Your Evinrude E-Tech experience

[phatdaddy]

striper, did i read that correct, you bought a 12 old used motor, replaced the vro pump yourself ( with a oem part). motor took a dump and brp replaced the power head & vro at no cost to you.

not doubting you at all, but that is the most amazing warranty story i have ever heard.

[Striper80]

Originally Posted by phatdaddy

striper, did i read that correct, you bought a 12 old used motor, replaced the vro pump yourself ( with a oem part). motor took a dump and brp replaced the power head & vro at no cost to you.

not doubting you at all, but that is the most amazing warranty story i have ever heard.

They had a run of bad pumps. There was 2 other people that it happened to around the same time as well. I still have the engine, it s
Managed to survive Sandy. I was looking for a V 20 to hang it on but was unsuccessful, that's how I wound up with the POS Grady.

[spareparts]

no one sells E-Tecs around here. Admittedly, this is Yamaha country. Yamaha has always gone after the independant boat companies(although they own a couple) and there are a lot of independant boat companies manufactured here in SC. There were a couple of dealers that suffered thru the OMC/Bomb buy out, and suffered thru FICHT/RAMFICT/E-TEC. But every one of these dealers around here bailed on the product. There were a lot of issues(just about every company has issues), but the volume of sales didn't justify the problems. There is only one dealer in this area that services E-Tecs. There are 10 Yamaha dealers and 6 Mercury dealers(one Honda and one Suzuki). Personally, I'd say there have been some engines that OMC has built over the years that have been pretty good(carb 2 stroke<150 hp) and I'll put them up against most of anything out there. But in my opinion, the V6 engine family from OMC/Bomb has not been one of the better series. As far as the newer engines goes, at that type of money investment, I wouldn't take any chances on a product I had questions about, I'd go mainstream(Yamaha). Keep in mind, I work on all kinds of engines, outboard, Inboard, I/O, gas and diesel. I've been doing it for 30 years and held a master certification in more than one manufacture. I just haven't seen anything on the E-Tecs that would warrant me to buy one over a Yamaha or Merc. If you look at areas that have a popular E-TEC customer base, you'll notice most of them are in colder climate, usually fresh water, IE:shorter season, less corrosion. The people I know that have bought E-TECS have made their decision mainly on price difference. There are not enough of them around here to really form a good opinion. In over 1500 drystack slips in the tri county area, I can point out less than 10 E-Tecs, at the recent local boat show(over 1000 boats) there were three E-TECs on display. They may make a good engine, but they have their work cut out for them to gain market share. Their recent redesign didn't help them much

[bgreene]

I have a 2005 ETEC 200 HO - first year produced, and can report this.......

This is one smooth and refined 2 stroke engine. It starts instantly every time, cold or warm weather, no smoke, no shake, just a smooth quiet idle. It hardly cranks, just snaps to life, even when cold - with weather in the 30's.
The performance is fantastic through the rpms, considerably quieter than Mercury Optimax, and I believe quieter than the Yami's except for the 4 strokes.
Uses less fuel and oil than my old 150 hp.
Service - 300 hours needing NOTHING. New out of the box - WOT allowable, no break in period required.
This is 2 stroke technology taken way down stream from the original 2 strokes.

Fact is, when Bombardier bought out OMC, they fixed the mess, with a new production plant, quality systems, and built the DFI from around 2002 - 2005. I had one of these, very good engine. Meanwhile, they worked on the next generation, which became the ETEC. Now, Bombardier has launched the G2........next generation with even more refinement.

[bigshrimpin]

I've been on 2 different boats where 250 Fichts went down hard (rod through the block in both cases). Etec design isn't too much different from those 2003/4 bombardier fichts . . . I rather have a simple carb 2 stroke than a DI motor. New plugs every 70 - 80 hours and expensive oil $40/gallon eats up most of the fuel savings.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by bigshrimpin

I've been on 2 different boats where 250 Fichts went down hard (rod through the block in both cases). Etec design isn't too much different from those 2003/4 bombardier fichts . . . I rather have a simple carb 2 stroke than a DI motor. New plugs every 70 - 80 hours and expensive oil $40/gallon eats up most of the fuel savings.

The 2003/4 engines weren't that bad. Those were still FICHT engines, but had the bugs worked out by BRP. BRp didn't call them FICHTS though, but instead FICHT RAMS or DFI's. ETEC was simply a redesign of the FICHT technology. It was the 97-00 150/175 that had the most issues. The 200+ had lower unit problems until around late 01 or 02 when they came out with the new lower unit(when they upped the displacement in 01, it made it MUCH worse and neccesetated the need for the improved lowers). Personally I don't think all the FICHTS were bad, but until 01 they had quite a few quality control issues. Still today the best milage from a 2 stroke was from the early FICHTS(and yes, they were MUCh better than the ETECS that replaced them, and eeked out the OPTIMAX in MPG as well). Unfortunately they never could overcome the bad stigma that the 97-00 150/175's gave the FICHT never could be overcome. So BRP had the foresight to rename them ETECS to get beyond the FICHT stigma.

With all that said, I still would not own one. I can buy ALOT of gas for what an EMM costs.

[bgreene]

Therm's got it in more detail.....

I've had Evinrude carb, DFI, and ETEC so reasonably qualified to comment.

Those OMC ficht's had some serious issues, and from what I've read, nearly ended the company.
Bombardier cleaned it up, and it's been good from there. My DFI was an 04' 200 hp and good till I sold it with the Mako boat. Now the Etec is even more refined.

Loyalty among outboard brands runs strong. Now Merc, Yami, and Evinrude offer very good engines. Each of these companies had some DOGS - early Merc Opti's, Yami corrosion.