Any Opinions on the Evinrude E-Tec Engines

[mneptune]

Currently have Yamaha on my boat. Runs great but only single engine. Would like to put on new twins. Just looking for opinions on these engines prior to deciding to stick with Yamaha or try the E-Tecs.

Looking for opinions from owners, not "a know a friend who knew a friend" stories....


Thanks

[bajakian]

I'm not an owner but my next door neighbor has three ETEC on the back of his 35 Triton and has had to replace (under warranty) all three power heads and lower units FWIW. Good luck.

[jerry]

i repowered my 35 contender 2 years (approx 300 hours) ago with 250 etecs.
They have run almost flawlessly since I have had them. The only issues i had at the beginning is they were eating plugs for breakfast. There was fix for that and have had no issues since. i have found a 15% increase in fuel efficiency, really sips the oil, especially the xd100, no smoke, smooth power.
Quite a few boats have repowered here in jamaica with etec's and I have heard no one voice any regrets.
My personal opinion, they all make great engines. (yam, merc, evinrudes etc etc) Yes and some will have problems. The major consideration is your dealer and what his service level will be like. For a great dealer I would go with any of the major brands.

[mneptune]

Thanks Jerry,

Someone told me that they did foul alot of plugs in the beginning but software changes were made to the module that corrected it. But repowering is never cheap and I want to get as many responses as possible before plunking down the cash.

Thanks for your input.

[Knot Proper]

I run twin 150 yamahas and have truly enjoyed the durability and dependability. the only issue in 300 hours is one little 20 amp fuse on the port side engine. Fixed in 3 minutes. I sell the evinrudes and must say we have had some powerhead issues on our tournament boat which has trip 250's. I must say they have nice midrange push.

[jerry]

it was something called a deflector pin. still not sure what they actually do but each plug has one. the fix was instalation of longer pins. i agree, repowering is very expensive, take your time and above all make sure you are happy with the decision and remember, any brand engine is only as good as the service dealer.

[pelagic predator]

Go with yamaha four strokes!!!!

[Muddog]

Well yamahas are good nd but I only run with evinrude. The E-Tecs have a higher torch then the new 4 strokes. Just my opinon I would go with the E-TECS I have know and heard a lot of good things about them.

[lopezmj10]

You should really consider Suzuki 4 strokes. I used to run Yamaha's exclusively & they are phenomenol engines, but then i water tested twin Suzuki 250's against a boat with twin Yamaha 250's & was blown away. I'm on my second boat with Suzuki's & I love 'em. But if you have to decide between e-tecs & yamaha 4 stroke go with 4 stroke.

[tales]

I've had twin 225's for two years now. Had issues out of the box with both engines. Bad powerhead on one and overheating issues on the other ( for almost a year). My opinion is that there are very few mechanics that truly know how to work on these engines. The other problem is BRP will not issue the computer program to the dealers in order to test the powerheads. They have to be pulled and sent to their factory - time consuming.

You would not want to build a company modeled after BRP's customer Service. Not once, after all the problems I had, did I receive a phone call, e-mail, or letter checking on my status. This is after I spoke numerous times with the gentleman in charge of North American Sales. That's how far up the chain I went.

On the positive side. The engines are very powerful and fuel efficient. Although there oil is not cheap, it does burns rather slowly.

[mneptune]

Thanks Tales,

Scares me to hear that people are having problems with these engines "out of the box" with little or no support from the manufacturer. I was hopeing that the engines were as good as their marketing and advertising campaign. I guess time will tell.

I would still like to hear from other owners as well before plunking down alot of money, so your responses are very much appreciated, thank you to those that responded and any others that will continue to chime in.

[Knot Proper]

I just got back from the Wellcraft Dealer meeting, Our company cancled all E-tec orders for the 2008 year. Also the new 300 Verado's are bad to the bone. And I was impressed as well with the Yamaha 350's

[Beer Bones]

I have had a 150 E-Tec for about a year and it is a wonderful outboard. No issues whatsoever, power is great, sips fuel and oil. No complaints whatsoever! LOVE IT!