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I was talking with a local E-TEC dealer the other day. We were chatting about E-TEC's vs. the Honda and Yamaha 4 strokes. He said that he sells all three and while he does like the E-TEC's, he admitted he wasn't all that thrilled about a feature on them.

He stated that the E-TEC's have a "fail safe" or "limp mode" that is activated when one of the 4 or 5 sensors detects a problem. The "mode" can only be reset with a computer. He said he observes a lot of temp sensors shutting the motor down if some seaweed clogs the water intake. The engine is computer sensitive where the computer monitors all engine functions carefully to get the max out of the engine.

It doesn't take a whole lot to trip a sensor. Because of this, a lot of his customers are coming back to have the engine reset. He said the Yamaha and Honda are a more everyday motor while the E-TEC is for the guys that are looking for speed. He has been in business for 30 years and has been an Evinrude/Johnson dealer for the same. He gives the Honda a slight advantage over the Yamaha but said it really comes down to dealer service. Any comments from the E-TEC guys?

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Check out this site www.etecownersgroup.com. Lots of dealers on this site, I have not read of the problwm your dealer states, I bought a 50E-TEC for a 13 ft Boston Whaler Dauntless and it is awesome, I have owner it for 2 months, FYI

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I'm sure the Etecs are great engines. I am sharing some info I heard with all. These days with the price of a new engine, it is a good idea to be fully aware of what you are getting into before you make the big leap.

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I heard Hondas and Yamahas are more reliable than Harleys.

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I just purchased an etec 150. What a great engine, fuel efficient and quiet.
I have only run it a few hours so far, with no concerns. The power the engine
has on initial throttle "down" is amazing.

Will let you know if any of these "problem sensors" develops.

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I have run into a situation where my eTec went into safe mode (also called fail safe or limp home). I did not have to take it to my dealer to have the engine reset, I simply fixed the condition and the engine sensed the fault resolved and I continued.

I would be suprised if an over heat alarm, could not be cleared by clearing the obstruction, allowing the engine to cool and confirming water flow?

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a couple of months ago, while flushing out my motor, the overtemp alarm went off, as i didn't have the ears exactly over the lower intakes. I shut off the motor and inspected my water attachments, noticed the ears being slightly off, corrected and restarted the engine. Alarm didn't come back on, nor did i have any limping etc the next time i took her out.
I have started using the water intake on the back of the top of the engine instead of the lower water intakes with no additional alarms.

Duf B)

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I've never heard of an ETEC going into a mode that could only be reset by the dealer and have not seen that in the manual........I'm not disputing it, just never heard of it..........but even so, I'd rather it go into a failsafe mode than cause major damage.............:(

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Just a rumor Arthur, nothing more.......B)

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hey Harley?? Are you selling your Whaler on ebay? going bigger??

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Kamie, how did you reset the engine? I was told you can do it yourself if you have a laptop and the program. My 2001 Chevy Truck went into a limp mode and I could not get it reset. The Chevy dealer had to put it on a scanner and reset the ECM.

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Yeah egerrity. I am in the market for a Outrage. A certain somebody on this site has one that I'm waiting for.

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sounds good... Good luck

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He is not being thruthful. Even in the owners manual it says that the engine will go back to normal after the problem is corrected. An overheat, low oil, or even no oil alarm will stop as soon as the motor cools down or oil is added to the tank.

There is one safety feature that does take a dealer to reset and that is if the motor ever starts to 'run away', where the rpms increase rapidly while the throttle is closed. It's called a code 57 and can only happen in one or two specific set of circumstances.

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Harley,
I had a no oil alarm. I limped over to a sandbar where I could get the cowling off, simply pumped the oil until I observed it in the hoses and recranked the engine and she was fine. Had that not worked, I would have run the winterization sequence and then restarted the engine since I had plenty of oil and I was sure I just had an air bubble.

I have the software and connection for my laptop but without being a dealer I can only look at the codes, I can't clear or reset them.

Seahorse is correct, correct the fault and the EMM will sense the condition corrected and off you go.

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How did you "pump the oil"? By hand?

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AtoZ, the Etec oil resivoir has a pump ball just like a external gas tank.

I ran my Etec out of oil once too. I just headed for home about 5 miles away. Of course I did it at very low rpm as recommended.
When I put some oil in it, the alarm stopped.

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Could the dealer have been lying, maybe. I just don't see any reason for him to lie. He IS a BRP dealer and sells many Etecs. I guess the people he sells them to must not know anything about engines. It seems to me that picking an engine nowadays is a difficult task.

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Harley,
now that you have more info, I would ask him next time he mentions it. See what code or what the problem is that caused the issue. Perhaps his customers were unaware they could clear the issue or he was or there could have been other problems that prevented the emm sensing the correction. It would be interesting to know.

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When you say "dealer", were you talking to the owner, to the salesman, the parts person, or a factory trained tech?

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String im up it'll teach im a lesson

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If my memory serves me correctly, He was the Owner/Salesman