# 20hp 4stroke comparisons



## scoobeb (Aug 14, 2013)

Hello to all.I have been going back and forth on these 20hp 4stroke motors and now in 2 weeks i'm going to purchase one.I have a question.

Is it true with 4strokes that the more displacement in a motor the more top end or more torque there is?Like as in the yamaha 20hp has the highest displacement at 362 cc's compared to like the suzuki or even the merc/tohatsu,what will be the main difference in these motors if any besides the features?

Will the tohatsu/merc be a better over all performer then all of them because of it's 2.15 gear ratio?I have a yamaha dealer right down the street and they offered me a brand new 20hp 4stroke yamaha for $2580,sounds like a deal plus i get a 5yr warranty now,so that makes it even sweeter to get.

I guess my biggest question is will the efi of the suzuki out perform the carbed motors in anyway at all?
I can only imagine that the yamaha would make my boat fly(14ft lowe rated for a 20hp,boat is 185lbs,flat bottom).

I have heard from many people that the 15/20hp yamaha is a dog that is what has steered me away.I have seen it in action on you tube and it seems to have good power.

Man why does there have to be so many motors to choose from,this is a hard choice to pick from.


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## DrNip (Aug 14, 2013)

I hear ya and I'm between the Suzuki and the Tohatsu.


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## grossman (Aug 14, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=326028#p326028 said:


> scoobeb » 14 Aug 2013, 11:13[/url]"]
> 
> I have heard from many people that the 15/20hp yamaha is a dog that is what has steered me away.I have seen it in action on you tube and it seems to have good power.



I can't imagine there being a night and day difference in equal HP motors between manufacturers.

As far as a 15 being a dog. I have a 2007 Merc 15hp 4-stroke. I have a 15' smokercraft alaskan. Boat 270# Motor 115# Me 200# Gas 20# misc gear 50# on GPS I go consistently 23mph in calm water.

That's not going to win any races but it's pretty good performance considering.


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## scoobeb (Aug 14, 2013)

I guess my main concern is how is the torque out of the hole.I believe the 15hp merc in 2007 had the yamaha powerhead in it.It was a 323cc with a 2.08 gear ratio outboard,the new mercs are 351cc's with a 2.15 gear ratio.The yamaha now is 362cc's with a 2.08 gear ratio.

I guess my thing also is will the suzuki being an efi outboard have a better take off as far as torqe out of the hole.I live i8n an area were it's nothing but rocks and oysters so getting on plane fast is most important if i want to keep my lower unit,lol.I love all the features of the yamaha and merc.The suzuki is so state of the art,plus it's only 97lbs.

This is such a hard choice.Plus with the yamaha you don't even get a gas tank,wow thats nuts.Here is were i am.

THESE ARE ALL NEW 2014 OUTBOARDS IN THE BOX AND I HAVE ALL THE DEALERS VERY CLOSE TO ME IF WARRANTY WORK IS NEEDED,KEEP THAT IN MIND WHEN I LIST THESE.

20hp merc-I need to look for a better price,but i have found it for $2900-3yr warranty
20hp tohatsu $2500-tax included-5yr warranty
20hp suzuki $2695-tax included-3yr warranty
20hp yamaha $2585-tax not included-5yr warranty


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## grossman (Aug 14, 2013)

The prices are all pretty close (except the merc)

If $200 isn't going to break you, I say go with the Suzuki if that's the one that most appeals to you. 2nd choice would be the yamaha. I'd be eliminating the merc based on price. (even though I'm really happy with mine.)


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## Ictalurus (Aug 14, 2013)

Not sure with a small motor like a 20 you'd notice much difference in hole shot, regardless of injection or whatever else. My '67 20 HP Johnson is pretty close to our '10 Yammi 20 HP 4 stroke, just a little louder.


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## scoobeb (Aug 14, 2013)

The yamaha's went up because the 2014 came in,they are now $2750 plus tax so that is were i'm at now.


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## tnriverluver (Aug 14, 2013)

I am still very happy with my Merc after about a 2 years of decent use. My only complaint would be the hand numbing vibration at high speeds the first few times out but now I don't even notice it. Whether it actually smoothed out or just getting accustomed I can't really say which.


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## tomme boy (Aug 14, 2013)

Yamahas do not have a year anymore. When you buy them, thats what year they are now.


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## tnriverluver (Aug 15, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=326143#p326143 said:


> tomme boy » Yesterday, 22:24[/url]"]Yamahas do not have a year anymore. When you buy them, thats what year they are now.


Merc , Nissan, Tohatsu, and probably Evinrudes are the same way.


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## scoobeb (Aug 15, 2013)

They do have manufacture dates on them,go to onlineoutboards.com and you will see how the 2014's have come in for tohatsu's.
Yes they eliminated model yrs but not manufacture dates.If a marina has sold all there motors then the next manufacture dates to come in is 2014's.

I understand what your saying,they did this yrs ago to stop the confusion of people.People were buying motors in say 2008 and the manufacture date says like it was made in 2006,people were questioning why they are getting an older motor then the yr it was in.


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## scoobeb (Aug 18, 2013)

One of my things i have been wanting to know is will the efi and the carbed motors have the same power all the way around?I never thought this would be such a difficult decision.I also just found a brand new in the box 15hp 4stroke merc for get this,only $2185 plus tax,to me that seems like a steal of a deal from all the prices i have seen so far.


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## scoobeb (Aug 19, 2013)

Well i should have a brand new 20hp suzuki in a couple of weeks and can't wait.


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## DrNip (Aug 20, 2013)

Please let us know how it goes.


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## tomme boy (Aug 20, 2013)

So what are you putting it on? I don't think I ever caught that. Order a few oil filters off ebay now while you have a chance.


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## scoobeb (Aug 20, 2013)

It's going on a 2003 1436ft lowe jon boat.It's the heavy weight series rated for a 20hp.They have the one rated for a 15 and one for a 20.The aluminum guage thickness is huge.The boat i have is really strong for it's size.I am going to use that for a while then get a 1442 g3 or a 1542 alumacraft.My ultimate goal is a 1852 lowe jon boat with a 40hp outboard.But thats a while away for me.


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## bow_hunter8 (Aug 20, 2013)

I run with a boat thats 15' and 44" flat bottom, it has a 20 Suzuki on it and it runs awesome, hits 28 mph on the river


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## DrNip (Aug 20, 2013)

28mph wow. Wonder what it would do on the 1248 I have ordered. It is rated at 30hp.


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## scoobeb (Aug 21, 2013)

I will def let you know asap how i like the motor and how it performs.I have my own method of breaking in outboards.Now i never said it was the right and proper way what i'm going to write here,lol.But the old saying is if it ain't broke then don't fix it.

What i have done for the past 5 brand new outboards out of the box is,warm it up for 10 to 15min to get everything all lubricated in the engine and the lower unit,then go balls to the walls after that.I run it like i stole it,lol.Yes i 100%do vary my rpms like a motor should be when breaking in but i'm in no way scared to wot the motor for a length of time.Especially when there is only a limited amount of time to seat the rings properly.

IMO and only IMO,i don't believe in babying an outboard,especially a 4stroke.The way i look at it is i have owned over 15 brand new cars off the lot and in no way have i ever broke one in or ever been told to do so by any dealership and i have never had one issue with a car.Once again IMO i think that the manuals they use are so out dated,they have been the same forever,for as long as i can remember,the technology in these outboards has changed so much that i think they don't need a crazy 10 or 20hr break in.All the outboards i have done the balls to the walls method to are still running perfect today as they did from day one.

I do know many people who do this method also and have never had one issue with their motors.I'm in no way saying that people shouldn't follow the manual,i'm just going to do what works for me.I def can't say i got lucky 5 times,so there may be something to this.I was turned on to this method before 1998 by a friend who rebuilds outboards,i was scared to do it,he told me he had did it to all his outboards he rebuilt,never had one issue at all.Well i took a chance not knowing but trusting him as my friend and i was impressed how good it ran after about 25hrs of use.It was so smooth and quiet as i was running it more and more.

I did however run one motor by the book to a t.It ran just as good,the only difference i noticed between the 2 9.8 tohatsus i owned like 4 yrs apart was the one i broke in by the book had more vibration at lower speeds and a bit louder at idle,the one i just went hard out of the box was much smoother(less vibration) and a bit quieter.

Like i said this is all what i observed,overall they both ran well though.


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## tnriverluver (Aug 21, 2013)

My suggestion is to break the motor in by the book if you value having a warranty. You are forgetting that todays modern outboards have an ECM that records what you are doing. Blow that motor up in the first hour of use running wide open and you now have an expensive new boat anchor. To each his own though.


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## scoobeb (Aug 21, 2013)

I will take my chances.Plus if the motor will blow up it was defective to begin with whether you break it in by the book or not.If the motor has a defect coming out of the factory it won't matter what you do to run it in.If the motor doesn't have a defect coming out of the factory and you vary the rpms as well as go wot every once in a while it won't blow up,the chances of a motor blowing up from not following the manual to a t is slim to none.Especially a 4stroke,that is something i know for a fact.

The only way i have seen a motor blow up is by not having enough oil in the engine or a blown head gasket.Like i said i never said my method was right but to me it has been effective and fast.I don't just go wot for hrs and hrs,let me rephrase what i mean.I'm not going to be afraid to go wot out of the box.Most people can't control themselves from doing it,very few people i know follow the book to a t.

If you want to know something that is strange check this out,yrs ago mercury was having a ton of problems with their 4strokes making oil and not running right,the issue was people were babying their outboards on the breakin so the rings were not seating right.I heard this from a merc tech who works for mercury for over 20yrs.I tend to think he knows his engines.People think when they get new engines they need to baby them,thats all wrong,babying them will do more bad then good,the man at merc told me don't be afraid to get on it but don't go wot all the time but doing it here and there will do more good then bad.I will believe what he says.Like i said the book has been the same forever and has not been updated like it should be.

Think about this way,a 2stroke and 4stroke are 2 way different engines so how can the breakin be the exact same for both according to the manuals.These engines are built to run hard or they wouldn't recommend running them near wot.Just all IMO.


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## tomme boy (Aug 21, 2013)

One thing you do not know about Suzuki is they hard chrome the cylinder walls. the rings will not seat like every other motor you have had. Follow it to the letter or you are going to have a oil burner.


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## scoobeb (Aug 22, 2013)

Well i will call suzuki to find out exactly what is used and if the rings will seat different,if suzuki doesn't know then no one will,lol.Once again i'm still not worried about breaking it in hard.I'm by no means going to baby the motor for the first 10 to 20hrs.I'm also not going to abuse it either,all that needs to be done to break in any engine is vary the rpm range up and down and every once in a while open it up and the engine will be just fine.

I just went on like 30 different forums to see what other people thought on what i'm going to do and it was close to split,50/50 manual and breaking it in hard.I found alot of people who did it by the manual and their motors were making oil for the whole time they have owned it.Then the people who did basically the varying rpm range and going hard every once in a while had 0 issues.

If you look up breaking in a 4stroke outboard there is so much info on it it could take a yr to read it.Like i said if it ain't broke i see no reason to fix it.Just like quite a few people said on the manual on dif sites,it's a liability thing for the manufactures.They want you to take it easy just in case there is some type of issue.It's all good,if i screw the motor up then it's on me,but the chances of anything blowing up or going wrong unless the motor has a defect when it leaves the plant is slim to none.There is very few lemons that i have ever seen in the outboard industry.

A tech at my yamaha dealer said if it makes it through the first yr with no issues then usually it will last a lifetime as long as it's maintained.Also to i'm in no way trying to say your wrong or anything like that,i'm just going to do whats worked for me till it back fires on me iof it ever does,cross my fingers,lol. [-o<


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## scoobeb (Aug 22, 2013)

I called suzuki and they refered me to a service center which i called,i asked then for 3 service centers in my area actually so if all 3 tell me different or the same i could just use my judgement.

Here is what all 3 said,the process is the same for all outboards that are made, no matter what the cylinder walls are made of the rings must match to seat properly.As far as the rings seating different,they said the rings would seat exactly the same as any outboard.I will take the word of 3 different service centers who actually work on the suzuki outboards.So my method will stay the same as all 5 of my other outboards,break it in by varying the rpms up and down and open it up every once in a while.As far as 20hrs,to me thats just crazy,5hrs is plenty to do that IMO.


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## scoobeb (Aug 22, 2013)

This from another source i found,what he said is what i basically do,i do know not to hold it at wot for a long peroid of time,what i do is vary the rpms up and down and then hammer it for short bursts.So to a point i do what the manual says,but i want to make sure the rings are seated properly,thats my main concern that many people are having trouble with.

Here is what i found on a reliable source,



Seating rings is really a simple process. The crosshatch pattern that they use on the cylinders helps....so does punching the throttle occasionally to cause a lot of torque to be applied to the crankshaft and holding it open for a few seconds without over-revving. Do that 10-15 times during the break-in period and the rings should never give you any problem.
The break-in procedure used by most manufacturers does not let the engine reach it's 'normal' operating temperature until you get to the point of about 3/4 throttle....that's where you start doing some good. Yes, I know it has a thermostat but it will open before the engine gets nice and warm but that is the 'minimum' operating temperature.


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## scoobeb (Aug 22, 2013)

Suzuki is remaking the 25hp 4stroke outboard,should be out soon.It's going to be a efi outboard now instead of carbed.Can't wait to see this motor.


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