RPM problem 2003 225 Evinrude Ficht

[JerrySF21]

I had my motor serviced in March of this year. When it went in, it was idling rough and starting hard. 57 hours on the engine meter since new. The motor ran consistently 5700 rpms at WOT and full trim. When I got it out of service, the break-in oil switch got turned on by mistake. I was told there is no problem, but the engine will take more oil for the first 5 hours above 2000 rpms. The engine is limited to 5400 rpms during the break-in period I was told.

After 10 hours of run time with a maximum of 5200 rpms at WOT and full trim, the motor consumed almost 3 gallons of ficht oil. I returned it to the dealer, and they reset the oil break-in switch to the off position with new software. This made no difference in the oil consumption. I returned the motor to the dealer, and they replaced the oil lift pump and the oil injection pump which has oil check valves in it. Problem was diagnosed as bad check valves on four cylinders.

After the warranty repair, the motor still runs at 5200 rpms at WOT and full trim.

The weight in the boat has never changed, and the jack plate is still in it's original position. Why am I not getting back my 5700 rpms at WOT? I'm guessing we still have a problem in the electronics some place.

Any one out there think of where to start looking for this problem. The service man won't be around for a while, but I would love to give him some things to consider when he shows up.

I don't want anyone changing the original jackplate setting to see if they can get more rpms out of the motor.

Losing the rpms is one thing, but losing almost 7 mph on top end is another.

Jerry

[RUSTY63]

Welcome to the BBC.

Do you know what they did to fix the original problems?

Why would they restart the break-in?

Did the oil consumption go back to normal after they replaced the oil injector?

What boat is this motor on and what prop are you running?

[JerrySF21]

Rusty,
New plugs took care of the rough idle and the hard starting.

The mechanic tripped the break-in oil by mistake and didn't know he had different software to turn it back off.

I've only run it for an hour and haven't checked the oil consumption yet. My plan is to follow the oil and gas consumption for the next 10 hours to make sure things are back to normal. I was running 5200 at 3/4 trim and getting 60 mph (gps) out of the boat with a 4 1/2" prop depth set on the jack plate(bottom of the hull parallel to the centerline of the prop hub). I could raise it more, but the boat handles beautifully at this speed and was burning about 4 to 5 gallons per hour.

The boat is a 2003 Triton Fish & Ski, and the prop is a 14 1/2 - 24 Raker which was recommended by Triton for that hull.

Am I wrong to want the motor rpms back to normal before messing with anything else? I believe tripping the break-in oil caused something else to go bad. I'm also concerned with my combustion chambers after running that much oil through it in 10 hours (3 gallons). Do I need to decarbonize the motor?

Thanks
jerry

[RUSTY63]

I would look at the throttle plates to make sure they are completely open, you should also have the dealer check the TPS setting.

Your right, I would not change anything until I found the lost RPM's.

Which oil are you using?

Remember, you can lose a couple of hundred RPM's with the heat.

By the way, there is no computer controlled limit on RPM's while in Break-in.

[JerrySF21]

Rusty,
I'm using the Ficht synthetic oil that is recommended.

I wasn't aware of the lost rpms with the heat. We have plenty of that in Arkansas.

I'll follow up with the dealer on your suggestions. I also noticed some surging at WOT this morning when I went out fishing while running in smooth water.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully I'll get this problem solved soon.

I'll let you know what the problem was when it is resolved.

Jerry

[RUSTY63]

Have your dealer check the crank position sensor air gap also, it should be at 0.045.