The Truth about Illmor

[Charley]

So, many of you may have heard that I had an issue with one of my MV-625's 5 hours into my new boat...Well earlier that day the other 32 in Havi as well as an eliminator also having an issue with their V-10s .... obviously this was not a good sign when 3 brand new boats lose a "common" motor in the same day :cry: . As it turns out, Illmor, like all other production engine Mfgrs got a bad batch of parts from a supplier ( I'm told, heat treatment on valve springs in this case) causing some serious failures across the board.
Well, someone smarter than me once said that character is not only based on how you act, but more importantly how you react. In my case, Illmor has gone above and beyond the call of duty to remedy my situation, and I just want to say thank you to Paul Ray and Ian Hawkins of Illmor for stepping up to the plate and showing me what Illmor is all about when the chips are down. Based on their actions, I have faith, that the reason I chose this package (reliability and power) will be reinstated very soon!
I also should give some credit to Dave and DCB, who after learning of the first MV10 going down Friday morning was on the phone with his shop and had a mechanic in route, in a truck, with a replacement viper engine within an hour and had the boat back on the water the following morning. Once again impressive service out of that camp, again showing me why my loyalty remains firm.
Thanks for looking at my lemons to lemonade post, See ya out there! :D

[welk2party]

Glad to hear a mfgr. stepping up!
I thought I saw them dropping Merc 1075's in Bob's boat at the factory....

[Jbb]

Noe if the customers could just learn how to spell the name.... :p J/K....

[Charley]

Glad to hear a mfgr. stepping up!
I thought I saw them dropping Merc 1075's in Bob's boat at the factory....
you may be right.... It may have been another eliminator... I'll re adjust the post... thanks

[dicudmore]

sorry about the motor probs Charley :(
Way to go in Ilmor's part

[NOTALENT]

Yup...I heard about this...I was told they had 4 breakd downs?? and 4 new Ilmors in the crate ready to be installed in these boats...thats awesome that they stepped up like that.

[ZBODaytona]

Only heard good things about Illmor. My buddy has one of the first 550 powered boats, and they still treat him great....he is the second owner too...

[TOBTEK]

all you hear is OVER THE TOP customer service about these people. Nice to see some biz's still care about their customers. Seems RARE these days.

[Dan Lorenze]

That's awesome..

[LHC30Victory]

Talked to Scott Conrad who also had a valvespring prob with one of the Spectre Ilmors.. They offered to send him a motor also...Cant wait to afford that type of customer service should I need it...

[soupersonic]

Noe if the customers could just learn how to spell the name.... :p J/K....
Were you saying something about spelling there big guy? :)

[burtandnancy]

Heard another positive about Illmor service today (Monday). Thats refreshing in todays world...

[Jbb]

Were you saying something about spelling there big guy? :)
Control test... :p ...took 2 hours for someone to notice...Brown is slipping...

[NashvilleBound]

When my first 625 went down they were all over it. Within a week I was back running. I had a small hickup last week and they sent me a new ECM.. 5 minute install and all is well. They even sent (first time) t-shirts oil change, fiter...stickers...all sorts of goodies. They have been great. Only have 5 hours on this one and all is good so far. We are all (Ilmor and I) are meeting at Lake Cumberland Marine next week to plug it in (just to make sure its producing the numbers) and do some high end prop testing.

[ThongMagnet]

This post needs a picture, so here is a damaged v-10 viper motor.

[killerv]

I find it real interesting about the Ilmor engines failing. Everybody seems to be so hot on these engines. Mercury racing to the top again. Tried and true

[SnakeWrench]

Another guy with one post. Sounds like someone hiding identity. Anyway, Ilmore is a great engine and their customer service, as well as Daves from DCB is absolutely outstanding. I seam to remember replacing a TON of 500 EFI and 525 valve seats. Did Merc racing send a guy out to change the engine and have a boat on the water the next day,NO WAY. They wouldn't authorize it then and won't now. Ilmore and DCB are class, all the way.

[killerv]

I have no problems with DCB at all. As Ilmore is a fairly new kid on the block they should react this way.

[SnakeWrench]

Agreed. But it's who continues to give that customer service that will win in the end.

[Charley]

I find it real interesting about the Ilmor engines failing. Everybody seems to be so hot on these engines. Mercury racing to the top again. Tried and true
As snakewrench eluded, mercury has had plenty of their own problems as well....Trust me, Illmor did things to remedy my situation that Mercury wouldn't have even considered. I will admit they are the new kids on the block, and have something to prove, but if this is any indication of what to expect on the service end, they will stay on my short list of future engine suppliers.

[Red Horse]

I would almost rather buy a motor that I know will have a few problems and the company stand behind it, treat you right to get it all worked out than buy something that is 80% proven and if there is a problem you are all alone!! :cool:
Sounds like they know how to start a customer base!

[OGShocker]

GREAT post, Charley!!!

[Jbb]

I find it real interesting about the Ilmor engines failing. Everybody seems to be so hot on these engines. Mercury racing to the top again. Tried and true
I have a friend that is a service tech at a Fountain dealership in Fla....there are more than enough Mercury failures out there as well....
Anyone.....that provides some competition in the market that Mercury all but monopolized,....is a great thing for the industry,...and the consumer....
tried and true....lol.... :p

[Blacksheep]

Glad to hear all the good props to Ilmor. Like many others, I had a sensor issue last summer with my 550. Ian was at my house the next day testing and fixing the problem (They are only a couple hours from my house). Those guys go way above and beyond to make their customers happy. Put that together with a great boat manufacture, in my case Ultra, and you have a winning combination!!

[Havasu Cig]

So, many of you may have heard that I had an issue with one of my MV-625's 5 hours into my new boat...Well earlier that day the other 32 in Havi as well as an eliminator also having an issue with their V-10s .... obviously this was not a good sign when 3 brand new boats lose a "common" motor in the same day :cry: . As it turns out, Illmor, like all other production engine Mfgrs got a bad batch of parts from a supplier ( I'm told, heat treatment on valve springs in this case) causing some serious failures across the board.
Well, someone smarter than me once said that character is not only based on how you act, but more importantly how you react. In my case, Illmor has gone above and beyond the call of duty to remedy my situation, and I just want to say thank you to Paul Ray and Ian Hawkins of Illmor for stepping up to the plate and showing me what Illmor is all about when the chips are down. Based on their actions, I have faith, that the reason I chose this package (reliability and power) will be reinstated very soon!
I also should give some credit to Dave and DCB, who after learning of the first MV10 going down Friday morning was on the phone with his shop and had a mechanic in route, in a truck, with a replacement viper engine within an hour and had the boat back on the water the following morning. Once again impressive service out of that camp, again showing me why my loyalty remains firm.
Thanks for looking at my lemons to lemonade post, See ya out there! :D
The power of the internet, gotta love it. You know there is no way in hell that would have happened 6-7 years ago. Congrats though Charley.

[Phat Matt]

E-ticket had a couple sitting in crates at the shop and gave them up to help whoever needed them out. Those weren't ready to be dropped in so they will get replaced. I think he should just drop them in my boat. :)
I heard one with twins make a pass at the sandbar this past weekend and they sounded awesome!

[steet]

Hi guys, I post a lot on the other boat sites, but I am a Ilmor owner for over 2 years and can tell you that there is no other manufacturer out there today that will give you the customer service of Ilmor. I found out about the Ilmor problem from the factory this week. They said they had about a dozen engines out there with bad valve springs and they were all over it. They said that they are sending out replacement engines for the ones that broke and for the couple that they suspect may have bad springs they are sending out their field techs to change them out. I too was a bonafide Mercury guy, but when I had problems then I was down until the matter was resolved and it was not quickly. I would bet that every Ilmor owner out there will tell the same story. Congratulations to a top notch company

[Charley]

Hi guys, I post a lot on the other boat sites, but I am a Ilmor owner for over 2 years and can tell you that there is no other manufacturer out there today that will give you the customer service of Ilmor. I found out about the Ilmor problem from the factory this week. They said they had about a dozen engines out there with bad valve springs and they were all over it. They said that they are sending out replacement engines for the ones that broke and for the couple that they suspect may have bad springs they are sending out their field techs to change them out. I too was a bonafide Mercury guy, but when I had problems then I was down until the matter was resolved and it was not quickly. I would bet that every Ilmor owner out there will tell the same story. Congratulations to a top notch company
Thank you for posting, this gives me even more confidence.

[XFactor]

I find it real interesting about the Ilmor engines failing. Everybody seems to be so hot on these engines. Mercury racing to the top again. Tried and true
Tried and true?? I've had Merc outboards for 20+ years. Had my fair share of problems on new and used motors. My last Merc outboards were just that. MY LAST!! Had twin 300x's on a DCB. I blew a powerhead at 45mph with less than a 100hrs on the motor. It took approx 12-15 calls and several emails to finally contact someone at Merc that was willing to talk about the issue. After explaining what had occured and having them talk with the repair shop, they admitted it was likely a faulty engine related problem. At this point the boats been under repair for 2 months and is almost complete. I finish the repairs, pay in full and request Merc to assist with the costs. I felt confident with my purchase history (20+ years) and them admitting it was likely a faulty engine, Merc would step up and back up their product. This is what they offered.......$900 credit towards Merc products at the repair shop. That's on a $7200 repair. WOW. Now that's standing behind your products.
I had a brief conversation with Dave at DCB during this incident. Daves response..........Let me know if there's ANYTHING I can do to help. It wasn't a DCB problem. Why would I burden Dave?
I'll definetly buy a DCB again. In fact I have one on order. NEVER would I consider Mercury for power. Hearing Charlies story makes me confident I made the right choice to power with Ilmors.
Mercury.......Tried and True! Yea right. :mad: :220v: :mad: :220v: :mad:

[Tom Brown]

...Brown is slipping...
... on a substance that behooves science to identify.

[Havasu Cig]

Tried and true?? I've had Merc outboards for 20+ years. Had my fair share of problems on new and used motors. My last Merc outboards were just that. MY LAST!! Had twin 300x's on a DCB. I blew a powerhead at 45mph with less than a 100hrs on the motor. It took approx 12-15 calls and several emails to finally contact someone at Merc that was willing to talk about the issue. After explaining what had occured and having them talk with the repair shop, they admitted it was likely a faulty engine related problem. At this point the boats been under repair for 2 months and is almost complete. I finish the repairs, pay in full and request Merc to assist with the costs. I felt confident with my purchase history (20+ years) and them admitting it was likely a faulty engine, Merc would step up and back up their product. This is what they offered.......$900 credit towards Merc products at the repair shop. That's on a $7200 repair. WOW. Now that's standing behind your products.
I had a brief conversation with Dave at DCB during this incident. Daves response..........Let me know if there's ANYTHING I can do to help. It wasn't a DCB problem. Why would I burden Dave?
I'll definetly buy a DCB again. In fact I have one on order. NEVER would I consider Mercury for power. Hearing Charlies story makes me confident I made the right choice to power with Ilmors.
Mercury.......Tried and True! Yea right. :mad: :220v: :mad: :220v: :mad:
I have owned 2.5's on my DCB, 500 EFI's in my Cig, and Now 300x's on the Skater and the only motors I had problems with were the 2.5's. THe 500's were totally bullet proof. So far the X's have been great motors as well. I was pretty down on Merc after the 2.5's, but I have to admit they do build some very good motors. Nobody else is putting the technology on the water that Merc is, and their race and speed records speak for themselves. As far as Dave getting involved, I think it is a dealers responsibilty to get involved if they sold you the motors. Being a dealer Dave has a lot more juice than you do with Merc, or any other companies in the boating world. Scot Conrad always stepped to the plate for me when I had a problem, and was more effective at getting stuff resolved because of the juice that he has.

[NashvilleBound]

Ilmor just shipped me a new ECM. I put it in yesterday then headed to lake..... AMAZING difference!! My vote it still for the Ilmor.

[Wake Havasu]

Awesome to hear of such service.
This is why DCBs are so highly regarded.
When I get all my hair plugs done I hope to get a F-26.

[SUBPRIME]

does anyone know off the top of thier heads what's the going price (roughly) for the ilmore packages?
and another ? what would the labor run to have one of these installed in a boat someone already has?

[Charley]

does anyone know off the top of thier heads what's the going price (roughly) for the ilmore packages?
and another ? what would the labor run to have one of these installed in a boat someone already has?
keep in mind it's a 10cyl so it is a little deeper.... it is also a closed cooling system so if the original motor was not plumbed for such there will be some fees there. As far as purchasing a motor Teague is the North American distributor.... Good luck

[mbrown2]

Good to hear the service has been good with Illmor's....hopefully it will continue that way. Merc did me right even when I blew a powerhead outside of the warranty period.