I am looking at repowering a pontoon. Iam looking at somewhere around 60 -90 hp range. Any thoughts on the best route. I love 4 strokes quiet and economy and I hear e techs are similar now. Just looking at what I will like 5-10 years from now as far as reliability goes.
Jeff
I spend a lot of time on the water and around boats . Although I have never had an E-Tec I haven’t heard much good about them either. I have several friends that have had them and had nothing but trouble. My last purchase was a 115 Yamaha 2015 new style I love it and would never go back to a 2 stroke .
the big question to answer your question, who’s going to service it?
I was planning on doing the service
They are very easy to service at home compared to a four stroke. They get almost no maintenance and the diagnostic software and cable for your computer is cheap on ebay.
The only problem mine ever had was a random misfire that turned out to be a failing injector. I paid $200 for a new injector to be installed plus $180 to get the other 5 rebuilt and cleaned out.
So in eight years it got a set of spark plugs, a water pump impeller, lower unit oil and fuel filters yearly, $380 in fuel injector work, one $5 VST screen, and a flush after every use.
I like four stroke motors too, but if you want less maintenance… its hard to beat the Evinrude.
If I were buying a new motor I would buy another evinrude for the overall cost of ownership, but if I were buying used I would probably look for a good four stroke. Two strokes are easy to kill if you use crappy fuel or oil. I run premium pump gas with startron and evinrude XD100 oil and that motor doesn’t mind at all.
BTW - Evinrude XD100 is like $35 a gallon, but it lasts twice as long as TCW3 so it is cheaper to use.
thanks for the input. its not easy to find used four strokes is the main problem
I’ve got an E-Tec 60 hp. It does well unless it sits for a month or so with E-10 in the tank. On the advice of my mechanic, I now only run ethanol free gas and have had no further problems with it. I still add Startron Ethanol treatment in every tank of gas, just in case I accidently get some E-10. The E-tec gets amazing fuel economy compared to our old 2 stroke 60 hp Mercury!! We’ve had it for 6 years. Mine has only been in freshwater. Don’t know how they perform in saltwater.
quote:
Originally posted by MuddyWaterFisherThey are very easy to service at home compared to a four stroke.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>THEN I AM GUESSING YOU ARE NOT INDEXING YOUR SPARK PLUGS LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO.
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quote:
Originally posted by chris Vquote:
Originally posted by MuddyWaterFisherThey are very easy to service at home compared to a four stroke.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>THEN I AM GUESSING YOU ARE NOT INDEXING YOUR SPARK PLUGS LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO.
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IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING
E-tec plugs need to be indexed?! Probably not many around that have indexed plugs before. I know of three people, Me, my brother-in-law, and a neighbor that does a lot of racing.
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
quote:
Originally posted by chris Vquote:
Originally posted by MuddyWaterFisherThey are very easy to service at home compared to a four stroke.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>THEN I AM GUESSING YOU ARE NOT INDEXING YOUR SPARK PLUGS LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO.
www.teamcharlestonmarine.com
www.joinrfa.org
IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING
Whats hard about indexing plugs? I own a sharpie and a torque wrench…
I agree its not hard … I guess its only reuired for the injected 2 strokes. I dont see how it would make a difference on my old carb model
quote:
Originally posted by MuddyWaterFisherquote:
Originally posted by chris Vquote:
Originally posted by MuddyWaterFisherThey are very easy to service at home compared to a four stroke.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>THEN I AM GUESSING YOU ARE NOT INDEXING YOUR SPARK PLUGS LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO.
www.teamcharlestonmarine.com
www.joinrfa.org
IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING
Whats hard about indexing plugs? I own a sharpie and a torque wrench…
I little more to it than that, but that is a good start.
Don’t forget shims… and a few boxes of plugs. No two heads or plugs are exactly the same. I’ve been through more than 20 plugs to index a v8 … of course if you do it regular you normally have a good supply of plugs to choose from.
Chris, does the E-tech need to be indexed for piston clearance or just what the factory recommends for good opening the flame front towards the incoming charge ?
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
quote:
Originally posted by jsadlerI agree its not hard … I guess its only reuired for the injected 2 strokes. I dont see how it would make a difference on my old carb model
Don’t know anything about that engine, maybe Chris will chime in. As to Carb vs injected, an indexed plug doesn’t have a clue. I’d guess on a factory engine indexing would be more for piston clearance than a performance issue. 
If the factory is indexing just for performance and fuel efficiency I bet a shiny nickle you’d never notice the difference unless you ran it on a dyno and even on a drag motor you usually only notice 8-15hp increases. On a side note some engines do better indexed to the intake while others to the exhaust valve.
Only “seat of the pants” difference I’ve seen in indexing plugs was on a few single cylinder dirt bikes and also dropping the gap just a bit.
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
It’s for performance, not piston clearance. Evinrude says that non-indexed plugs could cause an occasional misfire, mostly at low RPM.
Here’s the page from the service manual, you be the judge if you think it would be too difficult for you. I only had to swap plugs between two cylinders to get a good match up.
quote:I guess you are never planning on having any warranty issues. The point I was making is you have a very limited dealer network for E-Tecs, I know Cape romian will work on them, not sure if they sell them any more. Seels will work on them, again, not sure if they actually sell them any more. Bulter will service them, but they were only listed as a servicing dealer from their Beaufort shop.
Originally posted by jsadlerI was planning on doing the service
WE DO REPAIRS THEY WAY THE FACTORY RQUIRES THEM
THEY SAY INDEX TEH PLUGS
WE INDEX TEH PLUGS
AS SAID BEFORE, IT CAN TAKE A BUNCH OF PLUGS TO GET THEM RIGHT SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES IT WORKS ON THE FIRST TRY.
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Seems to me for the Pontoon application the four stroke must make more sense
Could someone please give me just the readers digest version of what is plug indexing? I have never heard of such a thing.
Thank you
ZX
MAKING SURE THE SPARK PLUG ELECTRODE IS POINTING IN A SPECIFIC LOCATION TO INSURE PROPER BURN IN THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER.
THE PLUGS HAVE A MINIMUM AND A MAXIMUM TORQUE REQUIREMENT
IF THE ELECTRODE DOESNT GET INTO THE PROPER POSITION WITHIN THOSE REQUIREMENTS, YOU CANT USE THAT SPARK PLUG
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I’ve never heard of such a thing and don’t want any engine that requires all that! I’ll stick with Yamaha 
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper