average life of a 260 mercruser

[john1947]

Hi,
I have a older a987 268 with a 260 merc.
Did a compression test (one plug pulled and checked).A few were off by 15 lbs.Also did this test on a cold engine. next time ill read the book.
Motor was checked by a good mechanic and found ok.
My question is with 1300 hours am I to expect near future problems with this motor.
Would appreciate feedback.
thanks,
john

 

[sbw1]

There is no way to know without the history of how the moter was run and cared for. We see lots of old mercs with high hours and strong performance. Most are one owner boats that have been run responsibly and properly maintained. Sheriff boats are run thousands of hours before replacement. I've heard it's not uncommon to see engines with 4000 hours. When they quit running properly they repower for another 4000 hours. I owned a 260 SR express that I bought new and sold it with 3000+ hours. The new owner put many more hours on it before I lost track of the boat.

 

[tbirdvet]

I agree depends on how maintained. I use to run engines on dyno's for 2500-4000 hours under load and they looked like new when finished so just depends.