Evinrude...kicker???

[eyepatrol]

Does Evinrude even make a kicker motor??? I couldn't find anything on their HSOforum.

[marine_man]

Evinrude does not.. but Johnson still offers their 9.9 4 stroke as well as a a couple other small 4 strokes... Bombardier has somewhat segregated the brands... Evinrude is the new technology (Direct Injection, 4 stroke, etc) and Johnson is the older technology...

marine_man

[eyepatrol]

Thanks for the reply MM. That's a bummer though, especially for a guy like me that likes to keep the motors matched. I'm a Merc. fan to begin with, but if I went with Evinrude, then I'd have to get a Johnson which doesn't sit well with my "tastes".

[gspman]

I read somewhere that Evinrude will be coming out with E-tec motors in lower hp's either mid 2006 or early 2007.

[PerchJerker]

Merc and Yamaha make great kickers and great 4-strokes. Evinrude and Johnson 4 strokes will work as kickers even through they don't have the beefed up gearing you get in the Pro Kicker or T8. But Evinrude/Johnson 4 strokes have a reputation for not running very smoothly when cold or at low idle (although I have a buddy that found a steal on a used Evinrude 9.9 4-stroke and that thing purrs just like my Mercs).

[eyepatrol]

I was just a bit surprised that I didn't see any kicker motors on Evinrude's HSOforum. There's one dealer that I'm getting info from that only sells Evi's and Yami's and when I went to look at options for a kicker motor on Evi's site, they didn't have'em. Highly doubt I would get a boat from this dealer unless they have an unbelievable price and are top-notch service (die-hard Merc fan).

Thanks for the replies.

[Mille Lacs Guy]

There is a lot of talk that Johnson is going to just go away similar to what Mariner did. BRP is putting all of stock in the E tec and already did away will all the larger four strokes that were made by Suzuki. Right now Johnson is making old two-stroke technology and small motors that are four stroke. If the Johnson line is discontinued Evinrude would make a kicker motor to match the larger Etec and the kicker might even be an Etec.

[SteveWilson]

The Johnson 9.9 kicker comes in white (which matches the E-Tec saltwater) or blue (to match the normal E-Tec color). And yes they can run rough at low rpm's. I think the Yamaha T-8 color compliments the E-Tec color.

[ccarlson]

For those that say the johnson 9.9 four stroke kicker runs rough at low idle I just want to share my brother in laws experience to see if it may be the same thing.

He's got a 2001 ranger 620 with that same kicker with a remote throttle and keyed ignition.

His would start and run well while warming up (at slightly higher idle than when warm of course) and then when trolling at low speeds it kept killing on him. In order for it to be avoided, the RPM's would have to be high enough that the trolling speed was too high to work for fishing.

After a lot of investigating around he found this to be a very common problem especially when this motor is hooked to the main boat gas tank rather than a smaller remote tank. One mechanic told him he thought it was a fuel pump pressure deficiancy with having to pull the fuel from the main boat gas tank via large diameter gas lines. A new fuel pump on the motor itself, however, had not been solving the problem with other peoples motors.

So, my brother in law added a $30 external fuel pump from Napa to the kicker gas line. He located and wired the pump to the keyed ignition wire so the extra fuel pump would only have power when the kicker key was on. Two years later the motor has never run rough at all and never stalls. He did also add a toggle switch to the wiring so if there were ever a problem with a leak or anything, power to the added fuel pump could easily be killed while maintaining all original power.

The added fuel pump is low enough pressure that it doesn't provide too much pressure.

ccarlson

[SteveWilson]

Thanks, that's exactly the problem I'm having. I've thought of playing with the prop pitch so that I could run it at higher RPM's (I don't really need the motor to push the boat around at speed). I would like to know what part from NAPA he used. My motor will run fine for an hour in the summer and two hours in the fall and then it will start quiting. I had it die a few hundred times in one week.

[ccarlson]

Steve,

His boat is burried in storage right now so getting the part number might be tough.

One thing to check to see if this is truely the same problem he had is to check your kicker gas line bulb. If you notice that as the motor starts to die and you give the ball a squeeze and it goes back to running fine with a couple pumps, that is the same problem he was having. (it wasn't a bad bulb by the way)

We also tried using a small remote tank which made the motor run fine telling us that the problem was the motors fuel pump creating enough suction to get the gas through the big gas line from the gas tank located in the front of the boat.

If you stop at NAPA and just ask them about a generic style fuel pumps you would be able to get the right one. It wasn't any specific fuel pump, just an inline 12 volt. I would ask to make sure it isn't too high of pressue. Like I said, he paid about $30 if that helps.

Good luck

ccarlson

[SteveWilson]

Thanks, In the spring if you remember I wouldn't mind knowing the part #; $30 does help though I might be able to figure out the gpm and psi. Did he mount it external on the transom deck (or whatever that area is called) or did he install it inside? I was thinking if I went that way I would probably install a marine duty fuel pump (non-sparking) inside and leave a couple of fittings outside - a bit of work but more tidy. I usually can't make it back to the motor in time to push the bulb before it dies so I don't know if that would work, but it should be cheap enough to get a small external gas tank and fuel line that I can use as a test (run it normal until it starts dieing and then hook up the external tank for a few hours).

[ccarlson]

Steve,

I was visiting my B-I-L this afternoon and asked him a few questions. He said it was a low pressure fuel pump listed for marine applications.

As I said before, he has a Ranger 620 and he mounted the fuel pump through the access port in the splashwell where the gas line runs before coming out to the motor. So it is out of sight and such. It is before (on the tank side) of the bulb.

Before he added the fuel pump, when his would quit, it was usually never that instantaneous. It would spit and sputter and start to die away for just a second or two before killing. If someone was sitting in the back of the boat, it was enough time to reach the bulb and give it a squeeze which made it run well for another 5 minutes perhaps. It never really went from running smoothly to suddenly quitting without a little warning.

I would say about 6 weeks until the boat comes out of storage so I'll let you know then if we can see a part number.

ccarlson