Annual maintenance

[Mac3]

Hello all, I am relatively new to the power boat scene and have a 98 Johnson 150 ficht. I really would like to be able to service it myself, that is an annual scheduled maintenance, not repairs at this stage. I have read through the owner manual and I have a Seloc service manual and I've scoured sites apart from this excellent one and to be honest I'm still looking for the hard bits. I am less than impressed with the local outboard service people (unfortunately an authorised service agent is about 2 hours drive away). The 'experts' keep telling me that they are a twitchy engine to work on but I would like to know what I have been getting for my $250-500 bill when the receipt just says Service. So, apart from clean, lubricate, change filters, impeller and relevant oil, inspect this, check that -what's left?
David

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Annual maintenance

as said the ficht was ahead of it's time. and bankrupted OMC. you have it covered, as to what you can do. with out the computer programs/

 

[ftltony]

Re: Annual maintenance

My buddy Sean in Fort Lauderdale was one of the first people to EVER have a FICHT motor put on a boat and he had a 27 Conch .. .actually, he had a pair of 250 horsepowers put on his boat.

What they are telling you about "twitchy" is being very nice about it! One motor ran finer than fine, the other motor was a real piece of crap and they could NEVER get it to run right. They replaced EVERYTHING on the motor and because they used his boat as a "test subject" for the FICHT motors, they actually refunded the purchase price of the motor that ran terrible which was NO consolation, especially when he would regularly run to the Bahama's, run to the Keys from lauderdale and fish tournaments all the time.

9 times out of 10, he would have to limp back to shore and it actually cost him money at the Pompano Beach Fishing Rodeo because he fished until "lines out" and when he tried to run 30 miles back to shore, he could only get one motor to run proper and he came in too late.

I have found that unless you go to a place that KNOWS the motors, REALLY well, you are going to have problems. The best place Sean found was a place in Fort Luaderdale that has since, gone out of business!

Best of luck!

 

[Mac3]

Re: Annual maintenance

Thanks guys, you are confirming the road I was going down. Do the scheduled maintenance myself, any problems do the 2 hour drive to the service centre. I'm not afraid of jumping in, I once dismantled and rebuilt an Alfa Romeo engine following the manual- it started first time and only need minimal tuning. Never touched an engine before apart from basics. My day job is electronic technician doing maintenance and fault finding so I can't see this being much harder! I am being frustrated with the local outbaord service guys who give me such patronising answers when I try to gain some knowledge. I don't have a problem installing the software if you think I can gain an advantage there too. No matter what everyone says about the ficht I bought one and have to live with it. It has 550 hours on the clock, I've done 100, and so far performed like a top.
David

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Annual maintenance

you got a good one. they are good motors, when maintained, properly. OMC got the cart before the horse, and did not get the mechs trained for the new technology, or the equipment in the service centers.

 

[wilde1j]

Re: Annual maintenance

If you plan on servicing a Ficht, you need the diagnostic s/w (and an understanding of working on a system) for almost any powerhead work and an OEM shop manual. You can use the Seloc for a coaster. I have a pair of 175 Etecs (still in warranty), but would not consider doing anything on them w/o the S/W and the OEM shop manual. The amount of info you can get (with the Etecs, since I have no experience with Ficht's) from the EMM is huge.

 

[Mac3]

Re: Annual maintenance

One thing Aussies love is no nonsense straight talk- keep it coming, I'm hearing all. Looks like my wife's next birthday and Christmas presents will be an OMC parts and service manual then.
David

 

[Mac3]

Re: Annual maintenance

Ok, next question- I'm going for the OEM parts and service manual, I've read in other posts they are available from iboats but I'm struggling...all I can find is 3rd party stuff, can someone give me a link? Also I found a site in Australia for the software but don't know if it's kosher let's get it all at once.
David

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Annual maintenance

BRP still owns the copy right to that year, manuals, either a dealer of possibly directly from BRP. when OMC went under, Ken Cook Publishing, bought the rights to the old manuals for reprint. looks like it was a great investment for them.

 

[Mac3]

Re: Annual maintenance

Thanks tashas I'll work on that.