Suzuki 2 stroke 225

[BillPutney]

Fr. Frank I need some clarification.Does WFO stand for what I think it does . Wide F--king Open , if so you are too cool and I need to take the sacriments at your Church.On another note I have not serviced my 225 Suzi 2-stroke at anywhere near the schedule that you recommend. It has never failed to start and has never left me stranded. I know many commercial fishermen who have run their engines a lot longer than mine and in much harsher conditions than mine and have not serviced there engines as much as mine . I do not intend to discount your years of wisdom by any stretch of the imagination . From my point of view these engines seem to be bulletproof.

[Fr. Frank]

I agree they're great engines. Yes, WFO means Wide Freaking Open

My service reccomendations are from years in Marina Management, and managing marina service departments. I also believe that the worst abuse you can give an outboard motor is not running it.

I have run a '75 25' Mako' commercial lobster boat with twin '76 Chrysler 105's over 60 hours a week for 7 months with never a hiccup.

I have run twin '82 Johnson 70's on a '79 19' Robalo towboat
which consistantly began to lose water pressure on both motors after just 50-60 hours of use on a new impeller, even with aftermarket impellers.

I have owned a large number of Mercury outboards over the past 40 years, and their service life seemed to be 10-12 months until the past decade or so. Nonetheless, I change my impellers and oil faithfully.

I have never had a waterpump failure but once, and that was a spun hub on a an impeller on a week-old '83 235 Evinrude.

Moral of the story: It's like doing regular maintenance on your car.

[BillPutney]

I think sacriments should have been sacrements , my apologies . I do know one thing , my Tarheels are winning right now and I wish I was in the Keys with the guys and girls , I am super jealous .

[McGillicuddy]

I have owned a large number of Mercury outboards over the past 40 years, and their service life seemed to be 10-12 months until the past decade or so. Nonetheless, I change my impellers and oil faithfully.

You mean service annually?

[Fr. Frank]

Yeah,pretty much service 'em annually.

But sometimes they wouldn't go a full year, especially if they were not used very much. Many times we had to service water pumps that were only 8-10 months old and the impellers had become molded in a curve from inactvity, producing lower water pressure.

As a marina manager, I have always put water pressure guages on marina-owned boats to protect them from catastrophic failure while in service.

Ditto for every personal motor I have had since the early 80's.

[Ed]

Hi Joey-

I had a 1998 Suzuki 225 2 stroke on my Mako before I sold it. It is a good motor but does need to be maintained.

One area of concern on those motors is the lower unit. In particular, corossion will build up around the bearing carrier and will eventually cause the lower unit case to crack. A couple of years back....good used Suzuki 2 stroke lower units were tough to come by....now probably much more difficult to find. Take care of the one you have.....remove, clean and grease.

Also,poppet valves in that motor have been known to come installed backward from the factory. Be sure to check yours...

For more details on that particular motor.....contact Hawkeye on the hull truth or Jason's friend Scott Potter of Viking Marine in Portsmouth. He did a heck of a job maintaining mine....