way) every pump would push out some fuel, but the check valve wouldn't allow it to continue to flow..

I think that the bulbs are here to stay, but I don't think they get used very often. More for a diagnostics step. If the bulb is firm there is gas in it.
-ron

yellowk9 wrote:Assuming EFI stands for "electronic fuel injection" I'm confused. My motor has electronic fuel injection and I still prime the bulb at the beginning of each outing. Are there boats out there that literally don't have a bulb on the fuel line or is it just that it doesn't need primed often?

Yeah EFI = "electronic fuel injection",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,our Merc. 150 EFI 4 stroke has No prime blub. Ours starts up every time,,,,,no problem as far as priming.

Newer EFI 4 strokes kick the electric fuel pump on as soon as you turn the key. The system primes itself, so there's no need to manually prime the fuel. This is not just for convenience, but to ensure that there is sufficient fuel pressure to start and run the engine.

Yes sir buddy, 4 stroke is the way to go.

BoatCop wrote:Newer EFI 4 strokes kick the electric fuel pump on as soon as you turn the key. The system primes itself, so there's no need to manually prime the fuel. This is not just for convenience, but to ensure that there is sufficient fuel pressure to start and run the engine.

That's what I figured but wasn't really sure. Thanks for the info.

4 stroke. If you use your boat alot, the oil change on the 4 stroke can be cheaper. Last year I used 4 gallons of XD100 in my 250 Etec, running 100-1 ratio. (Which was also EFI and had a primer bulb, though it was never used) At $38/gallon ($152). I have 50 more hours on my Verado all ready this year, and just bought the oil and filter for it, $98.00 Just depends how much oil you burn with the 2 stroke. I was a 4 stroke skeptic when I bought the Verado, I really do not miss the Etec, my wife also just commented while we were out today, that the Verado seems easier on gas. It is, but for HER to notice! I've got no complaints!