chipping Outboards

[patriot]

Just got back from visiting my new mariner 135 optimax, and the guy who sold it to me was telling me about chipping it and increasing it Hp to a 175! i no you can do this with cars but i never new it was possible with outboards?

would someone like to enlighten me on this topic, if you no anything about it?
how much does it cost?


It sounds very tempting!

[DJL]

Yes it is possible as long as the engine uses the same block as the 175HP. You have to buy a whole new engine management computer I believe, which can't be cheap. Mercury seem happy to advise on which parts need to be purchased.

This will of course invalidate the warranty.

[swginn]

I know a guy who tried chipping a small 9.9hp Mercury to see if it would work. It did and he got an extra 5hp.

I think when it comes to the larger more sophisticated outboards IMHO it really is not worth doing. My reason for this is that once you have bought the ECU for the larger engine (the 175 opti in your case) and paid for it to be installed, the money you would have spent could be used instead to pay the bit extra for a 150/ 175 opti with a full warranty and not a voided one, which you will be left with if you chip the 135.

This warranty is really invaluable with the 135/150/175 optis as you may have to get the power trim fixed/ replaced as this seems to be a very common problem with these engines.

Now once your engine is out of warranty and if you can get a cheap 150/175 ECU. Fire Away!! Won't affect Smartcraft gauges either as they will auto detect that a new outboard has been fitted.

Patriot, I know your 135 is brand new so I would say hold onto your warranty, or else change to a 150/175.

[patriot]

Cheers guys! thats some well taken in advice!
I actually bought the engine new for just £5500, so buying a chip for the 175 would probably work out cheaper. however i think i will wait till the warrenty runs out!

james

[Daniel]

Surely if you did change the ECU and had a warrenty claim you could put the old ECU back and no-one would be any the wiser?

What i am more interested in is re-flashing the exsisting ECU using a laptop or similar... i reckon i could make a few bucks for 10mins work if i could

[DJL]

Originally Posted by Daniel

Surely if you did change the ECU and had a warrenty claim you could put the old ECU back and no-one would be any the wiser?

It might look a bit odd that the engine had only clocked up a few hours running time!

[John Kennett]

But if Daniel manages to hack the ECU then he can also set the hours to whatever he wants

John

[gavin]

Looked into this once with the Evinrudes,Ecus can be remapped but there were other considerations mechanical ones.For example there are plastic roller stops which are part off the throttle mechanasim in the engine which also needed to be changed, to allow more fuel/air and to allow the engine to rev higher, then you need to be sure your gearbox can handle the hp.Is it worth it I wonder , and I know with Evinrude, if you damage an ECU and dont go the main dealer route, you have to send it to ALABAMA to be sorted ouch

[Headhunter]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

But if Daniel manages to hack the ECU then he can also set the hours to whatever he wants

Is the moral of the story "don't buy a used engine fron Daniel"

Only joking Daniel, any excuse to make my 100th post.

John