The E-tec is dead a warning to other owners.
Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 4:24 am
I don't want to bag BRP as any brand can have issues, but their business practices and their failed engineering is going to see Evinrude go the way of Johnson and Chrysler outboards.
At the time I got the E-tec in 2008 it's power to weight ratio on the
was the best around and it had the large gear case to spin a 14" diameter prop. By all accounts BRP had fixed OMC's FICHT software problems and the motors were living up to their promised hype. Fuel efficient, quiet, clean with all the 2 stroke torque left intact. And the E-tec pricing and 3 year maintenance made them cheap to buy and cheap to run.
Full disclosure, I have always done my own mechanical work since I built and raced cars as a teenager. I have undergraduate degrees in computer hardware development and post graduate degrees in computer forensics and have worked for the past 20 years as an electronic evidence examiner. Newfangled technology does not phase me and I liked the futuristic design the E-tec promised. After the warranty period expired I did not use the dealer for service.
For the first 8 years the motor ran flawlessly and I was very happy with it, if not a little sad I did not get the 75 when I was going through my go faster phase of ownership
This year however the beastie started to show her true colours. She became temperamental and hard to start on some occasions. She only had 134hrs on the clock and was due for her third service. New plugs, new water pump, new thermostat, gear oil change and a software update. No different still would not start on some occasions once running ran well just did not like to start sometimes with up to 16 key turns to get it going. Evdiag showed that it was having a lot of start in gear faults, finally the culprit identified so a new neutral safety switch was ordered and fitted. First run after fitting and the beastie would not start period. Back to the diag software to check for faults, no comms check the NMEA 2000 readouts on the chartplotter none. Check the fault leds on the EMM all 4 lit. Try an EMM recovery no luck still no comms. No fault code in the service manual for all 4 leds being lit. I am starting to suspect I have the dreaded fried EMM problem.
Now this is where my issue with BRP starts and the warning for other E-tec owners.
A replacement EMM will set you back about $3000 or 1/3 the price of your original purchase price. This is not really justifiable on a motor that is now 9 years old, out of warranty and could easily break the EMM again. The obvious solution with old motors is to buy secondhand parts from a wrecker right? Wrong BRP key the EMMs to the injectors you have to buy a new EMM from them and have it installed by a dealer to reprogram your edf and other codes your dealer also requires a password and login from BRP over the Internet which BRP only give to authorised dealers. This means the home mechanic or independant mechanic cannot repair the motor for a more reasonable cost. Plus all the dealers around here have gone broke and the Evinrude dealer I used to use has gone over to Yamaha and no longer deals in Evinrudes.
Having spoken to an Evinrude tech this is what are the likely causes of the EMM to fail from his experience.
Now I went through my owners manual and the only warning is a very small side note in the battery section about wing nuts could cause electrical faults, nothing else and no warning about charging the battery.
Now my big whinge after all the background information
At the time I got the E-tec in 2008 it's power to weight ratio on the
was the best around and it had the large gear case to spin a 14" diameter prop. By all accounts BRP had fixed OMC's FICHT software problems and the motors were living up to their promised hype. Fuel efficient, quiet, clean with all the 2 stroke torque left intact. And the E-tec pricing and 3 year maintenance made them cheap to buy and cheap to run. Full disclosure, I have always done my own mechanical work since I built and raced cars as a teenager. I have undergraduate degrees in computer hardware development and post graduate degrees in computer forensics and have worked for the past 20 years as an electronic evidence examiner. Newfangled technology does not phase me and I liked the futuristic design the E-tec promised. After the warranty period expired I did not use the dealer for service.
For the first 8 years the motor ran flawlessly and I was very happy with it, if not a little sad I did not get the 75 when I was going through my go faster phase of ownership
This year however the beastie started to show her true colours. She became temperamental and hard to start on some occasions. She only had 134hrs on the clock and was due for her third service. New plugs, new water pump, new thermostat, gear oil change and a software update. No different still would not start on some occasions once running ran well just did not like to start sometimes with up to 16 key turns to get it going. Evdiag showed that it was having a lot of start in gear faults, finally the culprit identified so a new neutral safety switch was ordered and fitted. First run after fitting and the beastie would not start period. Back to the diag software to check for faults, no comms check the NMEA 2000 readouts on the chartplotter none. Check the fault leds on the EMM all 4 lit. Try an EMM recovery no luck still no comms. No fault code in the service manual for all 4 leds being lit. I am starting to suspect I have the dreaded fried EMM problem.
Now this is where my issue with BRP starts and the warning for other E-tec owners.
A replacement EMM will set you back about $3000 or 1/3 the price of your original purchase price. This is not really justifiable on a motor that is now 9 years old, out of warranty and could easily break the EMM again. The obvious solution with old motors is to buy secondhand parts from a wrecker right? Wrong BRP key the EMMs to the injectors you have to buy a new EMM from them and have it installed by a dealer to reprogram your edf and other codes your dealer also requires a password and login from BRP over the Internet which BRP only give to authorised dealers. This means the home mechanic or independant mechanic cannot repair the motor for a more reasonable cost. Plus all the dealers around here have gone broke and the Evinrude dealer I used to use has gone over to Yamaha and no longer deals in Evinrudes.
Having spoken to an Evinrude tech this is what are the likely causes of the EMM to fail from his experience.
- Cooling blockage causing repeated overtemp of the EMM.
Wing nuts on battery causing intermittant loss and voltage spikes.
Charging battery with mains powered charger.
Frayed wiring causing power spikes.
Stator failure causing electrical faults.
Now I went through my owners manual and the only warning is a very small side note in the battery section about wing nuts could cause electrical faults, nothing else and no warning about charging the battery.
Now my big whinge after all the background information
- The EMM is worth about $50 in electronic components the value is in the software I have already paid for that once BRP so why the big $$$.
If the EMM is so sensitive to electrical fluctuations why is there not a cheap sacrificial circuit outside the EMM in a cheap easily replaceable module?
Why BRP do you tie owners to a barely existent overpriced dealer network? (That is a monopoly and against Australian consumer law)
) What's in store for us when it's time to change the motor? How exactly is that done?
I had the option to remove the old motor myself and try and sell it for parts but for $260 ( dealer charge to remove and dispose) it was not worth my effort. 
