Suzuki School

[spareparts]

I'm in Suzuki school this week, at the Wyotech facility in Ormond Beach(Daytona), Fla. This new 350 is pretty serious. Anyone have any questions I need to ask these guys?So far, not any changes on the 115-140. 150 and up get the digital throttle and shift. The 350 is the hot topic, with some suggestions of higher hp in the future

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by spareparts

I'm in Suzuki school this week, at the Wyotech facility in Ormond Beach(Daytona), Fla. This new 350 is pretty serious. Anyone have any questions I need to ask these guys?So far, not any changes on the 115-140. 150 and up get the digital throttle and shift. The 350 is the hot topic, with some suggestions of higher hp in the future

Have they changed their aluminum to lessen the corrosion problems of the older models?

[spareparts]

I brought up corrosion several times, got a more or less non telling answer. For the most part they said they have been working on corrosion control and have improved it on their engines. Unofficially, Yamaha and Suzuki both use the same raw aluminum supplier. There was no single answer to the question. I'm seeing an increase in corrosion on all engines. I blame this on regulations in the casting industry. Mercury had the best aluminum but you'll notice they don't advertise the XK360 alloy any more. Since they closed down the Stillwater plant, I'm seeing an increase in corrosion, especially on their lower units. Ive done plenty of exhaust replacements on Yamaha V6's, and the majority of two stroke Yamaha 3 cylinder engines I'm seeing have the head corroded thru, followed closely by the exhaust cavity eating a hole thru. The mid size Yamaha and Merc 4 strokes are Chinese manufactured power heads and I'm seeing corrosion clogging the water passages, but it seems to be more of a design flaw than an alloy issues. I haven't seen enough newer Suzuki's personally to base an opinion on, so I asked some of the other techs. Two of whom are based in Florida and have been selling the newer ones for a while. They said they haven't seen any more corrosion on the Suzukis than any other brand except for Honda(still the worst). Very few Etecs to measure by, so they weren't included.

[Destroyer]

So an older Merc 2 stroke still has the best corrosion resistance? What years would that include?

[spareparts]

Mercury closed the Stillwater plant in 2011, but I was seeing unusual corrosion on them as early as 2004. Ive seen 25 year old mercs looking better than 3 year old newer ones. If you're going 2 stroke, its hard to beat a mid 90's 2.5 liter 150/175/200. Good cheap power, light weight, like fuel, but no more than any other engine built then. Ditch the oil injection unless its been gone thru recently. I'm hoping Suzuki has got their issues taken care of, as I'm selling them now

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by spareparts

Mercury closed the Stillwater plant in 2011, but I was seeing unusual corrosion on them as early as 2004. Ive seen 25 year old mercs looking better than 3 year old newer ones. If you're going 2 stroke, its hard to beat a mid 90's 2.5 liter 150/175/200. Good cheap power, light weight, like fuel, but no more than any other engine built then. Ditch the oil injection unless its been gone thru recently. I'm hoping Suzuki has got their issues taken care of, as I'm selling them now

My V21 is powered by a 1993 200hp 2.5L Merc. If you recall I ditched the original oil injection which was still working fine for an electronic oil injection system. I really haven't seen any corrosion on the engine yet. I power wash it when I get home and the long 21 mile drive upriver to where I launch/retrieve the boat completely flushes the internal engine with sweet water. Yes, the engine is thirsty, but not overly so, and she just keeps purring along.