John Schneider Purchase of a rebuilt 175 Mercury Optimax that has never run properly Bend, Oregon

I and the marine store owner called and talked with the owners and were satified that the rebuilt 175 Mercury Optimax was of high quality.  I ordered the motor, sent the check and then was requested to send an additional $300 to upgrade the engine from a 20 inch lower unit to a 25 inch lower unit which I had to have.  I received the motor timely at the dealer and went down to inspect it.  It looked great except for some scratches in the cowling.  The local dealer installed the motor and I took it out for a spin on one of the local lakes.  It ran perfectly until I reached 5000 rpms when the overheating alarm went off.  When I reduced the rpm's to 4900 the alarm turned off.  I did it several times more with the same response.  I then took it back to the dealer and found that the water pump has not been replaced.  Took it out again and the same think happend after the water pump was replaced.  The dealer then put the Mercury Marine diagnostic computer on it and found the lower overheating sensor was bad.  Replaced that sensor and the overheating problem went away.  Also, found I had no air filter as it was shipped without it as well as without the purchased oil tank.  I took it out again to go fishing and found that it would not run steady at between 1700 and 2100 rpm's.  Brought it back to the dealer and found that some Mercury authroized upgrades had not been performed.  Those we done, but the missing problem did not go away.  The dealer has subsequently repoaced 2 air injectors that were defective and leaked because of improper installation.  The chief field tech with Mercury Marine has been envolved the entire time.  He thought it might be a faulty computer so he had a loaner sent directly from the factory.  That did not solver the problem.  Now the final solution he has suggested is replacing the fuel rails, fuel injectors and air injectors.  They do not have the required diagnostic equipment that can be purchased from Mercury Marine.

I contactaced Blackbird Industries and first they told me to ship the engine back to them and they would repair the engine.  I told them that was way too expensive.  They then suggested I have the parts removed and sent to them and they would replace them.  I told them I would do that but only if I received new parts.  They did not respond so I wrote another email.  That is when I finally got a copy of the warranty (which I did not ever have until then) and told me the only way I was going to get the engine fixed was to ship it back to them. 

I would have had to ship the engine back at least 2 times at $600 round trip and told them I was not willing to do that unless I was guaranteed new parts would be installed.  No response has ever been made to that proposal.  All the want me to do is ship it back to them and they say they will fix it.  I don't believe them anymore.

They won't reimburse me for the labor and parts I have already paid for.  Even though they said the would give me replacement parts which are probably used.  I have no problem paying the local shop for the labor, but think they should at the very least reimburse me for the new parts.

I would never buy another motor from them.  I will get this motor running properly, but at my expense.  I am going to buy the parts recommended by Mercury Marine and have them installed by the local Mercury Marine Certified Technician.  Their warranty stinks, there service stinks, you can't call them as noone answers the phone leaving me with the only choice to email them.  The don't respond with a solution to the shipping problem, the parts problem or any other problems I have except to tell me to ship it back.  That is not the solution. 

I have had the motor almost a year and the warranty has almost run out, without solution to the problem. They keep saying the customer is the problem and prelacing parts is not the answer.  I would agree if it was not worked on by the head tech at Mercury Marine.  But he is their leading field tech and that is is job and his suggestions are not baased upon parts replacement but to get the motor running properly.

The say they make great motors, but not according to me.  Mine will be great (I hope) after I pay for the parts and repairs that will be around $3500.

They have all the right answers, but never seem to be able to fix the problem.  Don't ever buy a motor from them.  All you get is excuses.