# Optimax 150 2008 bog/miss



## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

Last year the motor started missing and just acting weird. I've had it since it was brand new.

I took it to the Mercury dealer because it was due for a new water pump, belt, plugs, filter, and the normal stuff.

The mechanic said he sees the bog and that it's oil I'm running. Ams Oil HP injector that I've ran for most of the life of the motor. I got a mechanic that has no clue. Young kid thinks he knows it all and is all for mercury products. Whatever, it's not the oil.

I thought that it may be the battery. After some research I saw that if the battery wasn't top notch the optis may not run right. Time for a new battery anyway...that's not the problem.

We're thinking possibly reeds or electrical. Possible injector? Possible coil?

Anyway does anyone know of a good mechanic? I've been to 2 Mercury dealers and both are incompetent IMHO. I'm in the Oak Harbor area. If anyone knows what could be wrong that would be great too!


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

I ways away but vic,s marine service in brimfield oh has some great mech. a smaller mom/pop shop with great service. there on this site, my opti is a 2005 and purr,s.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

That is quite the haul but that is the kind of place I would like to go to.

More explanation about the problem is that if we're cruising at say <1100 RPM it usually does fine. Above that it will 'jerk' at random or 'bog' at random. It will even do it on full plane @3000.


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## Bad Bub (Jan 17, 2006)

If you're willing to drive it to vic's, by all means do it. I had 2 different mechanics throw parts at my 04 115 last season until I finally hauled it to Vic's. Took him 2 days to call me and tell me the problem and that parts were ordered. Boat was out of commission for 2 months, and vic fixed it in less than 2 weeks. They see a lot of boats with a lot of problems. Experience is tough to beat.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

wanna try a fix ? buy new injectors, BUT vic,s is the place, realy a easy run get on the turnpike and go for a ride, even call ahead ,they,ll help you out. you could take the wife and take her to the hartville kitchen for a nice amish meal.


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## buckeyedude (Feb 5, 2008)

Lundfish said:


> Last year the motor started missing and just acting weird. I've had it since it was brand new.
> 
> I took it to the Mercury dealer because it was due for a new water pump, belt, plugs, filter, and the normal stuff.
> 
> ...


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## buckeyedude (Feb 5, 2008)

Sounds like the same problem I had with my 115 mercury optimax.Was a bad coil in mine causing it to run rough.If you don't want to go all the way to Vics which is where I bought my boat you could try Huron Lagoons they fixed a problem with my 9.9 mercury that nobody else could figure out even Vics.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

I called Burroughs and they said to hook up a separate gas tank to rule out the boat. I'm going to try that.

I also think that it could be a coil.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

I owned a 2008 Opti 150 as well. It started missing/sporadically running on 5 cylinders. It was a bad coil,mans Mercury has a TSB on it for your model year. They replaced the coils (6) on the motor under warranty. 

Would bet that's the deal with your motor. One easy thing to check though is make sure the plug wires are all snapped on correctly. Mine came off once last fall and it started the same symptoms while I was on KY Lake. Fortunately it was an easy fix! Worth double checking all 12 connections.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

bman said:


> I owned a 2008 Opti 150 as well. It started missing/sporadically running on 5 cylinders. It was a bad coil,mans Mercury has a TSB on it for your model year. They replaced the coils (6) on the motor under warranty.
> 
> Would bet that's the deal with your motor. One easy thing to check though is make sure the plug wires are all snapped on correctly. Mine came off once last fall and it started the same symptoms while I was on KY Lake. Fortunately it was an easy fix! Worth double checking all 12 connections.


This figures I'm just out of the 5 year warranty. That's when it started doing this!

I'll check the connections. Unfortunately I've got to use the boat for a week in this condition.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Lundfish said:


> This figures I'm just out of the 5 year warranty. That's when it started doing this! I'll check the connections. Unfortunately I've got to use the boat for a week in this condition.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

Did you make a post? Looks like I just see my quote.

I did take the cowl off and one of the plug wires was loose on the plug. Maybe that's it. Small chance but possible.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Lundfish said:


> Did you make a post? Looks like I just see my quote. I did take the cowl off and one of the plug wires was loose on the plug. Maybe that's it. Small chance but possible.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)




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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

That's great to hear. If you had a loose plug wire, this is what is causing your misfire for sure


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

This new forum format is very buggy! The quote function never works for me. Glad you found the loose wire-very likely the cause of your problems.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

bman said:


> This new forum format is very buggy! The quote function never works for me. Glad you found the loose wire-very likely the cause of your problems.


I hope that's it. It wasn't that loose though.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Lundfish said:


> I hope that's it. It wasn't that loose though.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Did it snap back on? If so, that's all it takes to start missing. It will arc some so you will have a stretch where it's still able to fire the cylinder. 

If that's not it and your problems continue, find the TSB and see if a merc dealer will work with you. merc will likely pay for some/all of the repair even out of warranty. The bad ignition could were a know problem, hence the TSB


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

bman said:


> Did it snap back on? If so, that's all it takes to start missing. It will arc some so you will have a stretch where it's still able to fire the cylinder.
> 
> If that's not it and your problems continue, find the TSB and see if a merc dealer will work with you. merc will likely pay for some/all of the repair even out of warranty. The bad ignition could were a know problem, hence the TSB


It wasn't snapping into place. When I took it off I squeezed it and then it snapped on. Maybe that's it...I'm hoping for the best!


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

Well the dealer finally got a chance to look at the motor. Cylinder 6 is not firing sometimes. He swapped out cylinder 4 coil for 6 and it still does the same thing. He thinks it's the ECM! That's going to run $2000 or so.

He was on the phone with Mercury today and is waiting to hear a response about sending them an ECM to see if that's the problem before we buy one.

This pretty much sucks!


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Very surprised to hear it's cylinder specific. If that's really the case, that is a bummer. Hard to believe it's not just a bad coil. That is common; bad ecu's are not. Where did you take it?


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

bman said:


> Very surprised to hear it's cylinder specific. If that's really the case, that is a bummer. Hard to believe it's not just a bad coil. That is common; bad ecu's are not. Where did you take it?


It's at Burroughs in Clyde. Still waiting to hear from Merc. I hope that they do send an ECM to test it with and it still has a problem. We really don't know what else it could be.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

bman said:


> If that's not it and your problems continue, find the TSB and see if a merc dealer will work with you. merc will likely pay for some/all of the repair even out of warranty. The bad ignition could were a know problem, hence the TSB


Not likely IMO(course doesn't hurt to try!) ONE month(actually three weeks!) out of warranty, my 02 Optimax had a bad injector! Dealer said $800, and that "I" should call Mercury! I ended up talking to their "Regional Customer Service Mgr". She totally stone-walled me-and then had the nerve to tell me the problem was "My Fault"! That ALL dealers are told to instruct new owners to put their(Mercury's) injector cleaning additive in at every fill-up!(He Didn't!, and wouldn't work with me on the repair!) Good luck on this one.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

The ecm arrived the other day. Waiting for them to get a chance to hook it up.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

Well it's not the ECM. 

There are two possibilities now.

It could still be a coil. Even though he swapped out number 4 cylinder coil with number 6 and number 6 still had a misfire. It has to do with the load and one coil taking away from another.

The only other thing is a wire harness which was checked already.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

Well after all of the BS the coils were replaced and the motor runs great once again. Sorry to say Mercury customer service is total crap. If they had bad coils the year that my motor falls into then they should've had a recall. $1300 later.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Lundfish said:


> Well after all of the BS the coils were replaced and the motor runs great once again. Sorry to say Mercury customer service is total crap. If they had bad coils the year that my motor falls into then they should've had a recall. $1300 later.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

There is a TSB, so I'd get my hands on that and contact Mercury directly and firmly but nicely ask them to pay for a portion of your bill. It's well worth trying. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they help you out a little.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

bman said:


> There is a TSB, so I'd get my hands on that and contact Mercury directly and firmly but nicely ask them to pay for a portion of your bill. It's well worth trying. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they help you out a little.


I tried to ask nicely. They said that the TSB is that if one coil goes bad that they would replace all 6. That is only for the motors under warranty which mine is not. Also they said that my warranty was up in 2012 but I bought it with a 5 year. Whatever. He then said it was a long way out of warranty. I then said that if it would've had the 5 year would they cover it. He then said no.

The company wants to be jerks about it then fine. They have updated coils because the others are junk. I guess that's how they make money is by putting junk parts on their motors only to sell the good ones later. Heck the new ones are probably junk too.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

Lundfish said:


> I tried to ask nicely. They said that the TSB is that if one coil goes bad that they would replace all 6. That is only for the motors under warranty which mine is not. Also they said that my warranty was up in 2012 but I bought it with a 5 year. Whatever. He then said it was a long way out of warranty. I then said that if it would've had the 5 year would they cover it. He then said no.
> 
> The company wants to be jerks about it then fine. They have updated coils because the others are junk. I guess that's how they make money is by putting junk parts on their motors only to sell the good ones later. Heck the new ones are probably junk too.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

I would go hire up the ladder ,no reason for them all to be bad except they are defective, scream ,thats the wheel that gets the oil.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

It's just money. Mercury obviously does not stand behind their product. It's just like Ram. I have a Ram Ecodiesel that leans to the left side by 1" when the fuel tank is full and they say that's in spec.

Idiots to have customers that are this pissed because of junk they build.


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## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Lundfish said:


> It's just money. Mercury obviously does not stand behind their product. It's just like Ram. I have a Ram Ecodiesel that leans to the left side by 1" when the fuel tank is full and they say that's in spec. Idiots to have customers that are this pissed because of junk they build.


I feel your frustration. But if you only asked thru the dealer, you should contact Mercury directly. It's worth a shot if you haven't tried this route.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

bman said:


> I feel your frustration. But if you only asked thru the dealer, you should contact Mercury directly. It's worth a shot if you haven't tried this route.


I actually spoke with mercury. The dealer went to bat about it too. Mercury does not care. In fact he said that they wouldn't make money if they did that. 

Basically he told me they put out junk to make money on repairs and parts.


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## thebige22 (Oct 26, 2007)

I learned my lesson.after spending $1500 that was wasted at other marinas. Go to Vics the first time. These guys are very thorough and will treat you great. They deal almost exclusively with Mercury's and know how to troubleshoot and service them. I drove my 25 ft boat from Catawba to Vics (2 hours) and feel that it was well worth it


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