On Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:12:57 -0400, Gil wrote:

Hey guys and gals -

I need or widsom in my situation. I started the topic about
Ethanol..and now they are talking about those rubber-bands airplans (how
in the world can go off topic seriously).

Anyway...as most may not know, my Suzuki DT140 (1985) two stroke, oil
injected outboard motor got burnt (internally) probably lack of oil
circulation or cooling system was not working, in either case, I was
told it will cost over $1,000.00 for repair. I have requested a full
cost, but waiting for that to come in, but in the mean time:

All of you, compairing the pro and cons of repairing the motor for less
than $3,000 or go for a newer engine (avg 7k to 10k dollars). Due to
changes in our fuel situation where additives are being added to
gasoline, I worry about older model motors not being able to handle the
fuel changes versus newer engine that are design for the changes in the
fuel contents.

Should I go for new motor or stick with the old true blue regular
gasoline engine?

That's an interesting question. And it really depends on what you
want to do with the boat you have now.

You could drop $1K or so into that older engine and sell the boat with
a "rebuilt" block which would give it some more value and then
purchase a newer boat with newer engine.

On the other hand, if you like the boat, you repower with a new two or
four stroke 140 and you are set for quite a while as long as you
maintain it properly.

I can tell you what I did. I had been thinking of selling my 2000
Ranger, but settled on a new repower with Evinrude ETEC. More power,
more efficiency and very little maintainence. I don't plan on getting
rid of the boat anytime soon, so it made sense to me.

So that's the real question. If you are happy with the current boat
but need a new engine, then new engine it is. If you look at this as
an opportunity to get a newer boat, then spending the $1K on the
engine rebuild will only pay off in selling price and make the boat
more valuable.