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McAekho

I see you edited your post from

"TIME BOMB"

To

"I had a 1999 175 with about 450 hours on it that self destructed so I personally have a negative bias about the FICHT motors."

So, you do have first hand knowledge with these motors. What failed and what was determined to be the cause of the failure?

I have known of all kinds of Motors failing at that hour range. In fact I was on a Mercury Demo ride in Miami and I met guy who a 2 Verado 275's fail with less than 300 hours and one of them even caught fire. The story was confirmed by one of the Mercury Engineers on board. That does not change my view that the Verado is a great motor.

I had a 1997 Chevy Pick up with 12,000 miles lose a small internal metal cap in the intake manifold which then got stucked into the head and ruined the head and cylinder. I still think Chevy and GM make a quality product.

Sure you could have / should have gotten more hours out of your motor. I would expect a standard life span to be at least 1000hours.

My 235 Evinrude failed me at around 500 hours. Cracked head gasket. Hey S__T Happens.