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Random Quote: If I wanted your opinion I would have given it to you
my 90 e-tec (2005) blew a powerhead at 37 hours. they say the engine ran for 29 minutes without oil. the no oil alarm went off once, i checked the oil tank and there was plenty of oil. and then the alarm never went off again. i was told that air bubbles can form in the oil line if you have low oil and tilt the engine up. when you tilt it back down, an air bubble can form in the oil line. no one claimed that this is what caused the powerhead failure though. has anyone else had an e-tec powerhead failure? and if so, what was the reason? also, i have been using the xd-100 oil and the engine is porperly set-up. it also used way more oil than they claimed it would. in the 37 hours of use, i filled the oil tank three times. it blew in the beginning of the third oil tank. i just got the boat back and after running it for approx. 2 hrs, the no oil alarm went off again. this time i brought the boat back to the mechanic. they river tested it and had no alarms go off. i had one oif the first ficht 150 engines which blew three powerheads in three months. i hope that i am not going to get burned again......
Did you say you had a 150 ficht and now you came back for more?? I also had the fitch 150 a 2001 ran 11 hr. I made them take it back and mount a mercury optimax salt/water just a swap as the boat was out of the water 3 weeks and i have had 3 years of care free boating I wish you luck with there service people
If you have a system with two components, each with a 90% reliability, the overall reliability of your system is .9 X .9 or 81%. Add three more components and the system reliability is about 60%.
I wonder about this often on the 50 ignition/fuel components on my 150 HPDI versus my old, less complex 88hp premix OMC.
yea, my dealer took the ficht back and i never paid a dime for it. i went to merc. optimax after that and have had a few problems here and there, but i put 300+ hours per year on the engines. i have had bad luck with all the mercury service in my area so i went with a brand where i trusted the service dept. i probably should have gotten the yammy 90, but oh well. i absolutely love how the e-tec performs. i am just hoping that all will be well now.
There are failures in every motor. Many usually happen in the early stages of run hours. From what I've read about the Bomb and another failure, you're going to be taken care of. If your experience turns out to be different, then by all means post and let people know.
An air bubble in the line caused by the description you gave would not blow an engine. The micro-second of no oil as the air made its way through the pump would hardly be enough. Sorry, but sounds like you have a rigging problem. They can download the code to see that the alarm went off. No need to river test it. I would look for the factory rep to come out real fast. New power head and it does it again in 2 hours. I think your engine is good and your mechanic is defective.
I can say this about Bomb. service. This past summer I blew a 02 225 evinrude powerhead. A connecting rod broke thru the crank casing. The rod never came loose but somehow it knocked the side of the crank and blew out a chunck of metal the size of a half dollar. I ran that engine all the way back in for 1.5 hours. Ran like a top. The engine was still under warranty. I bought the extended. In 8 days i was back in the water with a brand new powerhead. Of course the dealer had a lot to do with this as well. Good customer service if you ask me. You better stay on your mechanic.*
fishcall - 2/2/2005 11:29 AM my 90 e-tec (2005) blew a powerhead at 37 hours. they say the engine ran for 29 minutes without oil. the no oil alarm went off once, i checked the oil tank and there was plenty of oil. and then the alarm never went off again. i was told that air bubbles can form in the oil line if you have low oil and tilt the engine up. when you tilt it back down, an air bubble can form in the oil line. no one claimed that this is what caused the powerhead failure though. has anyone else had an e-tec powerhead failure? and if so, what was the reason? also, i have been using the xd-100 oil and the engine is porperly set-up. it also used way more oil than they claimed it would. in the 37 hours of use, i filled the oil tank three times. it blew in the beginning of the third oil tank. i just got the boat back and after running it for approx. 2 hrs, the no oil alarm went off again. this time i brought the boat back to the mechanic. they river tested it and had no alarms go off. i had one oif the first ficht 150 engines which blew three powerheads in three months. i hope that i am not going to get burned again......
Did your engine go into( safe )while running with no oil? did you have a code 38 if so how many times? if you are running in a cold climate there has been a recall on some of the xd 100 i believe it is july04 and prior
I have a 90 that I have been running since last April. Don't know my exact hours but I'm sure its way more than 37. Anyway, my engine has only used about 1 gal. of xd-100 so far so if you've gone through 3 tankfuls it does seem like a little much. Mine has been flawless. Hopefully your service guys are competent b/c I know that they are supposed to go to a school/class to be qualified to work on these engines properly. Once they get this corrected, you'll be fine. Yours is actually the first one that I've heard(at least online) of having a major problem. I'd be pretty confident that Bombs will get this right for you.
Fishcall, Thanks for posting your experiance, keep up us to date if you will on how it all turns out. I have my eyes on a new e-tec and I'm still leaning that way but informed decisions are what the net is all about. I won't let one bad experiance sway me but I'll have my ears open.
As far as rigging goes, well perhaps, and then again perhaps not! I would say it's way too early to make that assumption. I clearly remember when the HPDI's started dropping like flies every one jumped on the "Improper Dealer set-up" band wagon. Now low and behold Yammi has an extensive modification kit that is getting installed to fix things.... so much for it being the dealers fault.
Anyway, law of averages says there will be a bad system make it through once in awhile no matter whose sticker is on the side. If I understood correctly that the new powerhead has also generated an alarm already I would insist the entire system be replaced since is appears to not be powerhead related.
Good luck. Walk softly and carry a big stick and you'll be back on the water with this as only a distant memory soon!
Fishcall, sorry to hear about your dilema. Everything that I have read about these E-tec engines has been very positive. Even "Power Boat Reports" wrote a positive review. They are still in the process of testing and evaluating these engines. Anyway, let's just hope that this is an isolated incident and that your problem gets solved. I also agree that you should check out the mechanic working on the engine and make sure that he (they) are indeed trained regarding repair of these engines. Good luck!
Hey there, sorry to her about your engine. But I work on Evinrudes myself and it sounds like the rigger/mechanic cut some corners, before we ship out any E-tecs on boats we go through a 2-page checklist to make sure everything is good. From what you said it sounds to me like the mechanic didnt hook the computer up and purge the oil lines and check % ratings. Bomb motors go through double oiling usually the first 5-10 hours. But that still doesnt explain why you would go through 3+ gallons of oil, another thing is, you said you were using XD-100 oil, I seriously doubt the mechanic set the engine for XD-100 oil usage.
E-tecs can use XD-100 OR XD-50 but they must be programmed by the dealer to accept either kind of oil. It really Sounds to me like the mechanic didnt take use the checklist bomb gave him. Also, E-tecs can run at idle with NO oil, so you can creep back to the dock. You have a good motor just not a good mechanic.
fishcall first off all makes of engines are going to have problems ..i have seen every make of engine with a blow power head.i have personally experianced this with 2 of the 4 yamaha's i currently own .
something does not sound right with your engine because there is no way you should have run through 1 tank of oil much less 3 tamks of oil at 37 hrs.(even with double oiling on the first 5 to ten hrs.i may be wrong but it sounds like a rigging error to me also.so far the e-tec's have proven very reliable.i am sure the will have you up & running soon.good luck & keep us posted good or bad .
E-tec 90hp powerhead failure at 37 hours 
