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Does anyone know of a dependable and honest Mercury dealer? My buddy has an Optimax that is acting up and it needs to go into a shop. Somewhere in the Tulsa to Eufaula area be nice. I've used Larry's in Coweta, but never for any motor work. I don't think he works on Mercury engines anyhow.
You might try "150 Boat Sales" down south of I-40 in the Checotah area. They're honest and work on Mercury motors. You can google them and get the phone number.
Nichol's on 21st and Sheridan......Ranger
might call Lakeshore Marine on Texanna Road, Phil is honest and a very good mechanic
Opps forgot Porformance Plus in Muskogee on 11th and Shawnee...Have a buddy that takes his Opti there for service.....Ranger
Thanks guys. I called 150 and they don't work on them if they need a computer diagnostic (which this one does, warning horn going off). He referred me to Bayer Marine in Tulsa which said it would be two weeks before they could get me in.
Called Lake Marine on Texanna Rd., but again, they don't work on 'em and they referred me to Eufaula Marine Services in Longtonw.
Anyone know about them? Good or bad? They had an idea of what was wrong and said they could get it out by next week.
Ranger, I'm not a fan of Nichols. That's where I buy the Oil for the Optimax and every time they try to sell me a different oil than the time before...lol
I may give Performance a call and see what they say.
Don if its an 03 to 07 opti the horn ur hearin is probably the water pump. that model has a very tight fitting for the water pump and will have to be changed every year or so. even when you take it out it will look ok its just the bad thing on the merc opti on that model range. Performace Marine has takin care of my buddys several times......wish I could help more......Ranger
Buy a Yamaha next time and you will not have that problem...lol........Ranger
just joking Don
My XRi is this way, every other year or it's gonna sound the horn in the mid-rpm range. Tattle tale stream looks good and still the temperature gauge goes up and the horn blows. New impellar fixes it every time. Tomorrow will be the 17th anniversary of the day we bought this boat and luckily this along with crankcase gease and a few spark plugs is the only work ever done to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranger09
Only thing it needs is fuel efficiency more like my Honda outboard.
Thomas Marine in Checotah has been very fair with people I know on thier service work but like other shops in this area they cannot diagnose the Mercury, they will perform maintenance work on them. I'm not sure if they have reopened for business, three or four weeks ago they were not. SS
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Looks like I may take it to Performance Plus after talking to them.
This is what happens when you sell your boat to a friend. I never had a problem with it. Always ran like a top. Sold it to him last Fall and now this and it has developed a short that sucks his cranking battery down! I feel bad so I'm running around trying to take care of this stuff for him so he doesn't have to take off work.
I really like this Optimax. The easiest starting and smoothest running outboard I've ever owned and it sips gas, gotta love that! I just won't be selling nothing else like this to a friend again...(I know, famous last words...lol) If I had my wish, I'd like to try a 4 stroke Yammie, Suzuki or Honda on my next boat.
Okay, so I took the boat with the 115 Optimax into Performance Plus Marine in Muskogee Thurs at around 2 p.m. I'd talked to Mike on the phone and he was very polite. He actually suggested the motor might still be under warranty, but it wasn't. He told me he could have it fixed and out by later on this week.
Anyway, when I got there I met Randy, the Owner who is apparently Mike's dad. We talked about the motor and then went inside his Office to fill out the paper work. I specifically asked him not to do any work until they had called me with what the problem was and how much it would take to fix it. He assured me they never worked on an engine until receiving the Okay from the Customer. He even wrote it on the ticket to call before fixing with price to fix. We also talked about the cost should it be the impeller and he said about an hours worth of labor plus parts and he gave me a ball park figure on parts.
So Friday afternoon (Yeah, the next day) I was shocked when Mike called about 3 p.m. and told me the motor was fixed!! He said it took him about 6 hours to find out what was wrong with it and that they "had to get it wet to get it to go into guardian mode".
WTF!! :yikes
I couldn't imagine what all could have been wrong with it, especially something that took nearly a day to figure out! When I asked what was wrong he said that it was the impeller, a sensor and a couple seals. That's it. $50 dollars worth of parts and almost $500 worth of labor!
I couldn't go get the boat on Fri afternoon because I was in Tulsa. But I did find a few Mercury Marine forums and asked about why something like this would take 6 hours to diagnose and fix. I was pretty sure I knew the answer already, I just wanted some Mercury Marine gear heads (the kind with credentials) to answer it for me. Everyone said it should not take 6 hours to diagnose an impeller, sensor and seals. About half said it should only take an hour and the other half said 2 hours max and anything over and you're be paying for the mechanics education....
So today when I went to pick it up, I asked Randy why it took so long to diagnose the problem, especially after we'd talked about how long it would take previously when I had brought it in. I also asked why I wasn't called. He didn't have a good answer for either question and honestly, he looked a little surprised at the total when Mike handed him the ticket. He then changed the subject and said I was missing a plastic cover over my flywheel, which I already knew about.
He kept saying I had a "few things they had to track down" on the motor. I would have thought that's what a computer diagnostic machine would do, track down a bad impeller, sensor and seals so a Tech wouldn't have to spend 5 to 6 hours trying to figure out what was wrong. I'm still not sure why they "had to get it wet" to make it go into guardian mode since they already knew it did that. And again, wouldn't your computer tell you that?
So anyway, as you can guess, I'm not at all please with their service and will not be taking any boat of mine back to them. I could give you my opinion of what happened, but I believe most of you already know what happened. I think them being able to work on my boat in less than 24 hours compared to other shops in the area that are backed up a week to two weeks out this time of year also speaks volumes.
Sorry Don, I had never had any work done there just knew my buddy had his water pump impeller replaced there twice now. Sorry I even posted their business and I will never do it again. Like I stated I take my boats motor to Nichols since thats where I bought it and is still under warranty til 2015. I do know that Chris does an excellent job there. Again I am sorry that something like that happened to anyone...Ranger
Ranger, it's not your fault and I wasn't posting this as a negative toward you. I just want people to know how they operate over there. I've had plenty outboard work done in the past at shops in Ark, Ok and TX and know there's always a chance of something like this happening (and auto repair shops can be just as bad if not worse). I just try and minimize that chance of it happening to me!
Don I never thought you meant anything negative ever. I just feel your pain and I agree boat owners do need to know what tpye of business they are running. It just felt bad cause I was the one that mentioned their place of business.......Ranger
Don, I just gotta ask .. what was the response when asked why they didn't call before doing the work? I guess that diagnosing isn't technically working on it since it must be diagnosed before the repair can be done, but still ..
Anyway, thanks for posting. Boats are expensive enough to buy and own as it is and when repairs are needed, it is nice to have some first hand referrals, both the good and the bad.
Don, im gonna send you a PM on some info for mechanic ,,sorry i did not see the post sooner ,,i could have saved you some pain on the performance plus issue,,i took mine there 1 time and never again ,,
Thanks,Clint
Hey Crappie Crazy, got your PM. I appreciate the info. I'm going to print it out so I'll have it the next time I need something like that done! Thanks again, it's good to have a source you can trust.
Winger, funny but he never answered that question. When we were in the Office I pointed out that he'd wrote it on the ticket and that it took a lot longer than I thought it should have and he just kept saying there were "quite a few things" that had to be tracked down. He then changed the subject and said that there were some thing missing on the motor...like a plastic shield over the flywheel to keep the dust off of it....and the cap on the cowling that goes over the oil tank. I pointed out on the ticket where he's suppose to be ordering that cap and he said "Oh yeah". That cap and the two seals that go aroun it cost $23.50 and they charged me $14.50 for shipping and they still haven't called to say its came in!!!