evinrude 115 ficht

[barracudda]

Hi everyone took the boat out last weekend for a run and the motor was running perfectly , then the check engine light and siren started to go off. Took it into my local mechanic and he tells me its overcharging and its a CPU problem and it needs replacing cost around $3500-00 for CPU , its a 2001 evinrude 115 ficht only about 50 hours. Mechanic said it has to go to a evinrude dealership to get fixed?
Im hoping someone might no were i can pick a secondhand CPU or offer any advice it would be appreciated iam in Perth WA

Cheers
Mick

[Moonlighter]

There is a specialist company in the USA that remanufactures the etec and ficht ecu's.

DFI Technologies is the company name. Suggest you google them
and contact them to see what they say. I see good reports about them on The Hull Truth. Heaps cheaper and better than the originals from all accounts.

http://www.dfitechnologies.com/

Cheers

ML

[sportfish58]

G'day Mick,There is a place that repairs cpu's on newmarket rd ,opposite the shopping centre.Cant remember the name of the place but it is in among the back of the units there.I took a toyota cpu in there and they opened it up while I was there and pointed out the faults as soon as he opened the cover.Had it fixed in no time.I will try and find the name for them and let you know,might be worth a try.
Cheers Guy

[Fed]

That's a big call to diagnose a $3500 cpu problem & then say it has to go to an Evinrude dealer.
On face value it sounds like a high temp alarm or most likely a fuel restriction alarm has gone off.
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/ref...rnSignals.html

What speed were you doing, did the alarm stop, did the engine start going slow, is it running ok now?

[hino310]

Hi Mick

This was a very common problem with the 2001 DI Evinrude. If you have no water in the fuel, and the motor does not go into S.L.O.W or limp home mode, i have no doubt that you mechanic is correct, especially if he has the diagnostic equiptment as it will record that exact problem.

If you would like some more info or assistance, P.M me your phone number and i may be able to help you.

Cheers Hino.

[CT]

We bought our 03 ficht 90 s/hand for $3400 going on 3 years ago. Given you have been quoted $3500 for a part, I would give serious consideration to the economic viability of repairing this motor.

Cheers
Craig

[FisHard]

I had a 90 Ficht and it was a great little thing. I ran up 2-300 hrs on it in 3 years with no trouble. I hope you get it sorted for a reasonable price. It would be a tough call spending $1000s on a Ficht, given their poor resale and reputation. I had trouble selling my boat due to the motor. Good luck.

[Moonlighter]

Here's a cut and paste from DFI Technologies website FAQ's.

I had a look and their prices for rebuilding the EMM for your engine (I think) are about $600-$700. Turnaround time in their workshop quoted as less than a week. Plus delivery time of course.

Worth at least an email to them to explain your problem and get their opinion.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How can I obtain up-to-the-minute pricing information for your products and services?
Simply E-mail us at prices@dfitechnologies.com and you will receive a prompt reply via E-mail with our current pricing information.

2. Can I purchase a new component, such as an ECU or oiler, from DFI Technologies, Inc.?
No. We only supply repaired engine components and work on a core exchange basis. You are required to supply a defective core component which will then be repaired and returned to you.

3. I need to use my boat this weekend. How long will it take to repair my component?
Generally, our in-house time is 3-4 days. With next day UPS delivery available, you should expect no more than 5-6 days down time. However, every failure is different and every repair time is different.

4. This engine has a problem! I need assistance in troubleshooting. Can you help?
Yes! DFI Technologies, Inc. is pleased to be able to assist you in correcting the problem. Collectively, our knowledge covers all aspects of the DFI motor and components. Our troubleshooting assistance is free. All you need to do is call.

5. My ECU has failed. I found a used ECU from a similar motor. Can I change over the software and data to make it work on my motor?
It is technically possible to make it work. However, any ECU that has not been upgraded by DFI Technologies probably has the same design defects and limitations that caused the original ECU to fail. It is just as likely to fail as the original one!
Over the past years, we have discovered many improvements we can make to the ECU. We incorporate these improvements into every unit we repair. Better to be safe than sorry! Send it to use and receive a more robust ECU in return.

[Noelm]

seriously doubt anyone here in Aus will be able to repair it, failure rate is very low, so be 100% sure it is faulty, it was pretty common for the water cooling passages to get blocked and cause the ECU to over heat, you will need an OMC person to download the parameters for the injectors before you replace the ECU (if indeed it is dead) I reckon you could probably find a wrecked second hand motor for half the price you were quoted, the 90 and 115 Ficht were good engines, however they still suffer from the bad name of the early V6 models

[cormorant]

That year model and that size are good solid motors. It was the earlier v6 that gave the brand a bad rap.

Noel and Fed are on the money. There is 100 reasons for these to throw a code and go to limp and most are not serious.

Do not listen to anyone who doesn't have the software to tell you exactly what your error is and codes downloaded off your ECU. Does your mechanic have teh software and did he tell you teh code number?

No one in Australia can remove the gel around the ECU and fix the problem and then recast the gel around the ECU that I am aware of as it requires reloading it not just parameter changes and anyone would not have the ability to test their repair.

You can buy a ECU off a wrecker and load up your injector coeffecients on it but unless the ECU is tested it may well have been the reason the original motor is in the wreckers. Big risk in doing that.
I don't know the Perth dealers. You could ask on the etec forum as someone =may have a decent contact
Do you have the software cable and software? Are you basically computer literate , have a laptop and happy diagonose it properly? I may be able to help with sending a cable over.


.

[barracudda]

Thanks everyone for your advice the mechanic has the program and software and he said the overcharging error has come up 83 times. He`s trying to get some info for me on monday i hope so i will keep you posted, by the way the engine runs beautiful but when it warms up the light and siren go off if you stop then restart it happens every 30 seconds at 1200 rpm goes into limp mode if you try to push it. Anyway thanks for you help i`ll let you no

Cheers MIck

[myusernam]

There are two charging ccts/ The altenator/starting batterycct and the auxilary (solid state?) one that is completely seperate. If it is the second one have you considered just not connecting it? If it is the primary could it just be the altenator?

[cormorant]

Do you have a failed battery?

Do you have a bad battery connection?

Do you have a bad battery switch?

Do you have a bad battery wire?

Ha steh mechanic manually checked teh outputs from both electrial circuits ?

Doing this from memory but the larger v6 motors
had 2 seperate electrical systems. 1 ran the motors electronics at XX voltage and the other was the 12v alternator . The 2 battery 12 volt system is a seperate and was simply a charge divider on the 12v alternator so 2 battery's could be independly charged off 1 motor.

[barracudda]

Hi everyone just a quick update on my evinrude problem i have spoken to a Evinrude dealership and he agreed with my mechanic about overcharging, I wanted him to have a look on there computer to make sure but he wasn`t that interested. He said it wasn`t that comon they have about 3 a year, a new emm around $3500 and repaired around $2000 somewhere in america he wouldn`t say where. I tried to contact DFI Technologies half a dozen times but have had no reply do they still exist? anyway its not looking to good at the moment but i`ll keep trying.

Cheers Mick

[Moonlighter]

Is it worth a phone call to the USA to see if you can talk to DFI tech direct? I have seen some recent posts on THT where people have dealt with them so maybe worth a call, for a few bucks you'll find out quickly and might then be able to resume discussions via email..

Cheers

ML