early ETEC Evinrudes

I've been looking around for a 30-40 hp tiller ETEC as an excuse to buy a larger boat but I read that the early ones were very unreliable?

Let me guess.............you read it on the Internet!

Yes. Trying to figure out when they were first made. I have a bee line on a 2000 model which is in the period when they were in trouble?

If it is a 2000 it is a Ficht. I think they made the 115, 150, 175,200 hp. They did not have the 40-60, or the 25, 30 DI motors then. The early Ficht motors were JUNK. BASS had teams of mechanics at the Tourney's to fix all the blown up and non running motors. That was one of the reasons that OMC went out of business.

Bombardier bought OMC and shut down production of all motors so they could get a handle on what the problems were. The first year they only made a few motors of certain hp so they could fix the problems. When they came back out with the ETEC most all problems were fixed until they had the hairbrained idea to send the 25 and 30 to china to be made. Well they had problems and brought the motors back to US to be built. But they still had problems with the electrical systems.

I had a 40hp ETEC and it had a couple problems but it was taken care of. The main problem I had with it was there was no power. It was a dog! SLOW! It had a lot of torque and pulling power but no top end.

Thanks, TB. So Ficht did not make the 40 hp I'm looking at? It feels like I'm on a goose chase being on a tight budget but the ETECs look like the go-to motor compared to a 4 stroke. I called Evinrude but they're about as helpful as calling Walmart.

Called back and hit button #3 instead of #2 and found out that Suzuki made it in 2000. The first ETECs were made in 2004.

I thought only the early 150 and 175HP DI V-6's were time bombs. My '99 115HP Fitch still runs great. Of course I'm easily 40HP over the hulls rated power so I never have run the engine hard. I can't, it's way too scary.

I can't speak on the old ones but I caught a new 2016 25 etec and it's amazing. Plenty of power and I can hit 30 fully loaded in my 1448 grizzly which is 500 pounds and I'm 270. So if you can afford it I'd recommend a new one. 10 year warranty and no maintenance for 3 yeara

One of the main problems they found out with the early DI omc's was the pistons were not made with the right alloy that the engineer's called for. The bean counters over rode them and had the pistons made in Mexico with a different alloy and the heat treat was all over the place. that was why some motors blew up in the first 20 hours and some never blew.

That and letting the customers being the test bed for the company to find the faults. Well it worked. Right out of business. And one of the early fixes and I think it still is was you had to index the spark plugs so the fuel sprayed right onto it to help cool the plug because of how lean these motors run to meet the EPA BS! You had to place the electrode hook directly away from the injector so the fuel blows right into the electrode. I used to have to do this for my racecar as the domes on the pistons would crush the electrodes. But an outboard????