E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
jimh
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E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:12 pm

In 2009 I re-powered my Boston Whaler REVENGE 22 W-T Whaler Drive boat with an Evinrude E-TEC 225-HP engine, replacing the boat's original 1992 Evinrude 225-HP classic carburetor two-stroke-power-cycle engine after 17-years of good service. There might be some interest among other owners of a classic Boston Whaler boat about the service history of my E-TEC engine over the ten seasons it has been used. Here is a brief but detailed summary of all the work done to the engine.

E-TEC Engine Service History

The engine is E-TEC 225-HP E225DPXISE model, a 2010 product year engine manufactured in July of 2009 and put into service immediately following delivery to the dealer that same week. The boat as been in use every summer since then for a total of ten summers of boating. As the 478 engine hours indicate, the average use per season has been about 47.8-hours. The last two seasons (2017 and 2018) the engine hours have been below that average.

Here is a summary of all the service work performed on the engine by my local Evinrude dealer, Lockeman's Hardware & Boat, in Detroit, Michigan.

Service in June 2012
This was the first service visit. The engine had been in use for three seasons (2009, 2010, 2011) and had 213-hours running time, or an average of 71-hours per season. The service provided was

  • install six new spark plugs;
  • drain gear case lubricant and refill;
  • install new engine fuel filter.

A warranty recall replacement of the Pressure Relief Valve was performed at this time at no cost.

Service in May 2014
This was the second service visit. The engine had been in use for a total of five seasons, two seasons since the last service in 2012. The engine running hour time was 339-hours, 126-hours since the last service , and an average of 63-hours per season for the last two seasons. The service provided was

  • install new water pump impeller and some seals; this was the first replacement of the original water pump after five seasons of use;
  • drain gear case lubricant and refill; this was the second replacement of the gear case lubricant;
  • replace exhaust inner lower housing; this was an unanticipated problem that was discovered when the gear case was dropped from the mid-section.

Service in October 2018
This was the third service visit, The engine had been in use for a total of ten seasons, and for five seasons since the last service visit in 2014. The engine had 478-hours running time, which was 149-hours since the last service and a rather modest 30-hours-per-season for these last five seasons. The service provided was

  • install new water pump impeller;
  • install six new spark plugs;
  • drain gear case lubricant and refill;
  • install new engine fuel filter;
  • remove and replace in-hose filter on engine EMM cooling water line
  • remove and replace exhaust lower inner housing and seals
  • remove and replace ignition coil on cylinder #3 (see below)

Service summary by component

Water pump: the original water pump impeller was in service in 2009 and not replaced until prior to the 2014 season, thus it was in use for five seasons (2009. 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) before being changed. The impeller was changed a second time in Oct 2018, at the end of the tenth season. This second impeller had been in use for five seasons (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018). The exact run time for each season is not known, but would be typically be about 50-hours. The impeller has thus been changed on a five-year and 250-hour basis.

Gear case lubricant: the gear case lubricant has been changed three times, at intervals of three seasons, two seasons, and five seasons. During the five season interval, one season had very little running time, perhaps less than 20-hours. The gear case lubricant has thus been changed on a three, two, and five year basis. This is the only service item that was performed at all three service visits.

Engine fuel filter: the filter has been changed twice. The original filter was replaced in 2012 after three seasons of use. The second filter was changed in 2018 after ten seasons of use or seven seasons of use with that filter. In 2018 the gasoline was checked for alcohol content and showed about 1 to 2-percent alcohol. The fuel had been treated with Evinrude Fuel System Cleaner and also with Evinrude 2+4 Fuel Conditioner (stabilizer); the fuel that had been purchased was predominantly REC-90 pure gasoline. The measured alcohol could have been influenced by the stabilizer and cleaner additives. There were no signs of contaminants in the filter, and the gasoline was very clear and untinted. The fuel filter price has increased to about $20 (2018) from $10 (2012).

Exhaust sensor: the exhaust sensor was serviced first in 2014. It was cleaned and reinstalled. In 2018 the exhaust sensor was again checked, found to be extremely clean, and again reinstalled. The lack of soot or burning was attributed to use of XD100 and REC90 fuel.

Exhaust Lower Inner Housing: during service in 2014 the exhaust lower inner housing showed erosion due to excess heat, and a new housing was installed. This problem was again found in the 2018 service. In 2018 a portion of the face of the upper seal was burned away, more severely than the previous instance of this same problem. The engine had already been provided with the extra cooling kit to mitigate this problem. As a new replacement part was not available on the shelf, a used housing in excellent condition was installed, thereby reducing the cost of the replacement part significantly from the now $142 price of a new housing.

twoExhaustHousings.jpg
Fig. 1. Two exhaust lower inner housings. On the right the housing from my E-TEC. On the left the housing from another engine without any sign of erosion and burning.
twoExhaustHousings.jpg (30.59 KiB) Viewed 13434 times


Spark plugs: the spark plugs have been replaced twice in ten seasons, first in 2012 after three seasons, and then in 2018 after the tenth season, or with seven seasons of use on those plugs. The 2018 service found the plugs were in very good condition. One or two showed signs of the arc moving down the insulator face. The plugs are $8.95 each, or $53.70 for six.

In-hose filter at Fuel Return Line to Vapor Separator and Fuel Cooler: this tiny filter ($7) was replaced in 2018; it appeared to be about 30-percent blocked with filtrate residue.

Engine Spark Coil: in late September 2018, a few days before this visit to the dealer, an Engine History report was taken; the report showed that five instances of CODE 103, "#3 Cylinder Ignition Coil Short Circuit Detected" had occurred in the last 20-hours of engine running time. During those 20-hours the engine had exhibited two instances of a misfire, the first two misfires ever noticed in ten seasons of use, These misfires occurred while operating the boat in remote northern Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, using fuel purchased at a local fuel dock in the region. At that time the cause of the misfires was suspected to be due to some fuel contamination. However, the engine history reported offered a different analysis and a new possible cause of the misfires: they could have been due to a failure of the spark coil for the #3 cylinder, as diagnosed by the EMM and reported in the engine history report.

With EV-Diagnostics software connected to the engine, the engine was started. Another CODE 103 was logged immediately after starting. The #3 cylinder spark coil wiring was carefully checked for possible loss of wire insulation due to abrasion and arching; no sign of wire abrasion or arching was found. The engine was stopped, and the #3 coil was removed and visually inspected. On the underside of the coil, an area not visible when installed on the engine, a soft spot in the coil housing was observed. This was interpreted as being caused by an internal short circuit or arching within the coil, with the heat generated causing a softening of the encapsulating insulation material. The #3 coil was replaced ($103), the engine restarted with the diagnostic software connected, and run for several minutes over a wide RPM range. No CODE 103 events were logged. The new coil was considered to be a remedy to the problem.

twoIgnitionCoils.jpg
Fig. 2. Two ignition coils. The old coil has a soft spot in the potting compound which was interpreted as evidence of heating from internal arcing. The new coil surface is smooth and reflective; what appears in this image as a void in the potting is actually a reflection of wire harness onto the potting material surface.
twoIgnitionCoils.jpg (30.21 KiB) Viewed 13434 times


Service Summary

The E-TEC engine is described by Evinrude as not needing routine maintenance for three-years or 300-hours of running time. My experience has tended to affirm those intervals. Because my use of the engine is in generally crystal clear fresh water, without sand or silt, I have stretched the water pump service intervals to five years, but only 250-hours. The spark plugs appear to be capable of lasting seven seasons at about 50-hours per season without any harmful effects. The gear case lubricant has also shown excellent durability, with the change interval as long as five seasons without any sign of impairment to the lubricant.

There have been only three unanticipated repairs:

  1. the Pressure Relief Valve was replaced under a warranty recall at no cost, although there was no sign of any impending harm or defect in the unit on my engine;
  2. the exhaust lower inner housing has twice been replaced due to burning of its aluminum face, apparently due to higher than anticipated exhaust temperatures. The exact cause of this problem is not known, and this component will be checked again in the future for signs of further problems; there are two clues to this problem that can be noted without removal of the gear case: some soot appears on the midsection at the joint with the gear case where exhaust fumes exit; the engine makes a louder and throatier sound when running, due to the exhaust leaking directly to the atmosphere instead of being conducted out via the through-hub exhaust.
  3. the #3 cylinder spark coil began to show a short circuit. Amazingly, the engine EMM diagnosed and alerted me to this problem. The spark coil ($103) was replaced. For me, the ability of the EMM to detect problems like this and report them to the engine owner is really a terrific asset. Without the EMM telling me and the service technician about the problem with the #3 cylinder spark coil, the occasional misfires might have gone on for a much longer time, and been impossible to diagnose, a lot of mostly in-the-dark guesses about the cause, and perhaps a lot of trial-and-error replacement of suspected components. To get from the EMM a pointer directly to the cause of the problem was a big help.

Seahorse
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Seahorse » Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:38 pm

That is a great post about the servicing history of your Evinrude E-TEC. It is proof that the E-TEC engines require less maintenance than older traditional outboards and the popular 4-strokes of today.

In your post you mentioned "In-hose filter at EMM Cooling Return Line to Vapor Separator and Fuel Cooler: this tiny filter ($7) was replaced in 2018; it appeared to be about 30-percent blocked with filtrate residue."

I take it that you mean the small cone-shaped fuel filter screen #354190 located inside the vapor separator tank nipple - commonly known as the VST - that filters the returned circulated gasoline from the injectors before reaching the fuel pressure regulator and the fuel-vapor reservoir. It has nothing to do with the EMM.

jimh
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Sat Oct 06, 2018 7:50 am

SEAHORSE--yes, that's the little cone filter I was meant to describe. I will emend my description above. I was confusing the water cooling circuit with the fuel cooling circuit. The engine fuel flows through this filter. The fuel has already flowed through two fuel filters before it gets here, but this small filter screen traps any residue that might come out of the injectors and all the rubber hoses in the fuel system.

Also, I have been thinking about the problem with the high-temperature exhaust causing the lower inner housing to be damaged, and I have a new theory. My boat has a cabin and a Whaler Drive. This gives the boat a somewhat unusual static trim and low speed trim. We often have a lot of gear in the cabin in the bow: mattress for the big queen-size berth, all our clothing, and all our dry foods. This trims the boat down by the bow somewhat. On the transom we have a Whaler Drive, which add substantial buoyancy at the stern, but only a single engine. The Whaler Drive itself creates a higher than normal engine mounting height. And the Whaler Drive acts like a huge trim tab that prevents the stern from squatting down under power, as would typically happen on a boat with a notched transom.

When the engine was initially installed in 2009, it was mounted as low as possible on the transom. The engine was run this way until 2012. During the engine service the mounting height was elevated to one-hole-up. The problem with the exhaust housing was discovered in 2014. Perhaps the engine mounting needs to go back to the lowest position.

Here is a good view of my engine mounting height seen from astern with the engine mounted one-hole-up on the Whaler Drive:

Image
Fig. 2a. View showing relative engine heights and immersion into the water for notched transom and Whaler Drive 22-foot hulls.

Note where the water line hits on the midsection: the upper portion of the exhaust lower inner housing would not be immersed in the water at this mounting height. The top of the housing would mostly be exposed to air and lack cooling from surrounding water in the midsection.

Do you think there is any correlation between my engine mounting and the exhaust housing problem?

Seahorse
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Seahorse » Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:29 am

At idle your exhaust temperatures are relatively low. While on plane with the anti-ventilation plate is on the surface of the water, both motors would have the exhaust extensions at the same elevation out of the water.

Did your exhaust pressure sensor tube show signs of burning up from extremely high exhaust temps?

What is your top rpm with with a normal load on board?

What is your fuel pressure reading at cruise and full speed?

Has your boat had the fuel vacuum test and bubble test using a vacuum gauge and a piece of clear fuel line, at all speeds?

jimh
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:56 am

Seahorse wrote:At idle your exhaust temperatures are relatively low. While on plane with the anti-ventilation plate is on the surface of the water, both motors would have the exhaust extensions at the same elevation out of the water.
Ah, good point. Okay, I will forget about lowering the engine.

Seahorse wrote:Did your exhaust pressure sensor tube show signs of burning up from extremely high exhaust temps?
No, it was very clean with a dull gray-brown color. I think Doug--the technician--remarked about how clean it was.


Seahorse wrote:What is your top rpm with with a normal load on board?
The engine can accelerate to 5,700-RPM with a normal load.

Seahorse wrote:What is your fuel pressure reading at cruise and full speed?
I have not measured the fuel pressure. I am not sure if you mean the vacuum suction on the main fuel supply line, or the fuel pressure in the circulating fuel system for the injectors.

Seahorse wrote:Has your boat had the fuel vacuum test and bubble test using a vacuum gauge and a piece of clear fuel line, at all speeds?
No, that test has not been performed.

I think you are anticipating that perhaps the engine is running slightly lean at high throttle settings.

I just ordered a replacement element for the 10-Micron RACOR fuel filter (S3214). My filter has a clear bowl and there is no sign of water or debris. But I am going to change the filter element next Spring as a precaution. The filter was installed at least ten years ago. I drained off some fluid from the filter and it was just gasoline, no water present.

Here is a close-up of the RACOR filter and the lower clear bowl:

RACOR_FilterBowl.jpg
Fig. 3. RACOR 10-Micron fuel-water separating filter.
RACOR_FilterBowl.jpg (30.51 KiB) Viewed 13425 times

Seahorse
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Seahorse » Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:37 am


jimh
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Sat Oct 06, 2018 2:48 pm

Yikes--maybe I should have ordered the part number with the filter AND the bowl. I will check for the "PUR" mark more closely as soon as it stops raining and the temperature gets above 50-degrees-F here.

Jefecinco
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Jefecinco » Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:49 am

I've been using Racor diesel and gasoline filters for 30 years without a single problem. The filters have saved me from engine problems on three or four occasions when I was sold water contaminated fuel. They are excellent products.
Butch

jimh
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:39 am

The image belows shows the Champion QC8WEP six spark plugs that were removed and the VST fuel return filter. These plugs had been in service for seven seasons and 265-hours of running time.

These images were taken on a very gray and cloudy day, so I added a bit of exposure compensation to reveal more detail in the dark areas.

sparkPlugsVSTfilter.jpg
Fig. 4. Spark plugs, identified with callouts by cylinder. The plugs appear rather dark in this image. My recollection is they were not quite this dark. The plugs seemed uniform in appearance.
sparkPlugsVSTfilter.jpg (52.12 KiB) Viewed 13339 times

closeUp1.jpg
Fig. 5. Close-up view of plug from #1 cylinder.
closeUp1.jpg (11.3 KiB) Viewed 13336 times

closeUp3.jpg
Fig. 6. Close-up view of plug from #3 cylinder.
closeUp3.jpg (13 KiB) Viewed 13336 times


The VST fuel line return filter, if held up to a strong light, looked like about one-third of the screen was filled with particulate at the narrowest part of the filter.

Jefecinco
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Jefecinco » Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:35 am

I assume the vertical marks on the spark plug insulators are indexing marks. On my 1999 OMC FICHT 115 HP engine I habitually replaced the four spark plugs annually when using XD100 oil. They looked much cleaner than your spark plugs but probably had only about 50 hours of use.

I would typically need to buy six spark plug for indexing but needed seven one year. I learned about indexing in the late 1950s as a pit crew member for a race team. It could be a challenge to get it done right between races.
Butch

jimh
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:33 am

Replacing spark plugs is one service that I could do myself without too much difficulty. But every 50-hours seems a bit too often for a modern low-emission engine with platinum tipped plugs. My non-towing car is a 2011 in service since November 2010, so for 8-years and 60,000 miles, and those plugs are original plugs. I have not pulled them out yet, but I plan to, more so just to get the steel plugs out of the aluminum head before they become frozen in place.

The E-TEC plugs are about $9, so a set of six would be about $54. If I bought seven plugs to get six that would index correctly, that's about $63. I guess that is not too much expense, but the suggested maintenance interval is three-years or 300-hours.

And, yes, the black lines on the insulator are marks for use in indexing the plug electrode opening position. The E-TEC service manual explains how the plugs should be oriented and how much torque can be applied to the threads to move the plug to that position. Because the manufacture of the plugs is not consistently done with regard to where the threads are cut and where the ground electrode is welded on to the thread base, not every plug will index in every cylinder. I don't know if the threads in the cylinder heads are all precisely oriented to be matched, either.

dtmackey
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby dtmackey » Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:54 pm

Great write up.

I've got 2 years on you Jim since my Etec 250 is a 2006. So far my replacement items are:

- Plugs every 3 years
- Impeller
- Upgraded
- Lower unit fluid every 3 years
- T-stats replaced
- HP Fuel pump replaced due to previous owner running phase separated gas and causing the failure. I posted a detailed link on the Etec owners board.
- Repainted the motor and new graphics
- I'm sure I'm forgetting something since I do not log as detailed you

I pulled all my injectors to have cleaned at Fuel Injectorman last year, but his leadtime was 6 weeks plus shipping and my only reason for doing this was the fact that the previous owner ran bad gas thru the motor and I considered this preventive maint.

Great motors and they run strong, but I think most of the problems people have out there are due to poor fuel quality.

D-

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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Thu Nov 14, 2019 12:10 pm

Follow-up: the 2019 boating season has ended. Here is a detailed summary of additional maintenance given to my E-TEC engine in 2019:

--added XD100 oil during season, about 2.5-gallons total (see below for more about oil consumption)
--added Evinrude 2+4 Fuel Conditioner, beginning in August 2019 to all fuel purchased, in anticipation of winter layup
--winterized engine using self-winterization

Just for fun and curiosity, I changed the propeller to one using the Evinrude TBX hub design. I re-greased the propeller shaft during the installation of the new propeller and TBX hub.

For many seasons I have been using only XD100 oil, but I have kept the oil rate setting on the standard TCW3 setting. If not familiar with the XD100 oil, it can be used at a lower rate of oiling than TCW3 oils, but I prefer to use the premium oil and retain the normal oil rate.

ASIDE: regarding spark plug indexing, on the new E-TEC G2 engines the machining of the spark plug holes in the cylinder heads is done in a consistent manner, and the plug manufacturer (Champion) now offers a premium spark plug with a similarly consistent alignment of threads and ground electrode; this combination has eliminated spark plug indexing by trial-and-error on the E-TEC G2 engines.

Also, in the new E-TEC G2 1.9-liter engines I notice the cooling water system now includes an enveloping chamber in the midsection lower portion that fills with water and provides an external water jacket to cool the exhaust passage.

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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby ConB » Fri Nov 15, 2019 8:21 am

Jim, I think it is interesting that you are using XD100 oil at the TCW3 oil setting.
What is your thinking on that? Lockeman's approved?

Con
!987 Outrage 18 / 2011 Yamaha F150
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:25 am

Re using XD100 oil in an E-TEC at the standard oil rate setting:

XD100 is a mostly-synthetic oil. It burns very cleanly, and leaves very little residue. I infer that XD100 apparently is also a very good lubricant, as Evinrude offers the option to reduce the amount of oil used if the oil is exclusively XD100 oil. But just because there is an option to use less oil does not mean you MUST use less oil if the oil is XD100.

My cost for XD100 has been averaging around $35-per-gallon, and I hardly use three gallons a season. So choosing XD100 costs me $105. I could use a generic TCW3 $10-per-gallon oil, and maybe save $75. But a 225-HP outboard engine these days is an expensive purchase. I figure if XD100 is an all-round better oil, why not use it, and just leave the oil ratio setting for the engine management module at the standard setting.

By the way, some people have inferred the "100" in the XD100 product name is indicative that the oil can be used at a ratio of 1:100 with gasoline, but I don't think that is true. I don't know for certain what the "100" designator was meant to imply. At one time Evinrude had three grades of oil, XD30, XD50, and XD100, and I think--perhaps--those numbers were indicative of the percentage of synthetic oil, but I am not certain that is correct.

Also, XD100 oil is not a TCW3 oil. A TCW3 oil is supposed to be suitable for dilution into gasoline. In an E-TEC the oil and gasoline are never mixed together. Only gasoline is routed to the fuel injectors, and only oil is routed to the pumped oil distribution system that injects oil into the engine cylinder walls and crankcase. However, many users report the XD100 mixes well with gasoline. Perhaps Evinrude did not seek a TCW3 certification for XD100 because Evinrude only offers XD100 for their own engines.

The rate of oil use in the E-TEC varies with the engine speed and load. If you do a lot of low speed operation, the oil-gasoline ratio on the standard setting will tend to be around 1:60, based on my estimates of oil and gasoline consumption that I have used on longer trips. If you run the engine at full-throttle most of the time, I suspect that the oil-gasoline ratio be more like 1:50, and might even use more oil than than. I don't know because I have no data.

Another little curious detail: in early E-TEC engines there was some oil being pumped into the fuel supply to the fuel injectors. The oil distribution manifold had about six to eight ports, and one of the ports fed oil into the fuel system. But that configuration was removed in later models. I don't recall the exact epoch. On my 2010 engine there is no oil supply hose going to the fuel system. Curiously, some dealers have recommended that E-TEC owners restore the oil-into-the-fuel themselves by pre-mixing a bit of oil with the gasoline, at a ratio of 1:200.

I have given that a thought, but have not done it. As you know, I like to look at things like this mathematically. I will do that here.

In regard to the often recommended blending of the gasoline and oil at 1:199, I am always curious when I see numbers. I have looked into the effect of blending some oil into the fuel on the overall rate of oil usage. If we burn 200-gallons of gasoline with a 1:49 oiling ratio, then 1-gallon of oil was in the gasoline and 4-gallons of oil was injected. So the overall oil use was 5-gallons in 200, or 1:40. That seems a bit high for oil-gasoline ratio, particularly for a modern two-stroke-power-cycle engine where the lubricating oil is kept out of the gasoline-air mix by use of direct-injection.

The end of mixing oil and gasoline in the E-TEC seems to have occurred at about the same time the fuel injector was changed to what is known as the BIP (for Ball in Plunger) design. Another influence could have been more strict emission standards. The more oil that gets into the combustion chamber, the more it affects the exhaust gas emissions. Exhaust gas emissions have become more strict, so perhaps not adding oil into the gasoline was helpful in meeting them. (On the other hand, the new G2 engines have very reduced exhaust gas emissions from their combustion chamber design, so they meet regulatory limits with ease.)

Don SSDD
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Don SSDD » Sun Nov 17, 2019 9:26 am

The E-TEC injectors [and the EMM controlled oil injectoin pump] are now so sophisticated in the control of gasoline into the combustion chamber [and lubricating oil pumped into various locations in the engine], [that] “contaminating” the gasoline being introduced into the process does not seem sensible.

It seems these unique injectors position the spray from the injectors into a specific location inside the chamber; oil [is pumped into other locations. If you add additional oil into the gasoline stream being injected, you are messing with the precise engineering of the injectors and the computer program controlling them.

Injecting more oil into into this process on the oil injection side by leaving the settings on TW3 is one thing.

Q: is adding oil in the gasoline defeating the injectors and computers?
1986 Outrage 18 with 2001 Honda 130 HP
Former Owner 1991 Guardian 19 with 1994 Evinrude V4 140HP
Former owner 1987 Montauk with 1998 Mercury 90HP
Nova Scotia

dtmackey
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby dtmackey » Sun Nov 17, 2019 5:04 pm

Also curious: what is the benefit of adding oil to the gasoline?

Since the E-TEC is a direct injected engine, the fuel is not passed through the crankcase as in a carburetor motor, so the engine internals never see any added lubrication.

jimh
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Mon Nov 18, 2019 5:06 pm

I don't know if there is a benefit to accrue from blending more oil into the gasoline of modern E-TEC engines.

The claimed benefit [offered by the proponents of blending oil into the gasoline] is to provide lubrication to fuel system components, particularly the E-TEC fuel injectors themselves.

In c.2008 the fuel injectors used with E-TEC engines were re-designed, and they are now described as the ball-in-plunger or BIP E-TEC fuel injectors.

In the legacy E-TEC engines before c.2008 that used older fuel injectors, there was a provision in the oil distribution system of the E-TEC to route some oil into the gasoline. My estimate is that ratio was at about 1:300 oil-gasoline. The inference was that this fuel was to help the fuel injectors maintain lubrication.

After the introduction of the BIP fuel injectors c.2008 or c.2009, the oil distribution system on the E-TEC was modified, and there are no longer any oil hoses being routed to the gasoline supply. The inference from this change is the new BIP fuel injectors no longer needed added lubrication.

Even if there were a benefit to resume using the legacy method of having some oil in the gasoline to help the fuel injector lubrication, the suggestion to use 1:200 seems higher than the original ratio used. By my estimate, the legacy oil-gasoline ratio for direct mixing with the fuel was more like 1:300.

In general I think owners of outboard engines think that brewing up their own fuel chemistry is something that will always improve operation. There are plenty of additives available to be added to gasoline fuel.

The past few years for my E-TEC, its fuel has been mostly pure gasoline with no dilution with ethanol. The only fuel additive I use is the recommended Evinrude fuel stabilizer and conditioner, 2+4 FUEL STABILIZER.

My use of 2+4 with any gasoline added to the tank begins in August. I want to be sure that all the fuel throughout the entire fuel system is stabilized fuel. In the fuel system there is a surprising high volume of stored fuel:

  • the fuel tank
  • a RACOR fuel-water separator filer external to the engine
  • a large canister fuel-water separator filter under the engine cowling
  • the total volume of fuel circulating in the six fuel injectors, the several hoses, the fuel cooler, and the fuel vapor separator tank

There might be a gallon of fuel downstream of the fuel tank. Just stabilizing the fuel in the fuel tank is not enough.

Since an E-TEC engine at idle speed might tank one to three hours to consume a gallon of fuel, you cannot just throw some stabilizer into the fuel tank on the last day of service for the engine, run the engine at idle for 10-minutes, and then expect stabilized fuel to have reached every part of the fuel system. I start using stabilized fuel while I am still running the boat at high throttle settings weeks before winterization.

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Rick W
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Re: Seven Questions on Exhaust Lower Inner Housing

Postby Rick W » Wed Nov 20, 2019 5:28 pm

[I reposted these questions from Rick's initial post on another topic which was moved to a new discussion--jimh]

Re the exhaust lower inner housing:

I would want to know the root cause of that repeated failure. It sounds like a design fault and if that is the case the dealer should see lots of these failures.

Q1R: Is that why it was found "when the gear case was dropped from the mid-section"

Q2R:Did the dealer know enough about that engine's problems with housings to drop the lower leg to check it on its second service?

Q3R: If is is a design problem what does the dealer say is the specific problem?

Q4R: Is it overheat?

Q5R: Is it a problem with the material used in the manufacture of the engine?

Q6R: What is different about the 2019 Etec model or is it the same housing ?

Q7: Is there a manufacturer workaround for the problem of deformation of the exhaust lower inner housing such as a different thermostat (if [the cause of the problem] is overheat or is there a new material or improved replaceable part?
First time owner, long time admirer , 1970 (not 1963) 16 foot model being restored to a functional fishing platform

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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Wed Nov 20, 2019 5:30 pm

RICK: here are my best answers to your seven questions as quoted above.

A1R: the gear case was removed to service the water pump. The exhaust housing burn was discovered when the gear case was examined because the exhaust lower inner housing came out with the gear case, as best I recall.

A2R: the dealer did not drop the gear case with the specific purpose of inspecting the exhaust lower inner housing. The specific purpose was to service the water pump.

A3R: the specific cause of the burn to the exhaust lower inner housing is not known precisely. The obvious cause is the rubber gasket became too hot, which allow exhaust gases to pass out of the housing. The flow of hot gases eventually caused the aluminum to soften and deform. There could also be a cause due to misalignment of the exhaust lower inner housing during assembly of the gear case to the midsection.

A4R: if you mean "overheat" as in the engine operating temperature being above the normal range, there was some operating time logged with engine operating temperatures above 190-degrees, but there was no time with the engine operating temperature above the upper limit that would have caused an alarm condition. With the original water pump, the engine did become prone to having high operating temperatures at idle speed ranges, but with the installation of a water pump service kit using the installation procedures for thr pump iimpeller, the idle speed operating temperature range was reduced and now never gets above about 180-degrees.

A5R: the engine is made from aluminum, which is the usual material from which outboard engines are made. The seal is rubber. If the housing were made from titanium it would tolerate higher heat. This part has been in use in Evinrude engines for decades.

A6R: In 2019 the legacy E-TEC V6 3.3-liter engine has been replaced with an entirely new engine, the E-TEC G2. There are hundreds of differences. The G2 is a substantial re-design of the E-TEC.

A7R: I am not aware of any specific recommended changes to the thermostat, although there are some optional thermostat that might produce a generally lower operating temperature. I am not aware of any change in material for the exhaust lower inner housing.

Although not asked, I will offer my opinion for a possible cause of the problem: the E-TEC engine mounting height on my boat is quite high due to mounting on the Whaler Drive and mounting at one-hole-up. The effect of those two factors produces an engine mounting with the lower part of the midsection--precisely the part that contains the exhaust lower inner housing--being above the water line. On normal boats with notched transoms, that part of the midsection is continually immersed in water. My inference is that when the lower part of the midsection is immersed in water, the exhaust lower inner housing is surrounded by water. That water provides cooling. Due to the high engine mounting, the lower part of the midsection is out of the water, and does not get the cooling benefit of being surrounded by cool lake water. This is illustrated at Figure 2a above.

Figure 2a shows my E-TEC and another V6 E-TEC mounted on identical hulls, one with notched transom and one with Whaler Drive. You can see the much deeper immersion into the water of the midsection on the other boat with notched transom.

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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Fri Feb 17, 2023 11:14 am

A follow-up on the maintenance history of the E-TEC engine that is the topic of this discussion:

The last service performed was in October of 2018. There has been no maintenance performed since then. The engine was operated during the 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 boating seasons, but the number of hours of engine run time was generally lower than 50-hours each season. The engine was run only in the cold, clean freshwater of Lake Michigan or Lake Huron, or for a very limited number of hours in freshwater inland lakes in northern Michigan. The 2023 season finds the engine in year five since last maintenance, and about 200-hour since last service.

At this point my intentions are to change the gear case lubricant.

I have cooling water pressure instrumentation. The water pressure levels show only the most minor and negligible decrease from the levels observed with a new water pump impeller, and remain within the recommended ranges. If I observe any significant change in cooling water pressure, I will have the water pump serviced.

If and when the gear case is dropped from the mid-section, I will be most interested to see the state of the casting in the exhaust path that has twice prior shown deformation from excess heat.

Jloutrage
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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Jloutrage » Fri Feb 17, 2023 6:19 pm

It’s just my opinion, but I would change my gear case lube every fall during winter layup, regardless of what the owners manual says. Cheap insurance against lube problems such as water intrusion. Even if water is not found to exist in the lube, it is not possible to determine the quality of the used oil simply by looking at it. You can always smell it, but you need a trained nose to know what smell to look for.

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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby Jefecinco » Sat Feb 18, 2023 10:08 am

A concern with leaving old lower unit oil unchanged over the Winter is the possibility that any water in the gearcase will freeze and potentially damage any seals with which it is in contact.
Butch

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Re: E-TEC Engine: Maintenance History After Ten Seasons

Postby jimh » Mon Jan 08, 2024 4:19 pm

Following up on the routine maintenance for my model year 2010 E-TEC V6 3.3-liter 225-HP engine as of the winterization in September 2023: there was no additional maintenance performed. The engine was operated in the 2023 season for about 30-hours, and there were no abnormal conditions, alerts, or warnings encountered. The engine was again winterized for storage using the unique E-TEC self-winterizing function, and the boat was put into indoor unheated storage for the winter.

The 2023 season is the fifth consecutive season of use of the engine without any particular scheduled maintenance. The last engine history report that I can find in my files is from August 2020. At that time the engine hours were 507-hours-51-minutes. The previous engine history report was from September 2018, when the engine had 478-hours 23-minutes. The interval from 2018 to 2020 accounts for only an additional 26-hours 33-minutes of run time. I would expect that the amount of run time in the 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons will not total more than 75-hours additional, or an estimated run time at present for the engine at about 585-hours total run time, which has occurred over 15-seasons. That is an average hours-runtime-per-season of about 39-hours.

From this data I see I need to be using the boat more often.

The water pump impeller has now been in service since 2018, or about five years. I have dedicated engine gauges monitoring the engine water pressure and engine temperature, and those gauges continued throughout 2023 to show normal readings for temperature and pressure. On that basis I am not inclined to immediately replace the water pump impeller, but I may do that at the end of the 2024 season.

I will mention here my intention to service the gear case lubricant in May 2024. Again, that is my intention, and I will report my findings if I actually do perform the service.

Part of my reticence to engage in routine service for my E-TEC is a change in the location were I keep the boat in winter storage. For the last several years, I have been keeping the boat stored in Northport, Michigan, just a mile from my cabin up there. This is a change from my previous practice of hauling the boat back to southeast Michigan for winter storage near our home in Oakland County, Michigan. That change was brought about from a rather big change in my desire to haul the boat on the trailer on the highway for a 600-mile round trip each year, just to store in in southeast Michigan instead of the Leelanau County area near my cabin, The savings in not adding miles on the boat, trailer, and towing vehicle, and the savings in cost of not consuming gasoline fuel for a 600-mile round trip every year, more than pay for the slightly higher cost of storage in a local building up north. The only drawback is I am not able to take the boat to my trusted dealer, Lockeman's Hardware & Boats in Detroit, for routine service. I may have to break that pattern this year.