newbe need advice

[cbereswill]

Hi guys, Im new to out boards as I've had a inboard jet for the last 20 years.
I'm looking at a 1993 stratos pro 201 xl in good condition. It has a 1993 200 Evinrude V6 3.0 finger port special edition. The boat is clean and seems to be solid. My concern is the compression. top 4 are at 100psi. bottom 2 are at 97.
Am I correct in thinking the psi should be 115 or higher? The 3 psi diff is ok, just worried about how soon i'll have to rebuild it. Thanks in advance for your input.
Chris

[Joe Reeves]

In the past, the compression on a V6 would be well over 100... BUT... back somewhere in the 1980's the compression was lowered to compensate for the lower quality of fuel.

This, coupled with the newer design of the engines resulted in the starboard bank being slightly higher than the port bank.

The usual compression found in new and well kept engines would be 95 psi on the starboard bank and 90 psi on the port bank.

It's a possibility that the difference in the readings you received between the upper 4 and lower 2 cylinders (1 ea bank) might be due to a difference in fuel mixture coating the rings, cylinder walls, etc... not a certainty of course but something you could look into.

If the lower carburetors were slightly fouled, that would result in a lean running condition that could have affected those two cylinders. If after running a bit, the compression doesn't even out as mentioned, I'd suggest removing the cylinder heads for an inspection.