All You Ever Wanted To Know About E-tec

[Dreamtime]

Click Here

http://www.oceanskiffjournal.com/Subscribe...eral/ETEC1.aspx

[netic]

Very interesting article....i guess we will now in 3-5 years if the motors have a long life as they are a untested technology in comparison to four strokes.

[pageboy]

That is a great article - that article is now coming up to being nearly 3 years old - the first Etecs are almost 6 years old - not hearing too much about rampant failures or corrosion issues though , every manufacturer has the odd failure . I wonder how long people will still be saying it hasn't stood the test of time ?? 10 years ? 20years ...

Best thing about that article is that is states that there is very little difference in performance and economy between any new engine on the market either DFI or 4 stroke . Any one who has repowered recently with an Etec , Opti or 4 banger will be blown away when comparing with the old tech engines .

I went Etec but would have probably been just as happy with a yammie 4 , honda etc , the etec just seemed to be a better fit to my hull - yes I did test the same hull with a yamaha 4 stroke. Horses for courses really.

[netic]

That is a great article - that article is now coming up to being nearly 3 years old - the first Etecs are almost 6 years old - not hearing too much about rampant failures or corrosion issues though , every manufacturer has the odd failure . I wonder how long people will still be saying it hasn't stood the test of time ?? 10 years ? 20years ...

Best thing about that article is that is states that there is very little difference in performance and economy between any new engine on the market either DFI or 4 stroke . Any one who has repowered recently with an Etec , Opti or 4 banger will be blown away when comparing with the old tech engines .

I went Etec but would have probably been just as happy with a yammie 4 , honda etc , the etec just seemed to be a better fit to my hull - yes I did test the same hull with a yamaha 4 stroke. Horses for courses really.

Unfortunately personal experience has made me dislike the Etec's, from all the people i know who have had one its a 50/50 split on happy and unhappy people, It seems the bigger ones, 150hp+ have more issues where as the smaller ones under 100hp seem to be very good......hard to gauge i guess but as i have stated previously, I have rarely heard an unhappy Suzuki/Yammi 4 stroke owner, I have heard well over 10 unhappy/regretful etec owners, and thats out of around 20 etec owners i know

Edited November 6, 2008 by netic

[pageboy]

Unfortunately personal experience has made me dislike the Etec's, from all the people i know who have had one its a 50/50 split on happy and unhappy people, It seems the bigger ones, 150hp+ have more issues where as the smaller ones under 100hp seem to be very good......hard to gauge i guess but as i have stated previously, I have rarely heard an unhappy Suzuki/Yammi 4 stroke owner, I have heard well over 10 unhappy/regretful etec owners, and thats out of around 20 etec owners i know

Its not my place to respond to hard evidence like that ....... but

Based on those figures I am surprised they are selling any .... if only i'd known a year and 250 faultless hours earlier !

Stick Etec in a thread title and 2 things are certain - your "opinion" is the first and .... bye bye thread

[pelican]

Hi Netic

Of the unhappy ones you know what have been the issues ? Were they set up dealer screw ups or mechanical failures ? I haven't heard of catastrophic failures ( well a few but same rate as for 4 stroke etc etc some from fuel , user missuse ) and there has been remapping and some injectors have died but not much else. USA bass boats cooked a few by having them jacked up very high and running flat chat.

I didn't think any size or series that BRP has made has had serios issues. Like others I like the mechanical simplicity but am cautious so always want to hear about failures as I generally repower wih 2nd hand motors or demo not new.

Pel

Edited November 6, 2008 by pelican

[Central coast Mariner]

AFter spending a couple of months researching and comparing, i found as other have said, its like the old Holden V ford debate.

I found pretty much equal amount of bad and good reports about most of the brands and technologies.

It really is horses for courses I think.

Ive just put a new 150 etec on, so was between that and the optimax 135, what swayed me in the end was trust in the dealer to set it up right and look after me thru the servicing and warranty period.

They are all mechanical, so inherently there are bound to be failures along the way in any engine.

and my last two stroke was a merc and it died a horrible death!

[netic]

Its not my place to respond to hard evidence like that ....... but

Based on those figures I am surprised they are selling any .... if only i'd known a year and 250 faultless hours earlier !

Stick Etec in a thread title and 2 things are certain - your "opinion" is the first and .... bye bye thread

Mate i am very anti Etec but as i said from experience, personal experience, however, as you have stated, they are some very happy etecs owners too like Ross, i have notice the happy owners all have under 115 hp...How big is yours??

Hi Netic

Of the unhappy ones you know what have been the issues ? Were they set up dealer screw ups or mechanical failures ?

Mate the main issues has been the motors not being good with the fuel, 6 of them are wasting heaps of fuel, even after quite a few prop changes, My mates boat which has been discussed to death was a bad case.

Also BAd service from BRP themselves, probably some bad dealers too, One etec was blowing so much smoke the driver could barely breath, As recent as last week a member here which i was chatting to on the phone said he regreted buying his as after a few outings the engine has lost heaps of power compared to when it was first put on.

A couple of them have also had power head issues,....

There is no right or wrong when it comes to 4 Stroke or Etec, All we can do is judge from our own experiences and im just stating mine...

[Guest Big-Banana]

Stick with what works I reckon. I'm not for one to being a guinea pig. Go the Merc Optimax

[Josh88]

Stick with what works I reckon. I'm not for one to being a guinea pig. Go the Merc Optimax

We went the Optimax to, think its a great engine. If we were going to have to make another decision on engine choice then i'd only consider an optimax or e-tec, just seem much better than 4 strokes to me.

Be good if whatever problems some may have were fixed so it can be the great engine it claims to be.

Great website too, interesting info.

Josh

[a boat]

Hi, we all know where I stand on this and yes E-TEC as with anything mechanical can and do have issues from time to time, but our experience, backed by over 40 years in operation and we buy about 100 E-TEC a year, has been excellent and there are two sides to every story and in the last figures out BRP were No.1 in sales of "clean" engines above 40HP.

Now my thoughts on the original subject. That article has been out for a few years and is pretty spot on and unbiased. Evinrude have being making 2-Stroke outboard since 1909, the first DI 2-Stroke came out in 1996, about the same time 4-Stroke outboard really started to be sold in any number due to the EPA regualtions. E-TEC has been out for 5 years and is the second generation DI and are great engines in my opinion and I know of many engine with thousands of hours on them.

4-Stroke outboards have only been made in anything above 40HP and in great any numbers since about 1990, so really I persoanlly think the "jury is still out" as to whether we are going to see say a 30 year 150HP 4-Stroke still running (only being out about 8 years).

If anyone really wants to learn more about E-TEC and the non BS issues or reports instead of "a mate or I know a friend stories" then check out www.etecownersgroup.com. This site is a wealth of knowleagde and yes they have issues like any brand of outboard, but alot has to do with bad dealers or boat issues.

Cheers,

Huey.