New to boating-bought a '94 Baja 24 Outlaw with a new Mercruiser 7.4 Magnum
EFI long block. It has straight exhaust and Bravo One out drive.

Boat runs perfect except for engine oil consumption. We have gone through
6+ quarts of Quicksilver 25W-40 in the first 20 hours. I have been very
careful to follow Merc's break-in quide: no long periods of idle, no
full-throttle starts. Every two-three hours, the dipstick reads a quart
low.

Now with 32 hours, a shop did a leak-down check. Four cylinders 10% which
is spec., three were about 25% and one was about 40%.

What do you recommend? What is normal oil consumption? Found about 1/2
quart in the bilge. The shop that installed the long block used an
aftermarket block with all Merc parts (crank, bearings, rings, pistons, cam
etc.)

Thanks in advance.

Jeff

The problem is with the straight exhaust. If you install some sort of
quieting system and throw away the ignition key, the oil consumption
will return to normal.

25 & 40% is not good. All compression & leak down should be about the same.

"Jeff M." wrote in message
k.net...
New to boating-bought a '94 Baja 24 Outlaw with a new Mercruiser 7.4
Magnum EFI long block. It has straight exhaust and Bravo One out drive.

Boat runs perfect except for engine oil consumption. We have gone through
6+ quarts of Quicksilver 25W-40 in the first 20 hours. I have been very
careful to follow Merc's break-in quide: no long periods of idle, no
full-throttle starts. Every two-three hours, the dipstick reads a quart
low.

Now with 32 hours, a shop did a leak-down check. Four cylinders 10%
which is spec., three were about 25% and one was about 40%.

What do you recommend? What is normal oil consumption? Found about 1/2
quart in the bilge. The shop that installed the long block used an
aftermarket block with all Merc parts (crank, bearings, rings, pistons,
cam etc.)

Thanks in advance.

Jeff