What About My Engine?
The month and year of engine manufacture can usually be found on a sticker near the engine's serial number.
The Coast Guard has no model-year regulations for outboard engines, making it harder for consumers to determine the year in which they were built. In 2007, Yamaha stopped designating model years for its outboard engines entirely. Though the reasoning is sound, it creates a challenge for consumers.
Unlike cars, in which engines are built into the product, a selection of engines usually can be fitted on outboard boats. Dealers have struggled for years to make sure that the engines bought from an engine manufacturer during one year get sold that same year on new boats.
If a boat on the showroom floor comes with a 200-hp engine but a buyer wants a 250-hp engine, the dealer may have to order the bigger engine and keep the smaller one in stock. If it takes a couple of years to finally sell that 200-hp engine, a buyer may be reluctant to buy it if the model year isn't current, and the dealer may have to subsequently discount it. Buyers typically want a 2018 engine, for example, on their 2018 boat.
Eliminating the model year solves the problem for the manufacturer and dealer but can be confusing for buyers. Other outboard manufacturers, including Mercury and Honda, adopted Yamaha's practice, and most outboard engines today don't have model-year designations. Outboard manufacturers say that until they make a significant change to an engine, the year it was built is irrelevant. While that's true, buyers are concerned that if there's no model-year designation, they don't know if they're getting the newest technology.
Fortunately, there's still a way to determine when an outboard was built. After discontinuing model years, engine manufacturers replaced the model-year designator on the engine's serial number with a code that signifies an "era" in which all engines are supposed to be the same, with similar upgrades. Consumers, however, are concerned that with computer controls, mechanically identical engines could have electronic updates applied to a batch of similar models, and earlier ones might not benefit.
What's considered an upgrade? In the end, the engine manufacturer gets to decide what it is and when there's enough of one to create a new model. Fortunately, dealers usually know which engines in their stock have the most current changes, and you should ask before buying.