"Billgran" wrote in message
m...
snip
Del,

All hype aside, there has been no outbreaks of excessive powerhead
failures
due to sooting or detonation with FICHTS. That was resolved after the
20%
problem showed up in '98. Since the redesign ( FICHT Ram) in 2000,
the
motors have run OK. OMC has had problems with vendors and some motors
would
experience sensor, pump, and electrical problems from time to time,
but
nothing related to earlier designs or to the FICHT process of DFI.
When
Bombardier took over 2 years ago and had the backing to replace "out
of
spec" vendors and also built a state of the art production facility in
Wisconsin, the Evinrudes and Johnsons became close to bullet-proof. We
have
fewer warranty claims than we do with Yamaha, especially this year.

If there were still problems with the FICHT design, you would be
reading
about it here and in other forums constantly. The boating press would
be
publishing stories about it and BoatUS would be "waving their arms".
Have
you read anywhere that folks have had catastophic problems with their
Bombardier Evinrudes
snip

Bombardier Outboard division has sold out production for 2 years now
and has
made money since the first year. E-TEC looks interesting, the
injector is
new and the electrics are new, but the rest of the motor uses internal
parts
from the 175hp motors, and commercial or V4 and V6 gearcases for
reliability. The idea that it is magneto driven and doesn't need a
battery
like EFI and other DFI motors, also makes things more reliable. Of
course,
time will tell, but I've followed the testing since last Feb. at the
Miami
Boat Show, where it won the Innovation Award, and reports from the
field and
the media have been positive. Someone may call this "spruiking" or
something
like that, but these are the facts.

Bill Grannis
service manager


That's good news, and goes along with the fact that the insiders at
Bombardier were willing to put their own money into the buy out.

As for the innovation awards, I have seen a number of them given to
products that turned out to not be such a good idea, so it is hard to
judge the significance of them. And I have personally designed or
worked on a few innovative products that turned out to not be a good
idea when it was all said and done.

Here in Minnesota I haven't seen many Ficht motors around so I am unable
to tell if the lack of reports was because they weren't selling many, or
that they were working great. Among the walleye fishers 4 strokes seem
to be catching on except for the 150 and up crowd.

del cecchi