The ETEC myth

[bugman]

Well this could start something and I might be getting ahead of myself here but here is what I've found.

You may recall an earlier post this week about a little ski boat I've been looking at - a bullet 1750 with a big 200 Merc race motor on the back. Over discussions with mates consideration was given to making it more family friendly and swapping out the big merc for a more fuel efficient motor. I'm a four stroke fan - I own 3. But I can understand the benefit of a 115 Etec or 150 Etec on the back for punch power in this situation.

So I've read a few posts and trolled websites looking for these cheap second hand Etec motors out there that no dealers want to touch as trade ins - that people can't sell privately - that nobody wants etc etc .... and guess what.

Yep - bugger all around and what are around are bloody dear - even in the States.

So either they blow-up completely and there's nothing to sell, people love them and don't get rid of them - or they're that popular as second hand motors that people snap them up quick and pay high prices.

Either way - a myth I held has been shattered.

Brett

[Lucky_Phill]

Thanks Brett, I am sure there will be some " interesting " responses from the ETEC Mythbusters club ??? !!

Is this a thread to be-bunk Myths or just a ETEC appreciation thread, as I have several myths that need " testing ". ?

BTW......... Ever noticed how NO ONE has ever pooh poohed a Honda ????? :) :) :)

FWIW.......... ski boats that run a V8 inboard are more fuel efficient and sound a lot better than a screaming rice burner.. just saying :).

My ski machine... from years ago. 350 chev..mid mount.

cheers

[cobiaman]

BTW......... Ever noticed how NO ONE has ever pooh poohed a Honda ????? :) :) :)



Thats because you delete all the threads that do, just sayin...

[Muddy Toes]

BTW......... Ever noticed how NO ONE has ever pooh poohed a Honda ????? :) :) :)



cheers

Obviously in your own little world at Straddie when the rest of us were talking about the 875hp of greatness.

[Shark Poker]

Hello Bugman,
I am in no position to back up my observation with any real evidence, but if a myth of readily available 2nd hand Etecs were busted it might come from another point of view:

A dealer has to trade in a used motor at a price low enough to allow for repair/service, a decent selling margin, plus any bloody warranty (!) and still be able to advertise that motor at a price that is attractive to a buyer - AND this is while offering to trade that motor in at a price HIGH enough to encourage the new sale that the trade-in relates to.
Hard reading? Well it is hard work as well.

But this situation with Etecs apparently suffering breakdowns gives the dealers a chance to blame someone else and make their trade offers quite low, so that the changeover pressure is reduced on their part and put back on to the owner of the engine.
And it is the low or no trade in prices that seem to be making the noise - not the other costs.

Further, Second Hand outboards have always been hard to get unless you are hooked up with those who trade them. This is despite new hi tech products being released and being sold - where you would expect a bunch of trade-ins to be available.
And it has long been observed that many people spend heaps on old or existing motors rather than 'dump' and replace them.
A local etec dealer told me that the etec trades ins and broken engines were going to the outboard wreckers... not that any numbers of motors was mentioned.
So that might be a place to try - the wreckers.
Cheers,
Pauly

[NAGG]

I reckon I know a bloke who would happily unbolt a 115HO off his skeeta - what are you expecting to pay for a 5YO motor

Chris

[royslaven]

Hey muddy, welcome back, cheers , roy.

[Jakers 69]

Got a mate with a 150 E that he would love to sell urgently, 2 1/2 yrs old around 300hrs on it.

[Nicko_Cairns]

Well I had a lemon of an old Yammie, 85hp and cost me stacks on different things going wrong. I've had a 75 E-tec for a few years now and never had a drama with it. Great motor.

I must say though that the claimed 300 hours of no servicing is bullshit according to several marine mechanics I spoke to, so I made sure it was serviced just after I got it (with 75 hours on it I think?).

Spark plugs are expensive but I haven't compared them to any other motors. It runs nice and quietly and fuel economy is great.

I've heard a fair few stories from people about how bad E-tecs are but when you ask them to tell you who had a bad E-tec it was always "a mate of a mate".

I think some mechanics are annoyed that you need some special E-tec software to do the hooked up problem finding, but I've been taking mine to a guy without that stuff for simple servicing and haven't had a drama.

It's like guys with Polycraft cracking stories, I've only ever seen photos of one Poly with a crack in it, and that was plastic welded and fixed without a drama after they finished the fishing trip with the crack.

Ok flame away IF you've owned a poly with a crack in it, or IF you have owned an E-tec and it was shit.

Cheers.

[bugman]

Nagg - I havn't bought the boat yet ... as I said I didn't want to get ahead of myself here .. it was just a comment on the research I'd done over the last few days.

[lucee81]

BTW......... Ever noticed how NO ONE has ever pooh poohed a Honda ????? :) :) :)


cheers[/QUOTE]

they don't need to, they pooh pooh themselves...

[stevej]

go look round the wrecking yards for them maybe

i know 3 people that have tried to get a cheap motor by buying a etec to repair,either submerged or not working in some fashion
all gave up and on sold as parts

the parts are hideously expensive and the software uploading can only be done by dealers

[hilta1]

Id be interested in the 150 if you could send me his contact details please mate, Cheers

[bugman]

Thanks Brett, I am sure there will be some " interesting " responses from the ETEC Mythbusters club ??? !!

Is this a thread to be-bunk Myths or just a ETEC appreciation thread, as I have several myths that need " testing ". ?

BTW......... Ever noticed how NO ONE has ever pooh poohed a Honda ????? :) :) :)

FWIW.......... ski boats that run a V8 inboard are more fuel efficient and sound a lot better than a screaming rice burner.. just saying :).

My ski machine... from years ago. 350 chev..mid mount.

cheers

Nice Boat !!!!

[Chimo]

Brett

The marine tech who looks after my OMC 115s from time time has second hand Etecs etc for sale> Maybe he could assist?

Cheers
Chimo

PS How is the river bank episode........ ?

[Still_Dreamin]

As I have said in a recent post. Honda, Yamaha dealer wouldn't trade. Suzuki dealer who also sold ETEC offered me a changeover price of 11100 on a 115hp Suzuki which had a list price of 15500. 4400 for a year old 90hp ETEC with 60hrs and had annual service done. Why would I trade it in?? May as well keep it until it expires however long it takes. I would have thought around 9k would have been reasonable but as I have said previously I was naive. Maybe others are in the same boat, not worth anything as a trade so they keep it and realise that they aren't as bad as every "expert" makes out

[bugman]

Brett

The marine tech who looks after my OMC 115s from time time has second hand Etecs etc for sale> Maybe he could assist?

Cheers
Chimo

PS How is the river bank episode........ ?

Thanks Peter .. I've still got to buy the boat yet and in all honesty it would be pretty cool to scream up and down the river at 100kph for a while.

As for the riverbank - only about 3-4 weeks to go. I've been thinking for a while I need to update the post. Front wall completed and back wall started this week. Guess how many tonne of rock so far !!!

[Spaniard_King]

2 :) :) :)

[bugman]

2 :) :) :)

Closing in on 700 tonne with more to come . About time your back by the way.

[Chimo]

Total needed probably around the 850 to 900 tonne mark at a guess.

Maybe he would sell you his ski / race boat too...............:-*

[wirlybird]

I have a mate down the road who blew the injector so he thought he would buy the software and cable to help diagnose his issue and purchase the correct injector. The software worked great and identified the issue strait away. Number 4 injector was taken out and replaced with the new one we then received a prompt to enter the dealer number and password so we could pair the injector with the ECU????? we don’t have that so he called up wynnum marine to see if they would be able to plug in and do it for us the rude response was $400 for that. The boat has sat there for 6 months ever since.

[Fed]

It seems I know sfa about this injector stuff I thought if you had a broken one you just put a new one in and away you go.
Nice to learn some new stuff though.

whirlybird I came across a post in another forum that would probably mean a hell of a lot more to you than me, bit of a long read for one post but there's some stuff in there that could help your mate out.
http://forums.iboats.com/johnson-evinrude-outboards/2000-evinrude-ficht-150-popcorn-miss-solved-622699.html
Does that mean you have to decipher the part number code to get the coefficients then enter the coefficient into the computer?
It looks like that guy got Honeywell to decipher it for free?

Is this just an etec problem or is it for all injectors?

[ozscott]

If this is the future, home mechanics have no hope.

Cheers

[Spaniard_King]

Etec, Injectors are factory flow tested which labels them with a specific flow rate, this must be told to the ECU so the ECU knows how hard to drive the injector.

Its because Etec Injectors are the only Injector on the market which boosts the rail pressure from 40 to 500psi to cope with the injection time. other systems use a compressor to blow the atomisation into the cylinder.

[Toddy_again]

Im going to the fridge....Anybody want one?:P;D

[Spiderpig]

The ETECS are out there. You just cant find them for all the noise and smoke.....

[deckie]

This is a trick question yeah Brett ?

You're looking at a 1750 Bullet with the perfect motor and you want to swap it out and turn it into a chugger ? :o

Whats the point in it if you cant fang it around at 70 knts, screaming loud with a massive rooster tail, washing newborn wallabies off the river bank with huge turns and doing wheelies ? Bugga the fuel..take it out for a hoon every second week instead of every week ;D

Massive torque = Massive fun

Just seems such a shame thats all... a half cabin tinnie is more family friendly...who cares about family friendly when u've got a race tuned 200hp 2 stk on the back ? Give it some i reckon !! "faster dad !! faster, cmon dad !!"

Ok yeah i'm a hoon deep down. A 115 ESmeg ?...shame on you lol ;D

[hainsofast]

Massive torque = Massive fun


sure does, my half cab haines does close to 60mph, should see the look on jet ski/waverunner riders when I blow them away (need a tiny bit of chop to do this, on flat water they just win)

[rcfisher]

I could of sold you my 2006 90 hp etec but i traded it on a 115 hp yamaha 4 stroke. They gave me $500 for it.
Oh i for got to mention it did need about $9500 spent on it to get it going again. But then i guess it was 6 years old with 350 hours on the clock.

[cro142]

Somebody earlier in this thread said that:
"... Ever noticed how NO ONE has ever pooh poohed a Honda ..."

Well, I went with a mate to an Outboard Wrecker I Melbourne a few months ago looking for some old Evinrude V4 parts, when lo and behold there was a "pile" of 3-4 year old Honda's stacked up in the back. Probably 8 to 10 motors, all fairly new, all mid-range to high HP, all stuffed. Some had just "blown up", and some had apparently developed near-fatal "harmonic noises" that the owners could not live with any longer

I suppose the owners of these motors would probably pooh pooh Honda's.

Forget the various myths and legends going around - it seems to me that all motors suffer a level of failure.

[Spaniard_King]

Somebody earlier in this thread said that:
"... Ever noticed how NO ONE has ever pooh poohed a Honda ..."

Well, I went with a mate to an Outboard Wrecker I Melbourne a few months ago looking for some old Evinrude V4 parts, when lo and behold there was a "pile" of 3-4 year old Honda's stacked up in the back. Probably 8 to 10 motors, all fairly new, all mid-range to high HP, all stuffed. Some had just "blown up", and some had apparently developed near-fatal "harmonic noises" that the owners could not live with any longer

I suppose the owners of these motors would probably pooh pooh Honda's.

Forget the various myths and legends going around - it seems to me that all motors suffer a level of failure.

Would you mine sending me a PM with the contact details or at least the location of the wrecker... those parts would be quite valuable to me.. Thanks

[bigpat]

Same here....

[hilta1]

Im Still waiting for the contact details of the guy with the 150 etec for sale as well...... Must be a mate of a mates mate??????