Evinrude yay or nay?

[MarKimBassTeam2021]

Yeah, I'm eating the Popcorn also. This some eye opening stories.

[mike464]

I had a new 2009 200HO Etec, fantastic when it ran, but broke down once every year, third year it ate a piston so I repowered with a Yamaha SHO. Powerhead on the Etec was replaced under warranty, but I still lost a ton of money when I repowered. The guy that bought it is now on powerhead 4, but that one's lasted a while. I would never, ever buy another.

[old4runner]

I don't think they are manufacturing much if anything in Sturtevant, but I know for a fact that they are still producing parts. Last fall, BRP replaced my stern/swivel bracket and DPS steering, honoring my warranty. (The same part mentioned earlier in this thread.) The part was a newly redesigned and manufactured part. It was not a small part... basically the entire midsection of the motor. A 5K part and over 8K total for the repair. It was not made in Sturtevant but outsourced to another manufacturer. They are making... and supplying parts. They are still honoring warranties.

Much of what has been said here in this thread about difficulties getting parts can be said of all brands. Parts have been backordered everywhere, not just Evinrude.

Who is manufacturing them? I will call my buddy at the dealership tomorrow and see if he can find out. Just odd because he had to go thru this whole thing of verifying inventory before he made it avail to the shared inventory stuff is coming from. He was also told "this is it".

Parts are still a limited number with Rude and yes all parts can be hard to get but if you want to keep an outboard 10 years we both know it is smarter to pick the folks still in business. For those that bought before they went out of biz I hope the best and stated it was a good motor.

[sushi520vx]

For your reading pleasure. I got a good laugh out of this one but its true. This ought to ruffle a few feathers! I took this off another site, posted in 2013.



I am in the Outboard Motor industry. All first run editions of motors (generation 1) had issues.

Yamaha HPDI-------1999-2001ish--------disaster
Yamaha 4 Stroke---------2002-2007ish--------great but exhaust corrosion on some engines(not all), Balancer issues on inline motors(not all), oil seal issues............not all had this Im not running away from these motors.
Yamaha 250 4stroke 2006-2007---------------1st run of variable camshaft.............Major Lower Unit Problems(Suprised Nobody mentions this) Notice how 2008 models and up have an extra colling intake on lower unit??????
Yamaha 250-300hp HPDI----------------ABSOLUTE DISASTER. Almost on par with Evinrude FICHT. I have seen so many people come through our shop with these motors blown.
Honda 4 Strokes------------Just not enough of them around to really know but to be honest................I have not heard any consistant bad things. I would own one but Lack of used parts may scare me.
Evinrude Ficht (first generation ETEC........yes I said that)-------------disaster
Suzuki 4strokes 2000-2007ish-------------great engines but corrosion..............typical Japanese
Nissan TLDI------------not enough of those around to know for sure............some have blown up
Mercury Verado Gen 1------------had issues---Lower Unit failures, Supercharger Failures, etc
Mercury optimax 1998-2000------Disaster............Opti BOMB
Mercury Optimax 2002-2005-------------Much Better
Mercury Optimax From 2006 to today------------Awesome
Mercury Verado Gen 2 (2008ish and up)-----------Awesome. People seem very happy with them.
Etec------------------Fine but this was basically a second gen Ficht( have fun with that one guys)
Yamaha HPDI made in last 5 years or so---------------Fine
Yamaha 4 Strokes Made within the last 7 years or so------------------fine I have not heard much about the corrsion.(time will tell I guess)
Suzukis made within last 5 years...................excellent.

Moral of the story.........................Motors that were made at around 1998-2002 (DFI) were basically the guinney pigs. That was an "experimental" time with all this new techonogly.

[MarKimBassTeam2021]

Another bag of popcorn please ��

[sushi520vx]

Another bag of popcorn please ��

[FloridaFlyer]

If I really liked the boat and could get it at a huge discount to save enough from the purchase to pay for mist of a replacement. ..... I would buy one .. . Otherwise, no.

[yetti462]

I noticed the same thing when boat shopping. Every price point that was appealing was with a Rude on back. I was told by several in the industry to stay away. parts and lack of services techs was main reason.

[Thamelau]

I want to cry every time I read about Evinrude. I have a 1996 Evinrude I bought new with my boat. Rock solid all these years. This was the motor company the Ontario resorts used since you couldn’t kill their motors. The stories are legendary of the abuse these motors took and kept on truckin’. FICHT killed OMC. Just a tragedy.

They had over a decade of non Ficht motors. Ficht didn't kill them.

[Thamelau]

Great motor or not I would not buy, the thing is not made anymore and no one is training on them much I bet. As far as parts, I doubt anyone is making any internal motor parts anymore so whatever is on the shelf is it.

Just to big a risk unless it has a huge discount, not because they are good or bad but because crap happens and doing this would no doubt present more of an issue with repairs than a motor manufacturer that is not out of business and still has factory supported service centers.

I found new fabricated parts for my old 70's Johnson Tiller... People will make parts if you're willing to do the work.

[ChampioNman]

Techs that are trained and that have access to parts will thrive if they go independent. They won't be able to do warranty work though. I'd buy a carbed motor in a minute.

[Ring King]

I admittedly didn't read through all three pages of posts on this but I vote Not just NO but H#$$ NO!!! My current Ranger with a G1 Etec on it has been sitting at Gone Fishing Marine in Dixon California since last August. I'm waiting on an EMM from BRP and it's still back ordered with no ship date. To say I'm pissed is an understatement!! I asked about ordering a used one off of Ebay and having it reprogrammed and my dealer said he had to send them back to BRP to be reprogrammed. Well that would be fine except for the fact that BRP keeps having supposed closures that are unannounced. It doesn't seem like a reliable fix for my issue.

[basscat tyler]

Yeah hard pass lol

[MarKimBassTeam2021]

Geeeezzzz! I'm on my 3rd bag of Popcorn.

[Ron H 520]

I would stay away. That being said, OMC made the toughest small outboard ever. You can't kill an older 25 HP.

[ssmithboats]

history has shown that anytime you see a low price on a bass boat in this crazy market it will have a evinrude or johnson on it hard pass.

[86 inches]

No surprise this has become the ultimate Evinrude bashing thread. Of course, the usual haters show up but now everyone that was left high and dry by BRP are in for the kill, as well. No one, including me is going to defend BRP. And despite some of the misinformation in this thread, most of us Evinrude users likely won't recommend that anyone invest a lot of money on an Evinrude engine.

Having said that, I love my G2. There isn't a better motor made that would match up with my boat. It's clean, quiet and strong and has been very reliable for the past 7 years. I have no desire to sell it or my boat and never will. I'll keep my G2 till it blows up. Meanwhile, I'll wave as I pass most of you by.

[Mcjenson]

No surprise this has become the ultimate Evinrude bashing thread. Of course, the usual haters show up but now everyone that was left high and dry by BRP are in for the kill, as well. No one, including me is going to defend BRP. And despite some of the misinformation in this thread, most of us Evinrude users likely won't recommend that anyone invest a lot of money on an Evinrude engine.

Having said that, I love my G2. There isn't a better motor made that would match up with my boat. It's clean, quiet and strong and has been very reliable for the past 7 years. I have no desire to sell it or my boat and never will. I'll keep my G2 till it blows up. Meanwhile, I'll wave as I pass most of you by.

I wouldn't recommend buying one to anyone, but I always thought the G2 evinrudes looked pretty great, and had some cool innovation and you can see mercury was at least somewhat influenced by their styling. And power to weight is still hard to beat with two strokes.

[PowerFish]

Just sold my Stratos with an Evirude. Almost impossible to find parts. Last I heard they went Bankrupt. I would stay away!

Ridiculous!

The vast majority of Evinrude parts are available, there are however some that are challenging. Like 2005 ETEC Injectors, Ficht parts etc. But depending what motor you're looking at, this might not be a big concern. They do build a good, reliable motor, you just want to be an educated buyer. If you narrow it down to a particular boat/motor, post it up in the Evinrude/Johnson forum. Here you'll get all the doom and gloom.

Good luck with boat shopping and don't be afraid to ask questions, just know that here on the General page, you'll get 1000 different answers and some that aren't worth reading.

[Tyler Thomas]

70’s,80’s and 90’s Johnny’s and Rudes were good motors after those years not so much