Recommendation for 50 HP 4 cycle Out Board Motor

[aya16]

Cat I dont want to say that you are wrong, but I did not receive a certificate of install, filled out my own warranty card, and have a 7 year warranty, That I just used for a leaky oil tank.

I'm calling evinrude today to get to the bottom of this. The install has nothing to do with quality control of the motor, in my mind. Mike Ingmon might be able to shed some light on this, I believe in the past he installed etec's and is not a certified dealer of the motor's.

This isn't the same as installing a motor in your car, an outboard is basically like installing a light bulb, its all plug and play, bolt it on and plug it in. Its a self contained power plant, installation has nothing to do with the defective parts from the manufacture, just like the pin hole leak in my oil tank, merc had no problem with sending me a tank through my dealer at no cost to me. I installed it, gave the dealer the old tank and it was done.

I wouldn't think the policy of making someone have the engine installed by a certified dealer to honor free replacement of defective parts would hold up in court.
But Ill check.
Mike

[aya16]

I called evinrude about warranty void; My question to Evinrude: "I would like to buy an evinrude etec 60hp, and install it myself, but the dealer told me my warranty would be void if I didn't have an authorized dealer install the motor". His answer: "Although we prefer the engine be installed by a dealer, we in no way void our warranty if you install the motor yourself, you just send the warranty card into evinrude and register your purchase. Your motor will be covered as if a dealer installed the motor. The warranty work would be done by any evinrude dealer, not evinrude themselves"
I can see how a dealer might say to someone, engine warranty would be void if they didn't do the install, they lose about a grand in installation fee's.

This sounds about right to me, install has nothing to do with workmanship, or defective parts put on the engine, The engine does not need a computer to set it up to run, In my case a simple program from the tack, asking me to selectect what is right for my boat, like how many engines installed, what sensors are installed on my motor? things like that.

[DaveB]

Thats what the Certified Mercury Mechanic told me, So one needs to have a Certified Machanic inspect the home owner install for warrenty. At Bass pro Shops they would sell me the 50 HP Big Foot for $6200 if I installed with 3 year warrenty if inspected by a Certified Machanic. If they installed the engine would cost $5151.60 plus $317 for control box, $65 cables,$185 triple cuped Prop. , $299.80 for 3 hrs labor install and $361.10 Tax and a 5 year warrenty.
Total $6379.50.
Much cheaper and longer warrenty if they installed as I would still have to pay for Sales Tax,control box,prop.,cables above the $6200 price and time to install myself.
Dave

If you buy an ETEC from a dealer and file a warranty claim without evidence of a certified install...good luck. Direct personal experience.
This isnt restricted to Evinrude, I believe all manufacturers will put you through the same hoops. This is a reasonable business practice. An outboard isnt a light bulb.

[aya16]

Dealers can tell you anything they want, even lie, best get the facts from the horses mouth. Evinrude said they don't make that distinction who installs or not.
If a dealer refuses to honor a warranty than the problem is with the dealer, I would guess.

I'm not going to call every outboard manufacture out there to get their policy, But I have installed my own merc's and had no problem registering them for warranty, as far as having warranty work done, I guess I was lucky, the only time I ever used a warranty was recent on my 115 merc, and that was minor.

Evinrude stated they back their engines no matter who installs them, and didn't say anything about getting the motor inspected before warranty is honored.
Me thinks you guys are taking the dealers word at face value, and me thinks they are wrong. An engine is an engine, and looks like the manufacturer's back their product's, as they should.

If it were me, and a dealer told me they wont work on the engine I bought from them under warranty, if I installed my own motor, I would shop elsewhere.

By the way, you guys really think you are getting a certified mechanic installing your motor, That job would normally would go to the 10 dollar an hour non certified hired help. The certified mech. is the one rebuilding your motor, water pumps, tune ups, oil changes those guys are just the helpers, for the most part.

At 299.00 bucks for an install is a good deal, I would have it done, especially for people that are afraid to tackle such a job. Although the install is pretty straight forward, it still requires the installer to be a little creative in some areas, such as running cables, drilling holes for the tach, running the wires to the console, (most wires are plug and play) drilling for the control head and key switch. 299.00 I would have them do it....
Mike

[DaveB]

Mike,
It's just not the install price. They want the business and just the motor is $1100 less if they install. It's a catch 22 and even the 3 year warrenty compared to their 5 year warrenty is a give away.
I can install outboards easy and past month took my engine off to install elect. hydrolic trim motor for the Honda 50. The Merc. 50 doesn't require motor removal. $200 for a Cherry picker or rent one for $35 a day.
You will need one to install and take off old motor.
I am not sure I want to go with another 50 hp. I would love to get the 90 hp Suzuki but that raises another problem, stern ladder and filling in bolt holes and less clearance getting up the ladder. My 97 Mac.X ladder will not clear the wider 90 hp Suzuki.
Dave

Dealers can tell you anything they want, even lie, best get the facts from the horses mouth. Evinrude said they don't make that distinction who installs or not.
If a dealer refuses to honor a warranty than the problem is with the dealer, I would guess.

I'm not going to call every outboard manufacture out there to get their policy, But I have installed my own merc's and had no problem registering them for warranty, as far as having warranty work done, I guess I was lucky, the only time I ever used a warranty was recent on my 115 merc, and that was minor.

Evinrude stated they back their engines no matter who installs them, and didn't say anything about getting the motor inspected before warranty is honored.
Me thinks you guys are taking the dealers word at face value, and me thinks they are wrong. An engine is an engine, and looks like the manufacturer's back their product's, as they should.

If it were me, and a dealer told me they wont work on the engine I bought from them under warranty, if I installed my own motor, I would shop elsewhere.

By the way, you guys really think you are getting a certified mechanic installing your motor, That job would normally would go to the 10 dollar an hour non certified hired help. The certified mech. is the one rebuilding your motor, water pumps, tune ups, oil changes those guys are just the helpers, for the most part.

At 299.00 bucks for an install is a good deal, I would have it done, especially for people that are afraid to tackle such a job. Although the install is pretty straight forward, it still requires the installer to be a little creative in some areas, such as running cables, drilling holes for the tach, running the wires to the console, (most wires are plug and play) drilling for the control head and key switch. 299.00 I would have them do it....
Mike

[aya16]

If you buy an ETEC from a dealer and file a warranty claim without evidence of a certified install...good luck. Direct personal experience.
This isn't restricted to Evinrude, I believe all manufacturers will put you through the same hoops. This is a reasonable business practice. An outboard isnt a light bulb.

No one should jump through hoops to have a manufacture defect fixed under warranty, no matter who installed the engine. Common sense will tell you, an unrelated problem from an install, is their problem, Its reasonable biz practice to check the engine for problems that may have come from the owner, not a defect.
Thats fine, but to try and blame the owner for things that happened on the factory floor, that's the dealer making that problem, shouldn't have dealt with that dealer in the first place.

What you guys are talking about is nothing short of blackmail, I talked to Evinrude today, they make no such distinction of who installs to have your motor warranty up held. So you either go along with that dealer blackmail and think you will get better service by having him do all the work, or you do it yourself. My bet is even if the dealer installed it, and you had a problem, that dealer will still blame you, nature of the beast.

People can do what they want, have it installed or install it, but you guys that believe the factory will not honor a warranty because you installed it are wrong and that info came from your dealers, who are wrong, why put those two wrongs on the net to extend the wrong all over cyber space. Any one wanting to install brand x motor, should call the manufacture, not the dealer, and get the straight poop. I did today and from what they told me, I would install my own motor and not worry about it.
Mike

[aya16]

In your case Dave, first thing is a motor that will fit, the other thing is you might want to go with what others have that work for your boat, Tohatsu, etec. Notice these are 2 strokes, the 4 strokes are massive in the same hp. Big motor, little motor all the same, rent a cherry picker, or like in my case I used a massive tree limb to hoist a motor.

Ohh the holes, all newer motors have the same standard bolt pattern from manufacture to manufacture, as well as hp. So in my case I took a 50 suz off and installed a merc 115, same bolt holes. But filling in bolt holes is easy, a wood dowel larger than the hole, sharpened on one end and loaded up with marine white glue or 5200
drive that into the hole cut it off flush and use some marine tec to patch.

That 1100 less is blackmail again, you can buy on the net for cheaper, then any warranty work have that 1100 dollar discount dealer fix it for free
One thing with boats, you sort have to get the attatude money is no object, then when you can save a few bucks doing your own work, the value is there, it just didnt come out of your pocket, so you saved lots of money to buy even more expensive toys for you boat.....It never ends

[mastreb]

I would not be that worried about the warranty personally. I've owned something like 20 vehicles in my life and had maybe $2000 warranty claims total. I guess I'd be willing to take the repair hit to have the engine I wanted--there's very little that could go wrong with these engines that would cost more than $1000 to fix in the first three years of their life--especially an ETEC which doesn't even require service in that interval.

[vkmaynard]

Last highjacked post for me. Hopefully a moderator will split this thread into the original and "large motor install beat down".

Called a Suzuki bottom rung person who read a script to me. His position is that they will only warranty a motor with paperwork completed by the dealer and only a dealer can complete the paperwork. So really it's about the dealer willing to fill out a form. I talked with our dealer’s manager who said they always send in the paperwork and have not had any issues with Suzuki. Since they’ve never had an issue with a DIY install caused warranty claim they don’t have a problem with the way they do business.

I doubt any authorized dealer could sell a motor without notifying Suzuki in some way and therefore I doubt they could sell a motor without the proper paperwork completed which equals full warranty. So if they are willing to sell you a crate motor then they will have to fill out the paperwork.

Our dealer is one of the largest Suzuki dealers so I seriously doubt that Suzuki is going to slap them down. Coincidentally, since they are one of the largest dealers, they had the largest discount I could find by $2000 over the next lowest cost dealer.

It comes down to a military motto, “if you can’t stand the answer then don’t ask the question”. If you really want to talk your dealer out of a DIY install then worry them into that decision.

So Dave, if you still intend to install a 90 it would be worth your time to drive to NC for $2000 savings and a full warranty. Then you could visit with us, we are 30 min from our dealer

Our ladder clears the newer 90 without moving. Erik had a small issue with his ladder on his 2003 90 that has the same size larger 140 cowling. He did some minor mod and did not have to move his either.

Victor

[Crikey]

I'm a self installed Suzi king of guy. Yeah I took all that into account when I made up my own mounting template, and figured out the wiring. Kinda like walking into Best Buy really. You can go out the door with the product you selected, or you can go out the door with the 'extended' warranty and live a peaceful life, for the rest of your days!

Both eyes open here ..... I'll take the money every time

[DaveB]

Victor,
You have a 2001 Mac.X with the one lower prong and less width, I have the two prong support and wider swim ladder.( I clear my Honda by 1 inch with the motor centered)
I am still scratching my head and may just take a trip to NC. for a crated 90 Suzuki with papers filled out for warrenty.
The other option is the E-Tec. 60 hp or the Merc. 50 hp.
One of the main reason for the Suzuki or E-Tec is the 25-27 chargeing amps as I have refigeration.
Dave

(So Dave, if you still intend to install a 90 it would be worth your time to drive to NC for $2000 savings and a full warranty. Then you could visit with us, we are 30 min from our dealer

Our ladder clears the newer 90 without moving. Erik had a small issue with his ladder on his 2003 90 that has the same size larger 140 cowling. He did some minor mod and did not have to move his either.

Victor[/quote])

[vkmaynard]

Erik has the sme boat version as you (1998-1999). He had one of the prongs removed. Again, his cowling is larger than the new 90 cowling. I can measure across our cowling if you are interested.

Dave Is your Honda having problems? Otherwise, why would you replace a 50 with a 50 or 60?

Victor

[Catigale]

Victor..I'll try to split and unhijack the thread a bit later today..thx

Evinrudeb( direct) refused to authorise warranty work for one of my customers who bought direct from the factory because ( at the time) the factory was not an authorised installer.

[vkmaynard]

Dave,

If you want to drive up here and buy a 90 I will help you install it. Ours mounted using the same holes in a few hours. The most time consuming part is making the plates. I have a metal cutting band saw. I can give you the information for metals online to order the materials. This would be the third motor I've installed on a 26X.

I would also recommend the same throttle unit we installed on our boat.

You will need a way to transport the Honda back home.

Victor

[dlandersson]

You sound very handy - have you considered moving to NW Indiana?

Dave,

If you want to drive up here and buy a 90 I will help you install it. Ours mounted using the same holes in a few hours. The most time consuming part is making the plates. I have a metal cutting band saw. I can give you the information for metals online to order the materials. This would be the third motor I've installed on a 26X.

I would also recommend the same throttle unit we installed on our boat.

You will need a way to transport the Honda back home.

Victor