Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Hello everyone,

can I please have some honest feedback from current or former owners of 2001 era V6 Ficht RAM engines, NOT rants from people with "I HATE ETEC" tattoo's about how a mates, brothers, uncles, sisters, mothers dog had one and it was crap and that Ficht is the work of the devil!!!

I should point out that I know that Ficht has a very bad name amongst many boaties. I've done plenty of research into these engines and the history behind how there reputation came about, and that in most respects it is largely undeserved. I'm not really interested in what happened 12 years ago as OMC was going down the gurgler, Im mostly interested in whether people still have them/or have gotten rid of them, and how they performed, reliability, fuel consumption etc...

I am looking to repower my 19ft glass boat whose carby 2 stroke is currently giving me dramas.. I would really love to bolt on a brand new 175/200 4 stroke but price of $23k +++ is where fantasy meets reality .

Therefore I'm looking to put a less than $10k interim engine on her for around 3-4 years of reliable boating until I either repower again with a brand new engine or sell the boat.

Thanks in advance

Daryl

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Look for a 2002 or later model as those were built by and improved upon by Bombardier/BRP.

The '01's were OK but quality control was lacking during the last years of OMC before George Soros put them in bankruptcy court.

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

As stated the 01 was ok and as long as it was dealer serviced it should have all the updates. You should be able to pick up a late model 3.3 liter motor for about the price you posted..

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

I'd stay away from the '01's and stick with '02 and up. I believe some of the '01's still had the OMC tag on it

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

boobie said:

I'd stay away from the '01's and stick with '02 and up. I believe some of the '01's still had the OMC tag on it

Click to expand...

I actually just bought a boat with twin 2000 200HP Ficht RAMs. I did quite a bit of research, spoke with mechanics, and had the engines looked over.
From what I gather, the main problems were with 150 and 175HP models.
The injector problems were mostly fixed with the introduction of RAM. The motors I bought had all the updates and recalls done and have around 300 hours on them. If they made it this long, they should be fine for a little while longer while I save up for a repower. Also, some had issues with their lower units, however, those typically didn't make it past 100 hours. Give them new plugs regularly and make sure to index them properly. Decarbon them every once in a while and give them good oil.. Those are the suggestions, I've heard. Good luck!

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Thanks for the advice so far guys. Its good to here from people who either have or still do own them. Im sure there are more out there and would love to hear more reports on them, good or bad.

Thankshttp://forums.iboats.com/newreply.php?p=3074251&noquote=1

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

I should say that I have an engine I am looking at which is a 2001 135HP. Its got Bombardier sticker set on it . I checked the EMM readout which showed it had 450 hours on it until the powerhead blew due to water injestion which hydraulic'd (is that even a word??) a piston. It then had a new powerhead fitted with the insurance $$ as water injestion is "accidental damage" (hmmm) and since then has done about 100hrs. They are going to give a one year warranty on the powerhead as its relatively new.

I'm not 100% convinced about the water injestion story, but I've been treated very well by this dealer in the past so dont want to be too quick to judge.
One big advantage to this engine is that it will be a very simple install as I currently have a 96 115hp ocean runner which will be a simple unbolt and rebolt.

Any thoughts??

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

I would find another motor.

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

I'd stick with the '96 115 before the Ficht. Listen to the above "words of wisdom".

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Since we are on the subject of Ficht, does anyone know where and how to get the computer software to do a proper setup and diagnostic on these engines?
The software on Ebay is limited in the years it covers.
DFI software is upwards of $5000.00. Any ideas?

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

I have the sw that covers thru 2008. It's available from any BRP dealer for < $300 and covers all Fichts and Etecs thru current model year. Same cable used for either.

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

WOW!! Great info Jim. Great.

Gonna go get it. Thanks.

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

daselbee said:

Since we are on the subject of Ficht, does anyone know where and how to get the computer software to do a proper setup and diagnostic on these engines?
The software on Ebay is limited in the years it covers.
DFI software is upwards of $5000.00. Any ideas?

Click to expand...

Just type " FICHT software " into Google or Bing and a list of places comes up where you can buy it

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

daselbee, sent you a PM.

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

man for 10k you can get a almost new 4stroke or e-tec..or an optimax...I seen some 2005 boat, motor and aluminum trailer for that price. I just purchased an 03 sea pro sv1900 with a yammy 4-stroke 115 for 8K...you can get you a yammy V-max for under 10K also.

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Thanks for the reply Sparkie, Im in Australia though and we pay roughly twice the retail price for brand new outboards, despite the fact that our exchange rate with US$ is now basically equal. The dealers seem to think that we are all stupid!!!

Therefore, the cost to repower over here is very high, which is why not many people do it and leads to a small market for 2nd hand outboards.

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Hey Daryl,
I'm in Tassie and have owned a Ficht 150 for 4 years. First- I haven't visited iBoats for a couple of months, why do I diot T erritory people have to stuff up a good thing, what was wrong with the old layout...anyway I'm a lifetime yachtie (over 30 years) who went to the dark side and bought a lovely ship that pleased me and the admiral, it just happened to have a Ficht hanging off it and I knew no different. Well as every outboard mechanic was too scared to touch it I taught myself to service it and I have done around 250 fault free hours on it, on top of the original 450 hours, apart from the endless water in fuel alarm which after much much research I put down to the fact that the Ficht was developed before additives were put in fuel and that the "water" is anything that's not pure rocket juice and if there was a similar alarm in our cars there would be a government inquiry into the quality of fuel sold at the pump. Enough of that I have a Yalta 630 and the whole rig weighs in at around 1500kgs and we cruise at 22kts and my calculation is one litre per nautical mile. To be honest over a given distance it's a lot cheaper to run than the auxiliary Mariner 8 I had on the yacht.
cheers
David

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Congrats on being the first actual owner of a FICHT to reply to my original post!!!
What is the year of manufactre of your 150?? What type of oil do you run??
I find it strange to hear that nobody wants to touch your engine, my local evinrude dealer (Townsville) reckons he has many original owners still getting them serviced and that through the years they havent had any more or less incidents of engine problems from FICHT's compared with other 2 or 4 strokes. But then again, its in his best interest to say that, maybe I'm too synical...haha!!
When you say that your getting a "water in fuel" alarm, is that the "Check Engine" on a standard 4 light johnno/'rude tacho?
Daryl

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Sorry for slow reply Daryl, also apologies to iBoats re site upgrade... I have a 98 Johnson 150, they say it was the catalyst in the big recall mine has had the upgrades and it runs like a top. I use XD100 oil and have been told to use premium fuel although I cant tell the difference if I don't. I'm not surprised about the mechanics, I work in a parallel industry and if people don't do the factory training in my area they won't touch it. The good news is I've gone from a career sailor who knew nothing about the white box hanging off the stern to- in my mind a factory certified Ficht engineer. Yeah the alarm is a check engine light, I have the service manual and the software and it's a code 37 water in fuel. The first time I saw it I thought I'd cooked the donk and panicked, today (Australia Day you northern guys) it didn't come on at all and I don't even think about now. FYI it has improved immensely since I have been filtering the fill ups.
Also think about this re Ficht engines- when you trawl this site or others guys have weirdo problems with every make and model, otherwise there wouldn't be so many posts! It was explained to me the the Ficht is the world's simplest engine sitting under the world's most complex computer.
cheers
David

Re: Experiences of 2001 Evinrude FICHT RAM V6 owners

Thanks Mac,

what are the hours on your engine and how many of them have you done? Have you had many problems with it? What size boat are you pushing with it? I am looking at a 2001 135HP which I have heard is the same block as your engine but not as much top end but same torque down low.

Cheers
Daryl