My worst fears confirmed....

[cowgillj1]

Well....I have been regreting my purchase ever since I started hearing about these damn ficht outboards.....bought a 99 295PE back in october, have only had it out once and it blew....two cylinders with no compression. Looking at thousands to fix and I havent even caught one fish off this damn thing. I have no other choice but to repair it...who wants a blown ficht? Heard all the stories but honestly if I pay to fix this thing and it happens again Im gonna sink it in the river and walk away. I plan on being meticulous with this setup and I have located a mechanic about 2 hours away that is truly a ficht expert....every other shop has dropped his name for evinrude repairs. Anyone out there think I should cut my losses now? the mechanic assures me that the repairs will hold and if I follow the "ficht regimen", right oil, rpms etc that I will enjoy this thing for years. Have heard horror stories about these things getting repaired and not even running 30 hours before blowing again......signed F'ed by a ficht

[mgtl82]

Sorry to here about your luck,if that happened to me I'd look for another motor.The 295PE is a nice ride.

[fastman151]

Certainly no way to start a new relationship.

[BuzzB8]

I would ask this question in the Evinrude forum...ask for "seahorse". I trusted his opinion back when I had my Fast Strike 175...like ten years ago.

[TBBasser]

Get a new motor. I had a 2001 and had the factory look and work on it and
it went down every years. Had a new powerhead installed with a 6 month warranty
and traded it in. Couldn't in good conscience couldn't sell it to another boater.
If you like the boat, look for a used motor or buy a new one.

[JJohnSind]

Every time I try to warn someone about an OMC Ficht (1996-1999, and the 2000 for good measure), some Evinrude fan will get all over me. Take it from someone who threw a 1997 away, they ain't worth fixing. I'd try to salvage it for parts - I'm sure there's a market for used parts on these things. In my opinion, the money spend fixing it would be better spent towards a new motor. I was lucky, I convinced the warranty company to pay me the money allocated to fix mine instead of fixing it. After three blown powerheads (and countless other tic tac things like bad injestors, ecu's, oil pumps, etc.), I rally didn't want to take another chance on yet another repair. I used to joke about how the "i" in Ficht should have been spelled with a "u".

Regarding Bombardier Fichts, I actually went Evinrude again in 2003 (after a stint with Yamaha) and didn't have any issues for the 3 years that I owned that motor.

[jm35475]

sorry to hear, but its the norm with ficts.

[fieldsj66]

is it a 150 or 175?

had a round of '98s in 175 flavor myself. horrible experience. friend of mine has one...ditto.

i would take that advice about salvaging out parts and get a different one. even a little older faststrike motor would do fine. nobody says you have to buy a new one.

i dumped mine at a substantial loss. regretted ever having bought it. cost me winning a least two tournaments because it went down while i was hauling around a livewell full of fish. getting pulled in by strangers sucks!

what do you want for the boat? good boat...

[cowgillj1]

appreciate all the feedback.....if I try to purchase a new motor I might as well find a divorce lawyer at this point...not really sure I have the time to try and salvage and sell parts for this thing....I may give it this one try to see what happens but if it goes down again Im done with it....may just have to get a new motor.

[Neilslure]

Buddy of mine has a Ranger 520 that had a Ficht... nothing but trouble. He got tired of it and looked at repowering or a whole new rig. Being that a 2007 520 and his were nearly identical he opted to repower with an ETEC. He couldnt be happier.

[marina guy]

Give us a call we will try and help will take you motor in trade and give you a killer deal on a new one i will also call and see if i can find a left over one some whear and help you save a lot worth a call anyway

[ZeroHour]

Ahh the what the ficht....I spent a year saying the FICHT prayer and mine I thought went down...Turned out to be stuck ring...But I had the boat sold before I ever figured it out..


I will never ever ever look back!

Good luck.

[red dog]

I hear ya....bought a boat in december 06 and in 5 months blew the engine...still not back on the water. Just my 2 cents worth but I would get a different engine, those were not solid engines. Your 295 is a great boat and they run good 65+ with a 150 and 75+ with a 200. Remember, there are engines that have blown and those that are going to. My buddy replced his 150 on his 97 295 with a 200 Etec and loving every bit of it.

[bhinkle]

if you can afford it, you need to get another motor!!!!!

if you decide to fix your motor, check out my website, maybe i can hook you up on a reman powerhead w 1 year warrenty.

http://www.hinklemarine.com

[Bushwacker]

That is a terrible deal. The same exact thing happened to my buddy on the back of his 99 Triton. His 175hp motor blew on his first run up the lake. He ended up getting a new motor. Those Ficht's are something to avoid like the plague I guess. Here the same story over and over.

[Jlong]

Did you have the motor checked out before you put it in the water? I remember seeing in another post about prop choice, what were you running on it and what RPM were you at when it blew? What oil were you using? Without knowing how this engine was taken care of in the past I think it's unfair to blame it on it being a Ficht. Hell a merc, e-tec or yammy would blow up after 9 years of abuse and neglect.

I took great care in checking my engine out good, tuning it up, de-carb, good oil, etc. I run the crap out of it every time out and have not had a single problem. I check the plugs every so often and don't get any carbon problems running XD100. I have been very happy with the performance mine has given me.

[StratosNCO]

that 295 is a sweet ride. Keep the boat, get a new motor.