See full version: Jet Ski Engine Hours; How Many Hours Does a Jet Ski Last
As a rule of thumb, the 2-stroke jet ski engines last around 200-300 hours, while the 4-stroke jet ski engines last around 300-500 hours. But keep in mind that these numbers depend on factors like maintenance, usage, and many others!
Beyond this advice, it’s highly recommended you get a prepurchase inspection from a dealership or service shop before buying a jet ski. Also, don’t miss the water test!
Additionally, when you select your ski, you shouldn’t have to focus exclusively on the jet ski’s engine hours. As you’ll see, the maintenance history is more important than the hours on the jet ski! here
So let’s move on to the most important factors about what can affect a jet ski’s lifespan!
When it comes to the lifespan of jet skis, it usually not only depends on engine hours, but several other factors as well. Let’s check them one by one:
Generally speaking, if a jet ski is used less than 30 hours per year, it’s usually categorized as a “low-hour jet ski” while more usage is a “high-hour jet ski”.
With two-stroke motors, it’s important to have the correct amount and ratio mixture of oil and gasoline. Without this correct mixture, the motor fades and wears down much faster than if the correct mixture is used.
When checking the oil it’s important to know when something is wrong, and what that means. When checking the oil it’s important to take notice of the oil level and to be sure that it’s not too high or too low as it can indicate a plethora of serious problems. here
“I have 2 hondas 25 hp and 90 hp. Gotten very little service always needs repair. Corrosion is a big proble, DO NOT LEAVE ANY FUEL IN CARB. Replaced a 1972 evenrude with a 90 honda, wish I had not. Better luck to you than I have had.” JDoverhere
Outboards are known to have problems and have things break rather than them simply wearing out. That’s why outboards last so much longer if they are taken care of and maintained. When outboards are left to sit without much use, or if they are used without being check up on, they often tend to have several problems. On a forum on Marine Engine‘s website, one boater replies with the following.
“Because the speed of four-stroke engines is lower than that of two-stroke engines, these outboards last longer than [two-stroke engines].” My West Shore[links]
Depending on our needs as anglers, different outboards will be better for us. Whatever outboard we decide fits our needs best, if we take care of our outboard motors, they will take care of us and our boating needs for a good long time.
There is a lot of bad/confusing/contradictory information in this thread. Just for clarification, the 4TEC engines have two separate cooling systems. The engine itself is closed-loop cooled, using antifreeze, with the ride-plate used as the heat-exchanger to the water. It takes a pretty long time running our of the water before the engine will overheat. The second cooling system is the exhaust ( and intercooler on SC models) cooling system which is open-loop, fed by the jet pump while in-water, and the hose port when out of water. Unlike the engine, if you don't feed water to this system, it will overheat the exhaust system in a matter of seconds, not minutes as others have implied. [links]
As a side note, the new 1603 ACE engine in the 300HP skis has another open-loop engine heat exchanger.
Closed loop or open loop, the ski will not be cooled when running out of the water. Reason why is, open loop requires the water the ski sits on to actually cool the engine via the impeller/pump. Closed loop, the ride plate is basically the radiator. The ride plate cools the antifreeze as it rides on the water.
Never attempt to start a propeller operated boat out of water unless there's an adequate water supply connected and running, you will damage the seawater cooling pump in the first 3 seconds. more
The cooling water supply for a jetski comes from the jet pump, it won't damage this to run dry (except in the case your jet pump is a high performance precision blueprinted racing pump). more