Billgran wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "K. Smith"
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 2:08 AM


As with Ficht remember 4 out of 5 didn't fail. Well OK with Tom it's 2
outta 3 didn't:-)



Ah, Karen is back and sounds like she hasn't taken her medication again.
You are wrong on your quote about FICHTS. It was David Jones, the then
president of OMC who stated in 1998 that 1 in 5 FICHTs with a 25" shaft
(150-175hp) had major problems. That was during the news conference when
they announced the factory teams that went around the country to fix
dealer's and customer's engines with the new cylinder heads and updated
software.


Bill I accept you have to keep trying to flog this stuff but now you
seek to wiggle out of the 1 in 5 admission on the basis it only happened
to some of your customers????? I guess it's a market ploy but gee brave
probably understates it. 1 in 5 is 1 in 5 on engines that cost more
than a new car & you dealers were clipping aggregate 30% on them; OK I
guess spin it anyway you want.


Just on the advice from Bill, be a little careful he is "involved" indeed
was spruiking Fichts right up to the end & even claimed as a big Florida
dealer he'd never even seen a blown Ficht:-).




Oh, Karen, you are making things up again. Years back I told you that none
of my customers had blown 150 or 175 FICHTs, but I had seen some brought to
me that were purchased at other dealers.

Sorry Bill you claimed you'd never even seen a blown Ficht when upon
specific instructions I had asked you to describe the engine damage of
the blown powerheads, rather than answer, it appears you chose the
dealers remedy ....................... I'd suggest because you know if
you'd answered truthfully, then you'd have given a classic description
of massive detonation damage?? Something you'd be well familiar with
having seen lots of individual cyls over the years wrecked by a carb
"going lean at power".


Before boat delivery, we run each
rig, check things out, and make sure it is propped correctly. Oh yes, I work
for a mid-sized family owned dealer as I told you before.

Bill because of the restricted marketing area system managed & enforced
by the rebates, assists etc etc your dealership is as the others & in
the early days you were only too happy to use your huge numbers as
reasons my warnings on Ficht should be ignored, now you say otherwise??
Well gee isn't that a surprise from a dealer?:-)



Of course he ran away with all the other dealers when owners were left
swinging after Ficht, wouldn't even show his head in the NG, no actual
help at all.



Damn, at least you are consistant and lie and make up things all the time,
instead of just once in a while. I've been in this newsgroup for more years
than I remember and it was long before you came along. I'm probably the only
one in the marine industry who has been answering service questions and
correcting misinformation for the folks looking for help here at rec.boats
for any length of time.

& when under the weight of failed Fichts OMC went bankrupt you ran
away!!! In Jan 2001 you made 3 posts to rec.boats one just after it hit
the fan;

on 3/1/01 you confirmed the 1 in 5 rumour as it was here???

on 17/1/01 you posted a short dealer missive about through the prop
exhaust history, you must have been reading all the owners' pleas for
help, because you had the obligatory go at me for continuing to say what
I'd been saying for 3 yrs about dealers & Ficht.

on 27/1/01 you posted an answer about a rev limiter but didn't even
comment on the real issue .............. another Ficht in it's dying
throws:-)

After that you made the pimpernel look like a local as far as helping
those sucked into buying Ficht, till near end of Feb 2001.
It's to your credit you archive your posts as I do also, those of us who
want some credibility must archive, save we be judged like the
x-no-archivers who are in the main those that don't want to be held
accountable for their lies, so I credit you with at least giving me the
tools to confirm my claim, which was a tad exaggerated I concede:-)
You were like all the other dealers nowhere to be seen or read:-)!!!
Were you told to shutup because the dealers were suing the administrator
for the unpaid 30% rebates you'd been collecting to keep pushing Ficht??
People who you'd actually tricked into buying a faulty engine were here
begging for some answers, what about their warranties what about parts
what about the chances their engine will fail & you just ran away like
the other 2 OMC dealers, Cowards the lot of you & now you say I lie
about it???



As for the specific thermostat thing be very careful already E-Tecs have
blamed failures on "overheating" along with the usual this or that & who
knows?????


Now you are making things up again. Can you back up your statement with any
facts, dates, serial numbers, news accounts? Third and fourth hand stories
from unsubstantiated sources don't count.

Bill you know about this as much as anyone are you now denying it, yes
or no??? Your usual demands for serial numbers are just a part of the
dealers mantra to stop people getting to the truth????
There were E-Tec failures "due to overheating" & of course the claim is
it was a manufacturing snafu, new holes drilled & it's all fixed now:-)
This is ground hog day for Ficht, even down to your total BS.


By the way, my granddaughter will be visiting your fine country this summer
on an educational field trip and she is looking forward to it. It's for
almost 3 weeks and they travel to different parts of the continent to
interact with the different cultures, and to understand the history of the
areas. Do you have any tips or suggestions that I can pass on to her?
Thanks.

Assuming from Florida & a boatie, try to get out to the barrier reef
it's worth the trouble, there are numerous places she can but I'd
suggest from the Whitsundays because there the reef is well offshore
(guessing 35-40 miles) & you get some measure of the reef's vastness.

We will of course re-run our Ficht arguments & counter claims over
E-Tec as we did back when Bill but when the latest impact injector owner
gives up & abandons those silly enough to have paid money for these
things; try to hang around this time & at least answer the questions to
your ability.

K


Bill Grannis
service manager



billgran
Jan 17 2001, 9:38 pm show options
Newsgroups: rec.boats
From: billgran - Find messages by this author
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 05:37:43 -0800
Local: Thurs, Jan 18 2001 12:37 am
Subject: What do WE think happened to OMC and boating in general?
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"K. Smith" wrote:

.... through the prop exhaust Merc has it but OMC won't pay royalties so
doesn't till years after,

their consumers suffered, seems same rationale for going their own
way with
Ficht..

Hey Karen,

OMC had the patent on the thru hub exhaust. Mercury lost out in long
drawn out court battle back in '67 and had to pay OMC royalties. The '68
3cyl. Johnson and Evinrudes even had a decal on the midsection with the
patent number, just to **** off Merc. I think that was Charlie Srang's
idea.

You were really ranting and raving in your last posts. Did you put too
much sugar on your Corn Flakes this morning?

Bill Grannis
service manager


billgran
Jan 27 2001, 3:56 pm show options
Newsgroups: rec.boats
From: billgran - Find messages by this author
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2001 04:56:12 GMT
Local: Sat, Jan 27 2001 3:56 pm
Subject: Where did all the FICHT experts go in this NG?
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peteman wrote:

I could really use some insight here. I've watched for months as
certain apparently knowledgeable people on this NG argue the pros and
cons of FICHT technology. Highly technical critiques of design plans
and whatnot. I post a specific question and everyone clams up. What
gives.....do you prefer arguing to helping? Or do you just not really
know what you're talking about? It's hard to tell in cyberspace.

I've restrained myself from picking up my boat cuz I'm trying to build
a bit of a knowledge base regarding the presence of a REV LIMITER in
the ECU that could have been adjusted to cut out at 5500.

Your rev limiter is NOT adjustable and I doubt that is your problem.
First the basics have to be checked, motor installation, height, etc.
The motor has to be set up correctly, using a laptop, and the linkage
adjusted per the manual. Propping should be done using a laptop, as the
accuracy is important. OMC tachs are very close, but if you have an
aftermarket brand, then who know?
How do they know the rev limiter is kicking in? You would have to use a
timing lite and the laptop to determine if the cylinders are cutting
out, very unlikely.

What is the model number of the motor, what service and updates have
been done, and what boat do you have?

Bill Grannis
service manager



billgran
Jan 3 2001, 12:22 pm show options
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From: billgran - Find messages by this author
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 20:22:16 -0800
Local: Wed, Jan 3 2001 3:22 pm
Subject: OMC Final
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"K. Smith" wrote:

No you're correct but that's because OMC didn't/wouldn't tell
anyone, indeed
they tried to hide the truth, the only reliable info we got was from
a good
inside source & despite his later regrets about giving it to us the
figure was 1
in 5, if there are better official figures let them give them to us,
till then
it's 1 in 5, pathetic.

Gee you're the one who asked what the figures were, now you don't
like the
answer.

Karen,

I was the one who gave you the 1 in 5 figure that applied to the 1998
150-175 FICHT problems, not the V4's or the 3.0 and 3.3L V6's. Not only
am I NOT an inside source but I do NOT regret it. It is a direct quote
from David Jones, former CEO of OMC, at a news conference with the
boating media about the '98 FICHT problems. He also stated with
consulting help from Ricardo, Queens University, McLaren, Purdue (my
alma mater), and Sagem, they found the problems and redesigned the
product. This news and quote was published in almost every American
Boating mag, talked about on the Ship Shape TV show, and was even
written about in the Australian boating magazines. Why do you insist it
was "secret" and never disclosed?

Bill Grannis
service manager


K. Smith
Jan 3 2001, 2:14 pm show options
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From: "K. Smith" - Find messages by
this author
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 14:15:40 +1100
Local: Wed, Jan 3 2001 2:15 pm
Subject: OMC Final
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billgran wrote:
"K. Smith" wrote:

No you're correct but that's because OMC didn't/wouldn't tell
anyone, indeed
they tried to hide the truth, the only reliable info we got was
from a good
inside source & despite his later regrets about giving it to us the
figure was 1
in 5, if there are better official figures let them give them to
us, till then
it's 1 in 5, pathetic.

Gee you're the one who asked what the figures were, now you
don't like the
answer.

Karen,

I was the one who gave you the 1 in 5 figure that applied to the 1998
150-175 FICHT problems, not the V4's or the 3.0 and 3.3L V6's. Not only
am I NOT an inside source but I do NOT regret it. It is a direct quote
from David Jones, former CEO of OMC, at a news conference with the
boating media about the '98 FICHT problems. He also stated with
consulting help from Ricardo, Queens University, McLaren, Purdue (my
alma mater), and Sagem, they found the problems and redesigned the
product. This news and quote was published in almost every American
Boating mag, talked about on the Ship Shape TV show, and was even
written about in the Australian boating magazines. Why do you insist it
was "secret" and never disclosed?

Well I wont eat my tea tonight I'll be full up on crow, so I need
to apologise to
you also now, sorry.

So the facts you're confirming then Bill are;

(i) that the 1 in 5 figure is very accurate & comes publicly from the
very top of
OMC BUT only applied to the 98 model Ficht 150 &175 HP

(ii) that you nor OMC have "published" any failure rates on any
Fichts since they
claimed they were "fixed" from the 1 in 5 failure base.

Does that accurately state the facts on the release of Ficht
failures as far as
OMC or you are concerned???? if so then it seems they were wrong when
they said Ficht
was all fixed because clearly just reading this group & the fishing
boards discloses
that it's not & not just certain HPs or models all an OMC engine needs
to be suspect
of powerhead failure is a Ficht decal.

Harry should be happy now because he knows OMC were at 1 in 5
Fichts failing so
if there had been even a modest improvement I guess OMC or their dealers
would have
been spruiking it from the rafters, not exactly truthfully of course but
probably
couched in terms like "twice as reliable" so what 1 in 10 still not even
likely to be
acceptable, 4 times as reliable..........

I'm suspecting it probably even got worse than the 1 in 5 because
the same
engines they thought they'd "fixed" with the silent recalls as Karl
calls them, then
went on to fail again & in some cases a third time.

I accept you personally say you think Ficht is good but that's not
what the
dealers are saying now, indeed there's a growing panic.

Good thing you've got Yamaha.

Thanks again

K

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