Right or wrong, I think there is a mental thing at 1000 hrs for most people.

 

I think the age plays into it as well. An older 496 with very low hours would worry me as much as very high hours. With the mass of the moving parts, I don’t think of 496 engines as long lasting. Agree with above, 1000 hrs starts to feel high. Antidotal for sure, but I always felt 496 were good for about 1200-1500 hrs tops.

 

not really sure but the one thing i will say being a 340 owner with 8.1's is that there is plenty of power for the boat in this particular case, which means im running the motors at much lower rpms than i have on other boats, so i think alot of these motors are not pushed that hard. im running under 3400 rpms almost 100% of the time.

 

The 8.1's are considered a "bullet proof" engine but anything over 1000 hours I would be ready for a re build....

 

The answer is "depends".

Depends upon yearly usage, regular maintenance and preventative maintenance. An engine used regularly and has oil changes, filter changes as well as replacing items before they fail (such as manifolds) hoses, cooler cleaning, raw water pump impellers changed on schedule, etc, I would not be too worried.

Conversely, engines in a dock queen that aren't started for months on end, and an owner that only fixes something when it fails, I would be suspect.

 

Well throw mine in the ring - I'd be uncomfortable with anything over 3,000 hours