8.2 MerCruiser, Are These Good Engines?

2000, 8.2 MerCruiser, Are These Good Engines?

  • They are great engines, bulletproof, better than 7.4 or 8.1 Horizons.

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • They are no better or worse than 7.4 or 8.1 Horizons.

    Votes: 3 50.0%

  • They are not as good as 7.4 or 8.1 Horizons.

    Votes: 1 16.7%

  • They are junk, avoid at all costs.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .
MonacoMike

MonacoMike

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2009
14,721
Indiana lakes and Lake Michigan
Boat Info
2000 Cruisers 3870
8.2 Mercs
Engines
85 Sea Ray Monaco 197
260hp Alpha 1
Looking at a 2000 model year vessel. My broker suggests avoiding the 8.2 due to a variety of issues including a customer that had replacement of both at under 525 hours. A dock friend says his older carbed versions have always used a quart of oil each tank of fuel for the 20 years he has owned the boat but does not know the hours on them.

The cowl decal says 8.2L MPI Bluewater Inboard, with a blue wave background. Are these engines riskier than a 7.4 Horizion or the 8.1 Horizion? Why did Merc even offer all these engines at the same time?

Of course a nicer setup boat has them.

Your input will be very helpful, thanks for reading,

MM
 
They have a bad rep., and that would make me nervous about resale, but I have several friends and neighbors with them and they've been fine. Silverton put a lot of them in the 372/392 Motoryachts. (they are known to burn oil) I wonder with the latest-gen of 8.2 Mercs if the stigma will start to fade?
 
As I understand the story, GM stopped building 8.1s which is a great engine. The 502 had been discontinued and the 8.1 replaced it. After the 8.1 went away, Merc bought the tooling for the 502 from GM and introduced the new version 8.2. The old 502s were oil burners. I don't know if Merc fixed that problem. One would think that the reintroduction of an engine that had some issues would include improving its design. I would ignore comments about the quality of the engine based upon 20 year old designs, and hope that someone with first hand experience with Merc's newest offering will speak up. Crusader has done some great enhancements to the marine version of the 8.1. Merc could adapt some of those to the 8.2 and it will be a great option if they fixed the oil problem and modernized the fresh water cooling, made impellers easy to change, etc. Crusaders are really nice in these areas. Any new 8.2 owners out there?
 
Got me a rock solid 1999 502 Mag. All forged internal rotating assembly Original with no work done. Still runs as fast as day 1. Uses a qt. every 20 hours.
65 mph boat in my sig
 
I have no experience the 8.2, and have not heard anything good or bad. I can say definitively that I love my 8.1’s, but that’s a different animal.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I am astounded that a question like this and the poll generated such little discussion. When I joined in 09 this type of question would have started a great debate that wouldn't end until someone was called win6le$$.

MM
 
Well, then I will say that they will definitely fail at 1,000 hours and by that time will have consumed 77,000 gallons of fuel cruising at top speed of 13 knots. #internettruths
 
Have never had 8.2's, but love my 425hp 8.1 Crusaders (except their love affair with emptying the fuel tanks at prodigious rates) and I loved my 7.4 Horizons - ran great for the +/- 500 hrs I put on them and hardly burned any oil.
 
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