Evinrude E-tech reviews

[delcecchi]

I would tend to agree with the above post.

Confidence in the dealer is very important in the decision. Yes I beleive they all make good motors. They also are mechanical machines and may fail at some point. Poor Dealer support and poor service after the sale is enough to destroy the attitude of any boat owner regardless of brand. On the contrary, being treated well and having your concerns and issues delt with professionally will make your purchase a comfortable one.

Problems can occur with any brand, congrats if they havnt.

One thing I've learned over 23 years messing with these things is that there is no clear cut winner when it comes to brand, (that is my humble opinion) There are certain years, models and brands that seem to have been better than others. There are also some that just plain should never been produced, (again, my humble opinion).

If I had confidence in the dealer, I would own an E-tech, if the price was right.

I would also say that some brands have gone through rough patches where all their products pretty much are junk, for one reason or another, or where they have some sort of widespread problem and it goes on for year after year. GM certainly had that problem at one time. Ford had a rust problem for some years. Chrysler had a bad tranny for several years that would die prematurely. And OMC clearly lost the recipe before going bankrupt.

The trouble with outboard motors is that information is so hard to find. Even in the peak of the FICHT troubles there wasn't really any hard data available, at least that I could find.

[LMITOUT]

Bob - Is your boat a tiller? If so, did you get quotes on the Yamaha with the VTS handle? I absolutely love the VTS on my 90 for controlling the speed, both back trolling and forward trolling cranks. It's worth the money.

Even if you don't have a tiller the VTS can be added with a little wiring. A guy I know has a 75 Yamaha on a console boat and we rigged up the VTS switch near his throttle and he really likes it too.

[cabin]

I know a couple E-Tech owners and they are happy with their motors. I would go with the Yamaha. Yamaha, and Honda are very reliable,and have the best resale value. I would not touch a Suzuki. I owned a Suzuki. I bought it new, and it had problems. Terrible service from the dealer, and Suzuki Inc. would not stand behind the engine. There is a reason you see so so many Yamahas and Hondas, and very few Suzukis.

[delcecchi]

I know a couple E-Tech owners and they are happy with their motors. I would go with the Yamaha. Yamaha, and Honda are very reliable,and have the best resale value. I would not touch a Suzuki. I owned a Suzuki. I bought it new, and it had problems. Terrible service from the dealer, and Suzuki Inc. would not stand behind the engine. There is a reason you see so so many Yamahas and Hondas, and very few Suzukis.

Gee, everyone I know except you that has a suzuki loves it. I guess I will soon find out. Let you know in the fall.

[Het]

I'm not bashing the Etecs, but when I have three friends that had them, and they gave them nothing but headaches, that tends to lead me away from them. Growing up, all I ever had were Evinrudes and Johnsons. I have a few other buddies that have troubles with their Mercs. One has been through a few lower units, and the other has been through a pile of coils. Thankfully, mine has been trouble free. I have two buddys with Hondas, and they have been relatively trouble free. The bad thing is, the nearest Honda repair shop is over two hours away. I don't see many Suzukis in these parts, although a buddy just bought a Triton 2690 that has twin Suzuki 200's on it. Hopefully they'll perform well for him. yamahas are very popular around here. Those that have them seem to be very loyal to them.

[BobT]

Bob - Is your boat a tiller? If so, did you get quotes on the Yamaha with the VTS handle? I absolutely love the VTS on my 90 for controlling the speed, both back trolling and forward trolling cranks. It's worth the money.

Even if you don't have a tiller the VTS can be added with a little wiring. A guy I know has a 75 Yamaha on a console boat and we rigged up the VTS switch near his throttle and he really likes it too.

Console. I'm not sure what the acronym, VTS, stands for.

[Big Bobber]

I just found this on Google. Variable Trolling Speed. The VTS is connected to the ECM (electronic control module) on the engine. It is turning down the idle through the ECM.

[TapsBug]

I have a 25hp Etec tiller ...on it's 2nd year and so far it's been A+.

With the VTS you can troll extremely slowly (so slow the gps won't register the speed!)

After sitting in the garage for 5+ months, I finally hit the river on a 35 degree day...and the motor started on the first push of the button! Gotta love that!

[gregg52]

it amazing how quick they fire even after sitting all winter

that motor doesnt even make a revolution

[boatfixer]

Came across a guy yesterday that prolly would have cut his loose and let it sink. Might have thrown anyone in the water with it had they told him how good they are. Then again saw one fire right up to.

[LMITOUT]

I just found this on Google. Variable Trolling Speed. The VTS is connected to the ECM (electronic control module) on the engine. It is turning down the idle through the ECM.

That's it.

I have two buttons on my tiller handle that I can raise or lower the RPM's while trolling. Super slick. The tiller handle has these buttons integrated right into the top of the handle, but they also have available an enclosed stand-alone switch that can be mounted on the handle. This is what we used for the boat with the 75 and console. The Yamaha's have a connector harness under the hood that you just plug into if you want to add it after the fact.

I don't know if the E-Tech has that feature or not, but the only way you can take my Yamaha VTS is out of my cold, dead, hands.

[LMITOUT]

Came across a guy yesterday that prolly would have cut his loose and let it sink. Might have thrown anyone in the water with it had they told him how good they are. Then again saw one fire right up to.

Out of curiosity, if you were to compare repairs/motor issues of Yamaha's and Evinrudes in the 75-90HP range, what would be the ratio that you see between the two? 50/50? (I'm referring to 4-stroke Yamahas and the E-Techs)

Just reading through these posts it appears it's hit or miss with the E-Tech while I rarely see any complaints about the Yamahas.

[gregg52]

i think you hafta give the engineers at brp some credit for trying to make a motor thats as quite as the 4 strokes and fuel effiecent and meet epa

standards and still not give up the power

theres bound to be issues

build something thats common thread...ho hum

[LMITOUT]

build something thats common thread...ho hum

I'll take "ho hum" every day of the week and twice on Sundays if it doesn't break down.

[Northlander]

For Sure!

[gregg52]

no movement foward with those attitudes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

still be in row boat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Big Bobber]

BobT:

Sent you a message.

[sunniewally]

I don't think you'll be sorry! I have a 50 e-tec and around 400 hrs on it and its been goood. 1 bad injector at around 300 hrs, dealer repaired it no cost no problem. runs like a champ, winterizing is just a snap. sits all winter and in spring hit the key and its running like you just shut it off!! love my e-tec!

[BobT]

Well, on Memorial Day weekend I upgraded my 98 Johnson 90hp to a new 2011 E-tec 90hp. Got the boat back the following week and put it on the water for a test run. Four days later I took it to Canada for a week of fishing with plenty of water running. We put on about 50-75 miles a day on the water so it was a good opportunity to break it in and work it good.

Pros:

* I love how quick that things starts up. I swear I don't hear that engine get more than one cylinder up to compression and it is running. Sweet!

* I love the 2-stroke performance. Like my 98, I would be willing to bet that if I punch it from a dead stop I can be up on plane within 20 feet with three guys in the boat. Terrific acceleration!

* Smooth! Probably the most common comment I heard from the various passengers I had with me (we rotate boat partners every day) was how smooth that motor ran. Purrs like a kitten.

* Quiet. It is definitely quieter than my former 98 Johnson and I thought that was a relatively quiet motor.

* Economical! I could definitely see the difference in fuel economy. We typically arrive at the resort at about noon and fish the afternoon. Then its all day for the rest of the week. Typically, I would be down to less than 1/4 tank of fuel by the end of the day 2. With my new E-tec, I didn't get to that point until the middle of day three and I actually did a little more running on the water than usual on the morning of day 2. Definite improvement.

* Small physical size. You barely notice the motor hanging on the back of the boat. Much smaller footprint than my 98 Johnson or any other 90hp I'm aware of.

* Automatically idles down in neutral. The motor is designed and programmed for 700rpm idle while in gear but when you pull it into neutral it idles down to 600rpm and gets real quiet. I like this feature. I suppose it also reduces wear on the lower unit when you put it into gear.

Cons:

* Although the new E-tec is very quiet I can honestly say that in side-by-side comparison it doesn't compete with the Yamaha 4-stroke. Even the 115 and 150 Yamaha's that others in my group were using were much quieter than my E-tec, especially at idle. I do believe that my E-tec is quieter at mid-range and WOT however. At 4000 rpm we could easily carry on a conversation in the boat without raising our voices.

* Multiple throttle profile. One thing I noticed is that the throttle didn't seem to be smooth. If I gradually move the throttle to accelerate I notice a "flat spot" in the engine rpm increase. I am more accustomed to expecting the motor rpm to increase linearly with my throttle but this one didn't. At first I thought there was something wrong with the motor but after checking the linkage I can see that the thottle linkage is cammed with a flat spot in the cam profile. It accelerates linearly for a short time (up to about 2000 rpm) then goes flatter for a while before accelerating rapidly again. It's hard to explain other than it is like pressing the throttle relatively quick for a while, slowing down the rate that you press it, and then increasing the rate again to full throttle. I don't know why Evinrude did it this way but it's taking some getting used to. Not sure that I like it yet.

[BobT]

In my previous post I mentioned how I wasn't too sure about the throttle control design. I thought I'd post a drawing to illustrate this.

This isn’t an exact drawing but it illustrates what I’m talking about. The linkage from my throttle control connects to the bottom of the throttle cam. When I push forward on the throttle in my boat the throttle linkage rotates the throttle cam to engage the throttle arm. As the throttle arm gets into the area marked (X) the throttle arm’s change of motion is reduced to a considerably slower rate of change relative to my throttle lever. As I continue to push the throttle and the cam rotates past the area marked (X) the throttle cam increases the rate of change in acceleration again up to full throttle.

Any throttle cam I’ve seen before had a constant curve profile so the rate of change for the throttle was constant as you pushed the throttle lever forward.

Any idea why Evinrude designed it this way rather than a constant throttle profile?

[Surface Tension]

BOB, it could be to lengthen the sweet spot at cruising speed. What is the RPM range on the flat spot?

Some if not most believe an outboard has two speeds, trolling and WOT. Cruising speed has been long forgotten, why, because at some period of time folks thought they needed to race across the lake at WOT. An under powered boat is often run at WOT just to perform, a boat that is matched to outboard correctly is throttled back after its on plane to cruising speed. Backing off to cruising speed will decrease fuel consumption and RPMs. It'll also extend the life of the outboard. When you prop an outboard you want to achieve max RPMs at WOT, it doesn't mean your supposed to stay at max RPMs.

Some might ask what is cruising speed? It is a combination of the best, speed at plane, RPMs, fuel consumption, and boat handling.

[BobT]

I've considered what you're saying and that's the only explanation I could come up with on my own. In order to get mine up on plane I need to exceed about 20mph, which I acheive at just over 2000rpm. Coincidentally, this is about where the flat spot is and so maybe you're right. My best cruising speed based on ride, handling, and motor sound is anywhere from 25mph to 30mph (3000rpm to 4000rpm). I like to run in that range. 40mph is more than I care to run on most days and from what I've read and learned about outboard power curves, it seems best to stay below 75% throttle for economy sake and motor performance.

[gregg52]

i have a 150 i run around 35 most of the time

44 is max

mine is consloe though so i cant say i 've really noticed your issue

most of the time its to ruff to run wide open any way

[BobT]

I have a console as well. It'll push about 40mph but like you I hold my speed down. I usually like to run between 25 and 30 as that is the most comfortable speed for me and my boat.

[JohnMickish]

most of the time its to ruff to run wide open any way

I didn't think it was ever to rough for a Yar Craft