posted 09-14-2004 06:49 PM ET (US)        

I liked the motor when it ran, but I am curious about getting a straight answer from anyone that is truly in the loop about what has been changed since 2004.

I will take this up further with my dealer in a few days once the motor is back together and let folks know (if anyone is interested). And for the curious about my blown motor, a rod bearing let loose (didn't toss the piston but it made a horrendous noise till it finally wouldn't run). Bombardier asked the dealer to ship it to them overnight so they could check it out immediately--even had a service rep get right over to the dealer. It appears they are at least interested in this situation. The motor was labeled as being built in January 2004, was purchased and installed by the dealer about September 1, 2004, and the dealer tells me it had 14 hours on it at the time of its demise. That seems high to me but....

posted 09-14-2004 11:07 PM ET (US)            

When I worked for an electronics manufacturer, the engineering department issued revisions (engineering change numbers or ECN's) that often were immediately incorporated into production. In the marketing department we never changed any model numbers or even order numbers. The only way to track these changes was by serial number. The production department kept track of that, and it was essentially impossible to find anything in our literature that would have informed a customer about these things.

I am certain this is just about a universal practice, so I am not at all surprised that a 2005 model E-TEC engine might have some changes in it from an early 2004 production model.

posted 09-15-2004 07:16 AM ET (US)            

Jim: Thanks for the reply, I'm familiar with the "engineering change order" process. I'm just curious as to HOW different the two model years are.

Sea: Thanks to this forum (or maybe another one) I knew about and made sure that the motor had the firmware updates when I picked it up; it was the dealer that told me the factory was sending out a new "chip" as part of the repair/replacement of the powerhead. Possibly this is more than just some parameters changing and is the equivelant of flashing an entirely new program into the control module (which may be beyond the built in abilities of the field software and the ecm)?

Thanks for the replies folks, I'm just interested in finding out as much as I can about these motors as I possibly can. Minor changes in a production run are one thing, but different reed blocks, etc are generally done for a good reason. Maybe the bearings were beefed up also in the 05's and I wouldn't be waiting for repairs right now had I known and gone for the newer motor.

posted 09-15-2004 05:36 PM ET (US)            

Anyhow, I went for it, had some bad luck right up front, hopefully all will be taken care of appropriately and I can be back on the water fishing in a couple of days.

posted 09-15-2004 07:45 PM ET (US)            

Good point on the break-in/oil mix. Maybe I will ask them to hold off on the lean oil settings till I make it to a twenty hour check next time around.

posted 09-15-2004 07:53 PM ET (US)            

Crabby, your the first person I have heard of using XD-100.

posted 09-15-2004 09:47 PM ET (US)            

The motor is designed not to need a break-in to seat the rings due to the fine honing on the cylinders.

Crabby mentioned in his other post that the rod bearing did not show any heat discoloration, which would rule out a lubrication problem.

Re-setting the motor for XD-100 oil should be done with XD 100 in the tank. You can either empty the tank and add the XD-100 oil or add the XD-100 when the tank is almost empty, then use the motor before getting the computer recalibrated.

posted 09-15-2004 10:08 PM ET (US)            

I happen to take an interest in knowing everything there is to know about what makes my current Evinrudes' tick, just like I did when I had a Yamaha EFI before that. I also happen to take an interest in what makes the E-TEC tick as well as what makes other brands, including Mercury's Verado, tick. I believe that knowing as much as I can about what makes these things tick, what their advantages and shortcomings are, will make me a better user and a better consumer the next time it comes to repower. What ever little tricks of the "trade" to make them run better that I learn along the way through that interest, I'm more than happy to share just like Clark and others do here.

By the way, my interest and following of the technology also helps me quickly weed out the BS such as like we saw last spring with respect to the 65 MPH 320 Outrage Verado 250 speed claims. Remember that one, it was only about 18 MPH off the mark. See http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001146.html.

It's been a well publicized world-wide fact for some time that the E-TEC can be programmed to run on 100 percent synthetic 2-stroke oil which is called XD-100. It is a well publicized world-wide fact that when so programmed, it uses oil at a rate which is approximately 1/2 the rate when programmed to use XD-50. It's a well publicized fact that XD-50 is a blend of synthetic and fossil oil and that this oil used to be called "Ficht Ram Oil." All of this is only a mystery to you because you do not take an interest in the product or what is capable of doing. But that's OK.

Thanks for the practical tip Seahorse. Glad you participate here.

posted 09-15-2004 10:46 PM ET (US)            

--XD-25;
--XD-50;
--XD-100.

You can get a sense of the oil ratio mixture, or grade, or price, from the numerical values. This makes it easier to sort out instead of qualifiers like "premium", "super", "deluxe", "performance", "high-performance", "plus", "extra", or combinations of those.

Information about the XD-100 oil and re-programming was mentioned by a new owner (ratherwhalering) in February in this article:

posted 09-16-2004 08:25 PM ET (US)            

I spoke to my mechanic/dealer today and mentioned the possibility that we switched over to XD100 too soon in the break in process. He said he's done it many times before right from the git-go w/o any issues (mine has been the only problem motor he has seen so far after about 125 sales (his estimate)). He also told me that the original oil in the tank is XD100 but it is an untinted version; the stuff sold over the counter is a brownish tint. As the oil delivery lines are blue tinted it gives a false impression that the original oil may be something else.

posted 09-17-2004 08:54 AM ET (US)            

A simple two-wire differential serial bus system, the CAN.bus operates in noisy electrical environments with a high level of data integrity, and its open architecture and user-definable transmission medium make it extremely flexible. Capable of high-speed (1 Mbits/s) data transmission over short distances (40 m) and low-speed (5 kbits/s) transmissions at lengths of up to 10,000 m, the multi-master CAN.bus is highly fault tolerant, with powerful error detection and handling designed in.

Developed by Bosch in Germany, CAN was originally designed specifically for the automotive market, which remains its primary application area today. CAN is also ideal as a general industrial bus.

posted 09-20-2004 02:20 PM ET (US)         

Anybody who tells you a carburated outboard or auto engine, 2 or 4-stroke, is a superior, and more a desireable engine than an EFI simply doesn't know what they are talking about.
The only reason to buy a carburated anything today is to save money on an obsolete technology. For 2006, my Mercury Dealer has told me ALL Mercury engines over 30 HP will be EFI. Carbs are gone.

I currently have 5 Mercury outboards, all in excellent condition. The carburated engines require a lot more routine service, don't run as well, use more fuel, and are noiser. The EFI engines are far superior, quieter, more fuel efficient and totally trouble free.

posted 09-20-2004 06:44 PM ET (US)            

The E-TEC does not have an exhaust pressure sensor like the 2000 and later FICHTS do.