TOPIC: Fuel economy with a '76 mercruiser 140

Guys, what kinda gas mileage if you will, would be the norm on this engine in a 19' boat?? 10 gal a day at 1/2 throttle?

So hard to say without knowing what boat and load your moving. Personal experience with a 140 OMC installed in a 16' runabout was 6 gph at 25mph and 16.5 gph at WOT

Al, it's on a 19' 76 AristoCraft 19. Are you saying a 140 hp will burn 6 gallons of gas per hour at 25 mph and 16.5 gallons in one hour wide open?!! Here's a pic of what I'm thinking about getting.

Nice looking boat! Is that the new one?

Don't know yet,but I'm hoping it pans out. Got some other things to work out first. Haven't had a chance yet to go check it out. Wanting something a little bigger,newer, easier on fuel and ride a little softer. And for some reason,I'm really liking the blue hull.

Jim L wrote:

Al, it's on a 19' 76 AristoCraft 19. Are you saying a 140 hp will burn 6 gallons of gas per hour at 25 mph and 16.5 gallons in one hour wide open?!! Here's a pic of what I'm thinking about getting.

Yep about 6 Gallons per hour at cruise and more than double at WOT. My "good" boat is a 2000 model Regal 1800LSR with a 4.3l V6 it is considered to be very economical due to it's hull design and it uses 11 gph at 30mph and 30 gph at WOT approaching 60mph with a stainless prop. On the other hand my 1960 Glass magic cruiser with a 1961 V4 75 Hp Evinrude uses 6 gph at 20 mpg and 10 gph at WOT which sucks with a 6 gal tank!

Al, my 62 johnson 75 hp will use 6 gal per hr at 30 mph. If I push it wot (34-35 mph), it will go through 6 gal in 45 min. Backing it off to 20 mph will run it prolly an hr and 30 min approx. per 6 gal tank . WOW,I might need to rethink an "economical" 4cyl I/O.My old 62 v-4 doesn't sound too bad on gas now!

Jim L wrote:

My old 62 v-4 doesn't sound too bad on gas now!

I heard that Jim! People are always knocking the Ole V4 OMC motors as gas hogs, but when you compare actual numbers they really aren't that bad IMHO.

check out the evinrude motor sec in the library...there's a factory service flyer from 1966 that I sent in years ago on how to squeeze a little more gph out of those old girls...john

redfishpirates wrote:

check out the evinrude motor sec in the library...there's a factory service flyer from 1966 that I sent in years ago on how to squeeze a little more gph out of those old girls...john

Thanks John for the heads up on the bulletin. I remember when I was a kid with my Dad in the aristocraft at the lake telling me to do the exact same thing. Great memories. jim

Those Mercruiser fuel figures are a shock to me. I had an OMC V6 on an 18 foot Galaxie for years. It had an hour meter so I kept a record of my GPH. Best was usually in the 2 GPH range, and the worst was 3.3 GPH. Those were figures taken at fill-up time and represented a cross section of plenty of fast running as well as slow stuff like trolling. The V6 was rated, I believe, at 160 hp so once on plane I usually ran at 60-80% throttle unless we were tubing or water skiing. I never realized how good the motor was doing on fuel!