For a couple of weeks now, I've been hinting at motor issues, and a new Yamaha.
Well, I've finally got "Times Two" back, so now its my time to share.!

Before that, though....
DO NOT BUY AN EVINRUDE!!!   ESPECIALLY A 2005 225 HP 2 STROKE. JUNK, JUNK, JUNK
and did I mention JUNK!!!!!


THE BAD
On the first day of the Con Club Tournament (Friday, Aug 5) in Dunkirk, I was fishing with my
friend Gerb and my son.   Had a couple of fish in the box east of the harbor, but had another
friend west that was boxing good sized fish, so we decided that since it was a nice day, and it
would be great to get a real good start to the tournament, we pulled lines and head
west.   Our run was about 7 miles on the GPS.

Got the boat up to about 30 mph, and had gone about 5 miles, when I heard a noise.  Best
I can equate it to is if you stuck a piece of foil into a metal fan....kind of a rattling sound.
Slowed down, and said, did you guys hear that?   Gave it more throttle, and it did it again,
so I backed it all the way down and it quit.  Hmmm.    Tried to restart, and just got a clicking.
Checked the battery connections, and the plug wires.  Seemed ok to me, but nothing.
Called our friend Capt Chris, who was finishing up his charter, and he grabbed us for the
tow in.   In the meantime, I called Brobeil Marine in Buffalo, who I had been using for service
and explained the situation.   Eric told me to get her up there and he'd take a look.

Finally get there, and upon hearing the description said, it's either the gearcase or the
powerhead, because "that happens a lot on these".   Checks the lower unit oil, looks good,
so that meant only 1 thing.   Couldn't manually turn the flywheel (bad thing) and then pulled
the plugs.  Number 2 was scorched.   Number 4 had chunks of metal.   Verdict....Motor was
TOAST.


THE UGLY
Decided to call Evinrude on Monday morning to see what they might say or do to help me.  My
motor was a 2005 225 (pre-ETEC), but it was not put in service until 2007.   550 hrs, and all appropriate service and maintenance, including fuel additives, ring free, etc.   Seldom run wide
open.  Basically babied.

Told Customer Service my story, and said that I had searched the net over the weekend
and found LOADS of posts about blown powerheads on the Ficht series.  Further said I had
all the service records, and how I thought this was a bunch of crap that it blew, and especially
since both the marina and the internet said this motor was junk, and I had done all the needed
maintenance.   Guy even agreed that 550 hrs is not particularly overworked.

Got the whole policy about the fact the motor was outside the original warranty period and that
they have hundreds of thousands of engines worldwide, and try as they might, there will be some breakdowns.  Ok, I guess I can buy that to some extent.

So, I said, "Well, knowing this motor has issues, does Evinrude have a program to help me get
into an ETEC?"     No was the reply.  We are sorry for your problems, but we don't have a policy
like that.  Blah, Blah, Blah.

SO I told him that my "policy" was that I was not going to buy another piece of Evinrude junk,
and that I would tell anyone that wanted to listen how bad that engine was, and how disappointed
I was that they would not even offer me a discount to get into a new Evinrude engine or to try
harder to keep me as a customer, knowing I was ready to do something.

Guy said he was sorry, but they "can't control mechanical failure".

Mechanic called later in the day to say that at least 2 bearings gave way, and that the
engine looked like you had tossed a hand grenade inside and closed it before it exploded.
BURNT TOAST.


THE GOOD
Fran and Eric got me setup on a order for a replacement Yamaha 4 stroke that day.   This was
the motor I wanted originally, but the Evinrude was already on the boat when I bought it.   The
4 stroke will be much quieter, alot less fumes, more fuel efficient AND I won't need to change
6 spark plugs out every 50 hrs!   As the marina pointed out, I'm going to save $150 in plugs
per year alone!

I cannot say enough about how well I was treated by Brobeil Marina (Niagara Street, Buffalo).  
They addressed all my concerns, assisted with the warrant claim (thank god Gary reminded me
that I had the extended warranty), and got me back on the water as fast as they could.   I could
not have asked for more than that from them.

I would not hesitate to go back there, or recommend them to someone else.  THANK YOU!

A+++


***
SO, moral of the story....DON"T BUY AN EVINRUDE 2 STROKE!!!!