Evinrude Ficht

[Jono Garton]

Hi All

I have been asked by a good freind what my advice would be on an Evinrude Ficht 250hp?

My answer was, I have known of three seriously going wrong in the last few months, so my opinion is I am not a big fan of them. On the other hand the local Patrol boat is fitted with a 150hp ficht and that's been fine.

Any one know of ones that have gone wrong at what the problems were?

Anyone own one? What do you think?

I have made my opinion clear that the suzuki 250hp 4 stroke would be and is my choice.

[stuart hedges]

I agree with you, go for the Suzy. We had two fichts go wrong big time and loads of little problems with a 115. I wouldn't ever touch one again but some people think they are great. Maybe they use them as anchors.

Are you still interested in the 50 Jahno

[tue]

I have also known of 2 115s go wrong. One had a knockwas found to have picked up on pistons and bores.

The other has a leak from the crankcase join. Personally I am not a fan a would have an Opti

[thewavehumper]

Originally posted by tue
I. Personally I am not a fan a would have an Opti

I like this guy!

[gavin]

Lots of negativity about Fichts, yes there were problems initially with some of the larger ones 225 and 250, however modificiations by OMC and Ram Ficht models 2001 onwards have preformed much better.We see it all here problems with Volvo, problems with Bravo three problems with lets be honest most outboards.Bombardier are now offering three year warranties on their motors why ? ( if they were such crap would it not bankrupt them to give these warranties).Fichts in my opinion are superb motors you have got to use the correct two stroke not tcw3 not fully sythentic but the proper ficht ram oil with carb x additives to keep the Dfi system carbon free, how many people do, you are required to decarb them every 100 hours how many people do, you must use the correct plugs and Index them how many people do.There is a reason for all of this and its to keep it preforming properly ,when you hear about problems and ask these questions you might be suprised at the answers, I have heard of stories with them over revving, then you find its got the wrong prop when you look at the prop chart.I have to be honest the fuel consumption of Ficht Ram Evinrudes is hard to beat we get 1.2 ltr per Nm for TWO MOTORS.We have 380 hours on each of them, all they have had is gear oil, plugs anodes and Petrol and Ficht Ram oil zero problems, and I mean zero problems.There are numerious Fichts in Dun Laoghaire zero problems we have come across one 250 1999 with an injector problem, froze open fuel filled the cylinder and bent pistons in the motor.On the Rib Raid ther were two big Fichts a 250 and a 225 so far zero problems.Two Fichts completed the Round Ireland was it 820 Nm they showed the best Fuel consumption and the 250 used 15% more fuel than the 225, I think the 225 used 34 l per hour on average, the motors behaved flawlessy.Its just my opinion I would go Ficht in the morning my last motor was a Mercury It had idling problems, cooling problems and reverse lock cam problems it had less hours than the Fichts, the motor before that a Yam had Carburation problems , and my friends Mariner was plagued with electrical nightmares ,DFI although more complex has worked in our Fichts very well, they as I said already have been problem free, fuel efficent and 70/1 on oil.Bombardier sold their leisure section including outboards recently and a group from the Bombardier family bought it , such is their faith in the product, I have nothing but good to say about Optis I am not a Suzuki fan I think they have a bit more proving to do,but I cant knock Fichts not with the experience we have had with the motors to date and considering the repairs I had to do with my last three motors, I hear lots of comments Ficht this , and Ficht that , but very little of it is substaniated I wonder if people dislike them because they are not so cheap to buy ,one thing is for sure you have come to the right place for people knocking things we are good at that here

[gavin]

What does this mean there was a knock from the engine, a knock from a single cylinder, I have never come across a piston that knocks or a bore for that matter, maybe a bigend bearing are you refering to a score on a cylinder wall or a score caused by a piston ring

One had a knockwas found to have picked up on pistons and bores.

The other has a leak from the crankcase join

So is this just a leaking seal ,or gasket, that is remedied by replacing same or simply tightening bolts, do you have more info
as to what size model and age of Ficht ,are they pre 1999 problems ore are they 2001 onwards Ficht Ram

[The Jackeens]

and a deep breath Gavin.

Ahhhhhh

Thats beter now

[gavin]

And a glass of water

[jwalker]

Originally posted by gavin
What does this mean there was a knock from the engine, a knock from a single cylinder, I have never come across a piston that knocks ....

Perhaps you have heard of 'piston slap' then?

[gavin]

Description...

Piston slap is nothing new to piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors. It is the secondary (sideways or perpendicular) movement of a piston against the side of a cylinder bore where the primary movement of a piston is intended to be parallel (up and down) to the cylinder bore. All piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors have a certain amount of piston slap.

So this rubbishes Fichts then

If they do suffer from Piston Slap and not KNOCKING like as the quote suggests how do they differ from other motors.

[Charles]

Originally posted by gavin
Fichts in my opinion are superb motors

I'm quite partial to Yamaha's myself, had a 225 Ficht on my 8.1m Trident - did not miss a beat in two years! I have Mariners now and 'touch wood' they have behaved impeccably.

IMHO most all modern day outboards are pretty reliable and you would be damned unlucky to experience problems with any of them.

[Cookee]

They are VERY cheap at the moment - £6350 + vat delivered for a 225 hp FCXSN if you want to take the risk!

[tue]

Originally posted by gavin
What does this mean there was a knock from the engine, a knock from a single cylinder, I have never come across a piston that knocks or a bore for that matter, maybe a bigend bearing are you refering to a score on a cylinder wall or a score caused by a piston ring


So is this just a leaking seal ,or gasket, that is remedied by replacing same or simply tightening bolts, do you have more info
as to what size model and age of Ficht ,are they pre 1999 problems ore are they 2001 onwards Ficht Ram

Piston slap is knocking noise where the piston can move in the bore. Usually caused by overheating and the bore expands alowing the piston to wobble in the bore. This then causes scoring of the bore and piston and a worsening knock (piston slap).

Note: piston slap can not normally heard to a geat extent. This one's slap was so bad it was making a terrible knocking noise.

The leak IS coming from the join in the 2 halfs of the crankcase. Hopefully due to a loose bolt and not a bad casting on the block. We won't know 'till we take it apart and look. But will let you know when I do.

The first of these engines is a 1999. The second is a 2002!! engine

[jwalker]

Originally posted by gavin


So this rubbishes Fichts then

If they do suffer from Piston Slap and not KNOCKING like as the quote suggests how do they differ from other motors.

I don't think that was suggested.
-------
tue said, “One had a knockwas found to have picked up on pistons and bores.”

You said, “What does this mean there was a knock from the engine, a knock from a single cylinder, I have never come across a piston that knocks...”

I said, “Perhaps you have heard of ‘piston slap’...”

You said, “Piston slap is nothing new to piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors. It is the secondary (sideways or perpendicular) movement of a piston against the side of a cylinder bore where the primary movement of a piston is intended to be parallel (up and down) to the cylinder bore. All piston driven internal combustion engines and compressors have a certain amount of piston slap.



So you have just given us a description of how piston slap can be identified in a running engine by making a knocking noise.

Anyway, piston slap is not the sideways or perpendicular movement. It’s rotational, partly caused by the conrod angle.


Perhaps I'll ask Muttly to come and sniff you.

[seahound]

I noticed in the RIB mag that Scorpion are quoting their price of boats with FICHT outboards.

Now i know that Graham Jelly is probably getting a very nice deal on the engines, but would he risk the reputation of his boats by twinning them with crappy engines ???

Why risk the reputation of his well enginered boats by coupling it with a crap engine, because one will always reflect on the other and reputation counts for a lot in this game.

If someone buys a Scorpion with a Ficht engine and spends all his time on the beach waiting for the engine to get sorted, it will reflect on the whole package including Scorpions hard won reputation.

Personnally i do not think there is anything between the new generation 2 strokes.

Steve

[gavin]

The piston Slap quote I used was taken from a General Motors site, they must be wrong so, not piston knock but piston slap
http://www.pistonslap.com/whatisit.htm
check it for yourself

[jwalker]

Originally posted by gavin
The piston Slap quote I used was taken from a General Motors site, they must be wrong so, not piston knock but piston slap
http://www.pistonslap.com/whatisit.htm
check it for yourself

So Gavin, you originally took the credit for that quote for yourself.

Ummm.

tue said, “One had a knockwas found to have picked up on pistons and bores.”

He did not describe it as 'piston knock' as you are suggesting.

You can dig the hole for yourself deeper if you like, but I'm finished.

[Charles]

Originally posted by Cookee
They are VERY cheap at the moment - £6350 + vat delivered for a 225 hp FCXSN if you want to take the risk!

Cookee, who is quoting these prices? Without VAT sounds like a bargain. (Did you know, we don't pay VAT hehe)

[Cookee]

Charles, call Andy at Barnett Marine, I won't be calling him back about the 'Rude! 020 8449 4142

< edited phone number! JK >

[gavin]

[/QUOTE] like as the quote suggests

So Gavin, you originally took the credit for that quote for yourself

Modern outboards , as Charles suggested tend to be reliable,Evinrude build far to much stuff to be building crap and getting it wrong, they run the motors in test tanks with no oil, no water for example to destructivly test them,I understand people can have problems with motors , its a fact of life.I have given an example of past engine problems I had had with previous engines, minor enough, one involved removal off the lower unit in the case of the Merc, as I said earlier some of the larger Fichts late 90s and pre Ficht Ram 2001 presented problems, problems I believe are possible to be had in any outboard engine, we spoke to a guy today describing a misfire in a brand new Yamaha 200 fourstroke 2003 for example.Fichts are superb motors, as are Mercurys, Yams,Hondas etc etc etc