Dry Sump oil pump belt

[txriverrat2001]

At how many hrs would consider changing the dry sump belt on 850's?? At $150 a pop - I was thinking of doing it as they have approx 150 hrs on them now.....

thoughts?

[Chris]

I think your thinking is right on target. That's cheap compared to losing oil pressure. Even with a backup warning light, at speed all it would be telling you is it's time for a very expensive repair.

[Knot 4 Me]

Not that I would use this as an excuse to put off critical preventative maintenance, but at least with the Merc's the system will shut the motor down when it loses oil pressure, hopefully avoiding any damage. At least this was the case with the 600 SCI's when a factory installed filter backed off at speed a couple of seasons ago. At "only" $150, I would definitely replace the belts.

[YoungPerformance]

I replace them right around the 100 hr mark on my engines.

[BenPerfected]

Consider other belt sources like Peterson Fluid or Jones Racing. $150 is pure Mercury Racing value...
www.jonesracingproducts.com
www.petersonfluidsys.com

[Mrhorsepower1]

At how many hrs would consider changing the dry sump belt on 850's?? At $150 a pop - I was thinking of doing it as they have approx 150 hrs on them now.....

thoughts?

Call me next time you needs belts. I can get them for you for about $ 60.00 or so. I would also change the belt at about 75 hours tops. It is just cheap insurance.

[Offshoredrillin]

even on my 500's I change them after the first start of every season. it seems sitting all winter in one position under tension, just cant be good for them. I don't use mercury either, for serpentine I use a gates equivalent...gates is the best period.

[Mentalpause]

Not that I would use this as an excuse to put off critical preventative maintenance, but at least with the Merc's the system will shut the motor down when it loses oil pressure, hopefully avoiding any damage. At least this was the case with the 600 SCI's when a factory installed filter backed off at speed a couple of seasons ago. At "only" $150, I would definitely replace the belts.

Yeah, I spun that filter off at 5000 RPM. It made quite a mess as all but 1 quart of oil left the engine in just a few seconds. Guardian kicked in immediately and shut everything down. Merc even sent a tech out to the factory to check everything out. Absolutely no issue.

That is one huge benefit of Merc. It would have smoked most other engines.