NB not my claims, just pasting from a formum.

Note how they're still blaming the users & now it seems they do the on
boat R&D for them???

Pastes;

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:50 pm Post subject: ETEC Cold Water
Performance Reply with quote
With all the recent comments on which outboard to use for powering a
C-Dory, I have to relate my experience to date with a 90 ETEC. Since
taking delivery of a CD22 in April, I have put 114 hours on the main
engine. My overall assessment at this point is the ETEC is not suitable
for use in cold water climates (water temperatures less than 50 degrees
F). The reasons for this assessment are based on several PM's between
Dusty and I comparing the performance of his engine to mine and the fact
that Evinrude could not explain the differences. Here are the problems I
encountered:

a. During April, May, and part of June the EMM would return a no oil
alarm after a few minutes of operation. The alarm could be cleared and
the engine would operate normally if the oil system was primed using the
instructions in the owner's manual. The problem cleared in June after
replacing the oil tank which included all the sensors but that coincided
with higher air and water termperatures. When the problem recurred the
end of September, Evinrude went back to the drawing board and finally
came up with the solution. Apparently the recommended XD100 oil
viscosity increases so much with declining temperatures, it does not
flow well enough to keep the sensors convinced the engine is getting
oil. Evinrude recommended using SkiDoo XPS synthetic snow machine oil.
In the last 12.4 hours of operation during temperatures ranging between
28 and 48 degrees F, I had no oil alarms. I think this problem is
finally behind me.

b. Oil consumption over the 114 hours was approximately 3 times the oil
consumption expected (and seen by Dusty). Evinrude examined engine
reports on two occasions and after more than a month recommended the
dealer look at the cooling system as their assessment the motor was
running too cold. Their review of engine operating showed that it should
have consumed 1.2 gallons of oil during which time I had used 3.5
gallons. The dealer found that the thermostat was allowing the engine to
run 30 degrees cooler than a new thermostat. When I ran the boat with
the new thermostat, the engine sounded much different, (it was quieter),
ran smoother over the full rpm range, and fuel economy increase almost
30% (from 3.5 to 4.5 mpg with the same load). Prior to the new
thermostat, the engine showed its best fuel economy at WOT.

c. During extensive low speed trolling the engine fouled the plugs.
After trolling for approximately 2.5 hours, when increasing the throttle
the engine was missing on two of three cylinders for about 5 seconds and
eventually smoothed out.

d. On my last trip, the water temperatures averaged between 40 and 45
degrees F and the air temperature was between 25 and 45 degrees F. Fuel
consumption declined back to the 3 to 3.5 mpg range, and oil consumption
was unchanged. The engine got its best fuel economy at WOT.

My assessment is the cooling system on the ETEC does not allow the
engine to reach the proper operating temperature to run efficiently in
cold environments where the air and water temperatures are below 50
degrees F.

If anyone has any different experience in a cold environment, I would
like to here about it.
_________________
Tom

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:27 am Post subject: Reply with quote
I have the same E-tec you have and ran it all summer. I have about the
same hours as yours around 115, at least going by what my Garmin GPS
says. Until I put the boat in the shop and have a laptop hooked up to it
to get the real hours thats the best reading I have. I was told that
with the XD 100 oil properly programed you should get 100 hours on a
tank of oil. I just started my second tank. He said that E-tec's
normally come programed for XD 50 oil and have to be programed for the
XD 100. The rate you are burning is the rate of XD 50 as I understand,
you might question that.

I do have the same problem with the plugs though. If I us it alot for
trolling the plugs do start to foul after a few hours, rough starting
back up and a little stinky but no smoke. This was not a problem at
first but started after around 40 hours. What I found was happening was
trolling was fouling the plugs enough to cause the electrode to burn and
widen the gap. The gap that should be 30 thousands +- 3% was out to 40
thousands. New set of plugs and I am back to normal running. I am now on
my 3rd set of plugs, not good since they are supposed to last 300 hours.
I am now setting up my kicker to troll with EZ Steer and Troll Master
for next year as I have no problem if I don't troll with it at below 900
rpm for long times. My E-tec mechanic say Evinrudes have had a lot of
problems in the past with running to cold at slow speeds in cold water
and thinks this may be the problem.

The oil light problem, yes I to had that problem too but with me it was
not a problem with the oil. I would start heading out, get about 5 min.
run time and light would come on an engine would kick into idle to
protect itself. I would reset every thing and it would be fine or maybe
do it one more time. Well what I found by looking at my fuel lines, it
was sucking all the fuel out of my kicker motor fuel line then sucking
air. In fact it sucked it so hard it broke the valve in the squeeze ball
for the kicker. I put fuel valves on both the main line and the kicker
line so I can turn off the one not in use and have not had it happen since.

Well that is my experience so far with my E-tec and the Mech's. I still
love the motor and have faith that they will work the few bugs out. Wink

Wayne

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:23 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
At this point, I think I have the only ETEC used on sal****er. Most of
the others I am aware of are used on rivers and a lot of them are jets.
The jets are generally run at high rpm all the time, but the one I owner
I spoke with didn't see anything close to the oil consumption I experienced.

As far as software is concerned, I got the update in June and after the
most recent run of problems with the no oil alarm, the impression I got
from Evinrude was they thought the problem was solved with the patch,
but were starting to get some indications that wasn't true. That's why
they came up with the SkiDoo oil fix. They also were considering an
update to the XD100 blend. (For my money I would just relabel the XPS oil).

I really think I have two problems that are somewhat mutually
reinforcing. If the engine is running too cold, it will certainly burn
more fuel and oil. At the same time it shouldn't burn that much oil
given other owner's experiences. The conversation I had with BRP after
they examined the EMM engine report and told me I should have consumed
1.2 gallons of oil and I had put over 3.5 gallons in the engine was
quite interesting. It took a few minutes for the technician to
understand that regardless of what the software said, the motor went
through over 3.5 gallons of oil. BRP has asked for yet another engine
report, but the boat is stored for the winter. If I can get hold of a
PDA and cable, I should be able to get it for them, but I don't see
where I will get much done before spring. If BRP wants to try some cold
weather testing, I can probably help. Otherwise, I think their best move
is to take the engine off the boat and get it back to the factory and
see what's going on.

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:18 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
We've pretty much tabled it until spring (March some time), but this
what I plan to do and Evinrude has agreed to help.

a. Install a new software map for the EMM.
b. Install new plugs since the current ones are pretty well fouled.
c. Switch back to XD100 oil.
d. Go out with a notebook computer running the BRP diagnostic software
connected to the engine for real time monitoring to determine actual
operating temperature and oil consumption.
e. Stay in cell phone range to discuss real time monitoring results with
BRP.

I wish I could have resolved this before winter, but it doesn't look
like it. The best I can tell my engine is the exception but that doesn't
necessarily make me any happier.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:02 am Post subject: Reply with quote
Gary,

They didn't mention one, but mine involves the failure of 4 bolts in 600
feet of water.


K