1999 evinrude ficht 150

[Jbwdl23]

I have the opportunity to trade my 1998 evinrude 115 two stroke motor for a 1999 evinrude ficht 150 that has the ram powerhead. I have seen a lot of discussion about the evinrude ficht motors but I haven't seen anyone post about the 1999 ones that has the ram powerhead already on it. The guy that has it says it runs great and has great compression. Can anyone tell me if it will be a good motor to trade for since it has the ram powerhead upgrade already done? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[thesweetrelease]

~~hi its not the powerheads that were the issues with these engines. it was mostly the carbon build up and emm (computer) would fail in some way. the emm is water cooled and over time the salt would build up and choke the emm of water and it would overheat and fail. the emm is very expensive. the parts for these engines are very expensive too. the high pressure pump alone is like $700. I have a 1999 115 fitch and have only minor issues( mostly because I messed with it ) . to date it is a fine engine and very good on fuel. I have a wellcraft 18 cc with a 50 gallon tank .I filled it up in march and have fished the boat every weekend and some week days since and I still have half a tank. never saw an engine that good on gas.anyway if you do go to trade you should get the evinrude sofeware for the engine and run it. it will show you everything about the engine,from hours ,how hot the engine has got and more importantly how hot the emm has got. also if there is any other issue with the motor it will show you those codes. its very important to get this sofeware for the engine as you can not work on it with out it. when you go to see the engine ,pull the water hose off of the emm and look for salt build up. if there is a lot of salt walk away as the engine has not been cared for and most likely has had an emm over heat. you must flush this engine EVERYTIME you use it or it will fail. also you will need to decarb this engine a lot more then other engines,but its not hard just some seafoam spray through the thootle bodies like every 20 hours of use or so.

 

[thesweetrelease]

if you have any questions just ask

 

[Jbwdl23]

Okay thanks. I appreciate all the advice. I am going to see the engine Monday. Where is the water hose on the emm located and I don't know if they have the sofeware I will have to ask them if they do.

 

[max62]

I have a 2001 Ficht Ram. It's actually an almost a 2002 model (G suffix) as many parts are pointing to 2002 model year. One of the last OMC had produced.

I've done a lot of research before buying the boat with it second hand. Looked at the diagnostics report. Checked for any outstanding recalls, etc.

Ficht was the first fully computer-controller 2-stroke outboard. It was the new kid on the block and was closely watched by everyone. The amount and extent of failures was overblown. Guess what the PR departments for other major outboard engine manufacturers were doing? Fanning the flames, spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Pick any other engine brand and I can find you reports of trouble, blowing up, etc, etc. The new computer tech had a rough start (pun intended) but it got better. It was the 1997-1999 150/175HP models that had majority of issues. But these were solved and if you see the RAM moniker you are pretty much safe. Some 200-250HP engines also had recalls but again were also fixed. No other engine is free of problems. The stories continue, even to this day, that these Ficht engines were blowing up left and right. And, thus, ficht (and ram) engines have very little market values.

At 325hr and at 13+yrs, mine fires right up as soon as I turn the key. Uses very little gas and oil. But I am comparing it to my old carburated 1980's Yami and Johnson pre-mix engines. Only codes I've encounter with it were low-battery voltage and water in the fuel after winter storage. Codes cleared right up once fuel filter was replaced and battery charged up.

 

[Cricket Too]

Not sure what you mean by the Ram powerhead upgrade...Ram just refers to how the fuel is pressurized in the injectors. This particular engines uses a mechanical ram that compresses and pressurizes the fuel charge, others have done it differently, for instance Merc's Optimax uses and actual air compressor to pressurize the fuel charge. As far as I know The Ficht system always utilized a ram to compress the fuel charge. I have twin 2004 200hp Fichts, they don't say Ram anywhere on them, but still use the ram to compress the fuel charge.

In my opinion they are great motors, if they weren't BRP wouldn't have invested hundreds of millions in the technology and develop it into E-tec. As has been said they are great on fuel and oil, have a ton of torque and idle smoothly and quietly. You'll need to learn a few things about them, but they are good engines. if a '99 is still running well, more than likely it's been taken care of and will continue to run.

I'd have a qualified tech look it over...too many thing you won't know about when looking at it. Very different from a standard carbed 2 stroke outboard.

The EMM cooling line will be a small hose on top of the EMM (back of the engine), then another on the bottom of the EMM running over to the top of the VST, then out of the bottom of the VST into the exhaust.

 

[max62]

Not sure what you mean by the Ram powerhead upgrade...Ram just refers to how the fuel is pressurized in the injectors.

OMC introduced the first computer-controlled fuel-injected outboard as a Ficht (named after German company, who developed the injection system). Then, after a number of re-calls and improvements, to differentiate from and to offset the negative feedback OMC added RAM monicker to the engine name (2000 and later model years).

Under early recalls OMC retrofitted older heads with updated parts. Namely the pinned heads. Where a deflector pin was used to prevent fuel/oil mixture from being sprayed directly onto the spark plug's tip. This prevented the fast plugs fouling that the early models experienced as it was a major cause for most of the premature failures.

So what OP meant is the head he is trading for had the upgrades done after re-call.

 

[max62]

double post....

 

[Cricket Too]

They were called Ficht well after the pinned heads also. Guess I was just confused by him saying Ram powerhead....I guess he meant the heads, even though the pinned heads have nothing to do with the Ram function.

OP you'll need to learn how to index your plugs also, not a big deal but it needs to be done.

 

[emdsapmgr]

The 60 degree V6 Ficht engines made by OMC up through about 1999 were all problematic. OMC went bankrupt around the 1999 time frame. Those 60 degree motors made by the surviving Bombardier company around 2000 or so were fine. Many of the OMC engines failed. Some are still running today. Your engine is one of those made in the problematic years. As was mentioned, a number of factory service mods were issued for these engines and may have upped their survival rate. You should contact Bombardier and see if they have any records of service bulletin updates for that serial number. If so, that would be a good sign. Many of these engines have run for 900 to 1000 hours with no problems. You can take the engine to any Evinrude dealer and have them download the computer. It will also tell how many run hours are on the engine. Do a compression test prior to purchase. Even if that engine is a strong runner and may run for many years forward, it suffers from a bad reputation and you should adjust your offering price accordingly- in case you ever need to sell it.

 

[Faztbullet]

i would be leary as rumor has it BRP will no longer carry parts or offer technical assistance on Ficht engines made before 2002...
"The amount and extent of failures was overblown." is not true as I have seen at one dealer 20+ powerheads setting in floor waiting on replacements when they first came out.

 

[max62]

i would be leary as rumor has it BRP will no longer carry parts or offer technical assistance on Ficht engines made before 2002...
"The amount and extent of failures was overblown." is not true as I have seen at one dealer 20+ powerheads setting in floor waiting on replacements when they first came out.

Now I don't doubt that there were issue with those early years... which OMC did fix or replace. Which makes me wonder about those powerheads "sitting on the floor waiting"... were they actually blown? Or were they merely awaiting the fixes to be applied as per recall(s)? Therefore it would seem natural that, once recall notices came out, to have 20+ powerheads sitting on the floor waiting for the fix.