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.
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.
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:
- 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;
- 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.
- 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.