The owner of any brand-new Mercury outboard motor will find it hard to resist the temptation to immediately drop the throttle and feel the sensation of smooth, unrelenting power. With a new motor, however, it will pay to walk before you run wide open. Exercise a little restraint and follow the break-in procedure devised by Mercury engineers, and your new motor can deliver the kind of performance you can count on.
The break-in procedure for most Mercury outboards is very similar, whether you’re running a 25hp ProKicker®, a high-horsepower Pro XS® engine or a V10 Verado® outboard. For the first two hours of operation, you need to run the motor at varied throttle settings up to 4500 rpm. For the next eight hours, you can run the motor in standard fashion but never for longer than five minutes at wide-open throttle.
With a VesselView Mobile® module onboard, you can use the Mercury VesselView Mobile app to easily keep track of your hours of operation, precise engine rpm and other key information for any Mercury SmartCraft®-capable outboard. Once the hour-meter hits the 10-hour mark, the break-in process is complete and you are free to run the engine as you normally would.
Because there are some variations based on the outboard you own, it is critical that you follow the exact steps outlined in your Mercury Outboard Operation and Maintenance Manual. A future engine failure caused by improper break-in may not be covered by the Mercury warranty, so it’s well worth the time and effort to get your new rig thoroughly broken in the right way. You can access the manual for your Mercury engine here.