Ozscott, I dont think you can compare and outboard to a car engine, have a look at how many engine failures, oil leaks, batteries and little things that can take you off the road very quickly, i for one see well over 5-10 tow trucks come into the five dealerships that surround me on a daily basis. Yes there are a lot more cars on the road than boats but they are like comparing apples and oranges.
These things can happen to any mechanical component at any time it is just unlucky it happened when out to sea, i had an engine fail on me years ago after a full day on the water and after travelling 50km at full throttle, it stopped 1 km from the ramp at half throttle, i look at it as lucky it happened there not 50km out to sea.
You will definately be wary on the next few trips as i was but your faith will come back. i know mine did.
Cheers Lee
I'll second that. Your confidence will come back. It may take 1 or more trips but after my opti doing the alternator bolt it has only taken me 2 or 3 trips to feel confident in the motor once more. It may just make me a little more cautious when crossing bar but.
Cheers
Chris
Hi, another classic case of internet misinformation. Your 16 month old E-TEC will be under warranty unless used for commercial use which is then 12 months-industry standard. If it is a 2009 model you will have 5 years warranty. As for EMM failures ( no such thing as ECUs on E-TEC) checking our records we have replaced 7 of these in the years of selling and servicing a fair few E-TEC. Biggest problem with EMMs and what has probably caused the majority of failures are wing nuts on battery terminals causing voltage spikes that can internally fry the EMM-I hope you do not have wing nuts. Yes we too have replaced some injectors and a batch of them supplied by the maunfacturer had winding issues, but again the majority of problems we see here are fuel related.
I am sorry you were left stranded and if the engine just stopped with warning or codes then i would suspect fuel. If then you had no power as you say, that is for the trim, gauges etc as well i would suspect blown fuse. If the gauges and trim worked but engine would not crank, I hope it was in neutral fully. If the engine would crank but not start than again it could be fuel or alot of things and a trained tech with the right training and equipment should be able to diagonise the problem.
Cheers,
Huey.
I’m only new t o boating.. But if heat under the engine cowling is the main cause for engine/ecu failure, (depending on your boat) would it not be best to "temporarily" move the ecu up under the "dash" (again depending on your boat).. That way it would be out of the heat and be away from water (unless your sinking, then you prob wouldn’t care)
Would not be that hard to do in theory, you would just have to get some good quality wire that’s heavily shielded as not to get interference of any kind.
Just a thought.
Warranty is not the issue, Who brought that into the thread?
The failure was due to a part of the computer that controls fuel going into the motor. "Fuel" Now that would be too difficult for BRP to get right wouldn't it.
$ 430.00 in operating costs for the tow home which I paid to the coastguard.
Last edited by JACE...; 26-05-2010 at 11:48 AM. Reason: 2
Any computer that fails on a outboard is a major problem. Why don't the manufacturers build in a parallel computer as it would cost all of a extra $10 bucks and give total back up redundancy as you should expect with something that can cost your life. Same with a dual alternator system as you can't exactly call NRMA when stranded out there and wait safely.
Getting home at 1000rpm in safe mode for a computer error is a poor substitute of a solution.
Now one of the digital gauges has a blank screen.
Back to the shop with it.
Jace I have a 75hp etec that I,m more than happy with. I have towed a broken down mercruiser back to the local ramp. Anything mechanical can break down no matter how flash or plain it is. Very pleasing to here you had no problems with warranty my local boat shop are also excellent with advise and service. To the Honda boys I have seen a few in pieces on the bench at the boat shop so there not perfect either. Mojo
Yeh this has all been said before..... but
Yeh you can directly draw similarities between boats and cars..if anything the boat motors are simpler.
as far as the wing nuts on battery terminals thing....
simple straight forward bad elecronic design.......regardless of the power supply in use, any good electronic designer will expect power supply instability..any electronics that dies due to a simple low level powersupply disturbance is poorly designed that simple.......
Honda, suzuki and yamaha have had decades of use and millions of units of experience to design their electronics...that is why their product is as reliable as it is...
Evenrude basicly manufacture 1 outboard motor product, ya'd think they could get that right.....but the simply have nowhere near the number of engine units manufactured that the big 3 Japanese have.
As far as the cop out that "things just die"......the japanese do so far less that the american designed units..and that goes for cars too.
cheers
Its the details, those little details, that make the difference.