18 years with two Mercs - w/o issue. Key is to burn non-oxy fuel and follow normal maintenance procedures. "Sea Foam" is your friend too.
No problems with the "running" part(using non-ethanol gasoline) but seems this Chinese built outboard has some plastic parts that can be troublesome. We are leaving the end of the month and might have to get this unit back from the dealer in non operable form, so we can go home. We are storing the rig here in Texas so it might have to sit unrepaired till January 2016. For all I know, this part is unavailable now. The weather turns nice, the fishing picks up and I'm without a boat. Always seems to happen to ya in one way shape or form.
In the owners manual the country of Origin is China town of Suzhou.
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/009762.htmlI bought new so I wouldn't have these problems. As Hoss Cartwright would say "Dad Burnit"
