Valley Motorsports in Eagan, MN

Anybody have experience or opinions to share on this shop? I’ve been getting my outboard maintenance done at Supreme Marine in Mpls for the past few years. No complaints but it’s more than twice the distance from my home. Just bringing my kid to the Y in Eagan for a class this morning and passed this place on the way in, saw that they are an authorized Merc service center.

Thanks in advance!

I bought a gas tank, gas line and fitting from them for a 25hp Merc outboard this summer and had a mixed experience. It seems like they are more focused on their storage and repair business than they are in other things.

It took 3-4 trips to get gas to stop leaking even though it was all their parts. It also took a long time to get them to fix what seemed to be a very minor issue. Then when the fitting broke after only about two months (and a lot of tinkering on their end), they charged me for a new one.

That said, they were friendly and seemed knowledgeable.

Thanks for the feedback Dave. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Anybody else?

Been there once, they had what I needed. That’s about all the good I could say. They were very dis-interested in a small parts sale, but their parts selection is pretty decent and pricing wasn’t outrageous.

I remember when that building was Smitty’s (I believe that was the name?). My father would bring us there all the time to browse the weird military surplus items and other knickknacks he sold.

What maintenance do you have done, P2F?

To be honest, I find most outboard maintenance at dealers to be extremely overpriced for what’s involved. I could do yearly maintenance on my 2 stroke outboards in 30 minutes, 4 stroke machines take less than an hour including oil/filter change, lower unit lube change, grease, plug check, etc. There is also often a massive markup on the products used.

You can do your own routine maintenance easily if you invest in an hour or so of watching Youtube videos and asking questions.

Grouse

Thanks fellas.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

What maintenance do you have done, P2F?

To be honest, I find most outboard maintenance at dealers to be extremely overpriced for what’s involved. I could do yearly maintenance on my 2 stroke outboards in 30 minutes, 4 stroke machines take less than an hour including oil/filter change, lower unit lube change, grease, plug check, etc. There is also often a massive markup on the products used.

You can do your own routine maintenance easily if you invest in an hour or so of watching Youtube videos and asking questions.

Grouse

I don’t doubt that I could fog the cylinders, stabilize the fuel, change fuel filter, flush/fill the gearcase, check the plugs, etc. There are two main reasons I tend to let a shop handle it:

First is space. I’ve got a small unheated garage. My boat just barely fits in there with very little room to maneuver around the outboard. I suppose I could wait for a mild day and do it in the street.

Second is piece of mind; I’m still relatively new to this (on year 4, never owned a boat before this) — thinking they would be more likely to catch and alert me to any issues that need attention.

I have had a few things done there and got parts a few times and don’t have any complaints. After two trips I had full confidence it would be done and on time unlike a few other places I have been. I’m not sure this is all that different than other shops, but I would roughly know what you want before walking in as I felt like they were plenty willing to sell you more and they are not the cheapest when they get done.
As far as willing to help I have delt with the same desk person everytime in the last 3/4 years in person and on the phone and they will get another guy if the question is above their paygrade ( I’m guessing it’s a family relationship). Its been the same two over that period and I’ve always been fine with it. It’s not a place to browse, but they can typically order in a day or two.

I had them replace both front and rear burned-out live well pumps and a trim/tilt motor on my T8 this spring. It was a big bill, but I had priced the trim/tilt motor replacement at another marine dealer prior to the work being done – and they came in at the same price. They also took photos of the work they had performed while it was being done and went over them with me. I liked that.

Initially, I went there because my insurance adjuster (knocked a lower unit off) told me they were one of two marine shops in the metro he trusted to do that kind of work. I’ll use them in the future, when my #1 mechanic choice isn’t available.

My $.02….

I’ve been there a few times and I’ve been very satisfied with the service I’ve gotten. I have a 60 horse Merc and it’s good to have a Merc dealer in my back yard.

I needed a relay for the trim/tilt on my outboard, and before they let me out the door they talked over the troubleshooting I had done to make sure I had the right parts to fix the problem. They didn’t have to do that, and I appreciated them taking the time for me.

The second time was when I found water in my lower unit. The found the problem and rebuilt it, and had it back to me in time for some fall Walleye fishing on the river. Again their prices and service were fair and the motor is running fine.

I’ve bought small parts, oil, etc. from them too.

SR

I’ll echo the comments that many of the “desk” staff at shops around town should not be used as gauges for the quality of the mechanics in back.

Grouse-the parts mark up at all garages, car and boat drives me crazy-if you get a bill and they are itemizing to justify the total they should not try to say the part cost them 50 when it really cost them 10. Whatever you need to make money should be in the labor charge. Parts distributers already give a shop a discount so they can make a few extra bucks. Just seems dishonest.