Any E-Tec owners ....come talk me off the ledge!

[Joe21]

I heard theryre hit or miss I think the most important thing is to treat your fuel with some kind of ethanol treatment. The ethanol is giving me hell with my hpdi's 4k later and im still having problembs. This ethanol is bad and it will bond with water and stem clean the inside of your cyliders.

 

[davidsua04]

ethanol is a problem for all the manufactures. not just one of them so in that case, were all screwed. i work at a johnson, evinrude, merc, and yamaha dealership.

in regards with the 150 etec, GOOD LUCK......i have a 225 right now that needs a powerhead. another customer went through 2 lower units and 3 powerheads in 1 1/2 years and then sold it. trying not to scare you but ive seen alot of issues with them. injector problems and lower units are the biggest issues right now but they have gone with a bigger gear set in the lower unit that is suposed to fix their gearcase issues, so ive been told. injectors are still an issue. the blocks themselves are the same as ages ago back when it was evinrude/johnson and they seem to hold up ok if the injectors would stop failing. suzuki is the best "bang for the buck" NOT NECASSARILY the best in realiability though. they seem to have a problem with cylinder glazing (cylinder walls get a coating on them and the the engine wil not build the right compression, engine wont start), only seems to happen within the first 20-50 hrs so after that your ok. Verados (mercs) you cantr give me one!!! optimax seems to be holding its own and boosts the best fuel economy, period. if have ran the same boat with the 4 engines myself and the opti gets a hair better than the 4 strokes. yamaha 4-strokes and HPDI's seem to be the best. yamaha is unleashing a new 4-stroke thats going to smash it all though, 4-stroke naturally aspirated (no super or tubro charger) lighter than the 2-strokes on the market NOW, better holeshot than the HPDI, more top end torque. if you want to know what engnine is the most realible, go to a marina on the water and you will see 75% is yamaha.

im not a spokesperson for yamaha, its just the truth.... i wish you the best of luck on that ETEC, i just believe youll be saying what i hear about them, its in the shop more than its used.

there "3 year no maintance", read the fine print, if it goes in saltwater, they recommend a yearly schedule.

 

[rexwang]

i have a 96' evinrude 88 2 stroke. it hasnt let me down, yet, but im wondering why you chose to go with a 2 stroke vs a 4 stroke?

from what i see, hear, feel, my next motor is going to be a yammy 4 stroke. dont get me wrong my 'rude 88 is kick ass, but it can still get better.

 

[deeper thoughts]

I agree about Yamaha. I have the 250 4 stroke. It gets filled with 89 octane(10pct ethanol) and it runs like a charm

 

[davidsua04]

2 stroke by design is incredible over a 4 stroke. it will hit twice as many times as a 4-stroke. simply put it has an enormous amount of low end torque (needed to get on plane) where as the 4-strokes then you have to account for the weight. 2 reasons you WONT see a fourstoke on a bass boat. offshore rigs like fuel economy and the realibility of the 4-stroke. only real downfall is when that 4-stroke breaks------- $$$$$$ had a warranty 4-stroke leave today, over $10,000, had to put a new powerhead and various midsection parts on.

 

[mitsuguy]

hate to say it, but gotta echo the reports of issues with the E-tecs... we just got back a 60 hp Evinrude from the shop after a $4000 bill for a bent shaft... Said we overloaded it, but I'm not so sure how that works - 60 hp should push 60 hp worth of weight...

We also have a 75 hp E-tec sitting on a spare boat on the hard because the shop it was purchased from couldn't get it to run right either... good chance it needs a powerhead or injectors, but who the hell knows - for us, its easier and cheaper to buy new, especially after the expensive bill on the 60... When they do run though, they run great... We, too, got the shaft (literally) because we use them in commercial service... We also put about 1000 hrs a year on them.

We've had the best luck with the Tohatsu's, which are essentially Honda's... If I were to buy new (and it was my money), I would be buying a Honda outboard... The Tohatsu's we have probably have close to 8000 hours - at only 5 years old, because we had to use them more often than the newer E-Tecs that just sat waiting to get fixed... Both run beautifully - the 70 is a little tricky to get started, but once warm it runs amazingly...

 

[tbone1004]

Where I was working this summer is similar, had the Etec 75's and were putting bout 1000 hours on them a year. Great when they ran, but were a PITA to fix and expensive to boot... The Johnson 70hp's ran faster than they did most of the time. Other problem is the spark plugs are junk and there are no real aftermarket ones out there..