ETEC High Oil Consumption

[tpbrady]

I have a 90 ETEC on a 22 foot C-Dory that now has 114 operating hours. Since it was new, I have had a continuing problem with exceptionally high oil consumption. I generally have used 1 oz of oil for each gallon of gas. In the first 82 hours of operation, Evinrude ran an engine analysis and said I had consumed 1.2 gallons of oil, yet I had put over 3.5 gallons in the tank. It was at this point they finally agreed something was wrong. After getting with the dealer they came to the conclusion that the engine was running too cold. I agreed with that assessment since, my best fuel economy was at wide open throttle. The dealer found a thermostat that was opening about 25 degrees before it should. After that was replaced, it was like a whole new engine. Fuel economy immediately improved 30% and the engine was much quieter. However, oil consumption stayed the same and since it has now cooled off considerably, my best fuel economy is now back at wide open throttle. In addition, a problem I had in the early spring up until June cropped back up. That problem was a no oil alarm. Thankfully Evinrude as able to get that fixed by having me switch from XD100 oil to SkiDoo XPS synthetic two cycle oil. It seems XD100 is simply too thick at temperatures below 50F with water temperatures in the 40s for the oil sensors to work properly. <br /><br />My overall assessment, if there is not some other problem with the engine, is the ETEC has some performance issues in cold water environments and in colder temperatures. If someone can give me evidence otherwise I would appreciate it. Is there something wrong with the engine or is it a design issue?<br /><br />Thanks.

 

[ezeke]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

I don't pretend to know anything about your motor, but I consider a fuel to oil ratio of 128:1 absolutely outstanding.<br /> <br />Thought that the reading I have done on the ETEC indicated that the oil ratio could be manually adjusted for the type of oil used.

 

[tpbrady]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

I agree it sounds outstanding, but that is not substantially different from what the Ficht uses, but much less than the oil consumption mentioned by Evinrude in some literature. For example, Evinrude in their own analysis of my engine performance said I should have consumed 1.2 gallons of oil in 82 hours. Figuring an average burn of 4.5 gallons per hour (from fuel flow meter) that comes out to about 300 to 1. A couple of ETEC owners I have talked with report 40 plus operating hours on a tank of oil (XD100)prior to the low oil warning light coming out. One reported 80 hours on his first tank. A tank holds 3 quarts. The engine meters oil based on many factors one of which is engine rpm. If I troll for any length of time, I will foul the plugs indicating it is getting much more oil at low rpm than it should.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

TPBRADY,<br /><br />Email your motor serial number to me. You should be using the XD-100 which has the low temp formula sign on the container. You do not have to use the SkiDoo oil.<br /><br />seahorse5@hotmail.com

 

[ezeke]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

Please see the third and forth paragraph under the heading "LOW MAINTENANCE" in this article:<br /><br /> web page <br /><br />If this article is correct, your motor ships from the factory programmed for TC-W3 oil, and can be reprogrammed by the dealer for XD-100. It sounds like that may not have been done.

 

[tpbrady]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

That's the first thing everybody looked at and it was set for XD100. The article mentions up to 50 hours on a tank of oil. I'm lucky to get close to 20 hours.

 

[rabidfish]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

What is your serial number?

 

[jegervais]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

If you visit the web site from the post above & look at the oil consumption estimates, it tells you up to 25 hours on TCW-3 or up to 50 hours on XD-100.<br /><br />What it doesn't tell you is what Evinrude advertised, IF you bothered to read the fine print in their original advertising.<br /><br />That is: Oil consumption estimates are based on the ICOMIA test cycle. For example, lets use an engine with a 5000 rpm WOT recommedation:<br /><br />ICOMIA testing says the average recreational boater will run their engine as follows -<br /><br />40% @ idle rpm range<br />25% @ 2000 rpm range<br />15% @ 3000 rpm range<br />14% @ 4000 rpm range and<br />6% @ 5000 rpm range<br /><br />It only stands to reason that a 2-stroke engine requires more oil at higher revs. Invert the rpm run percents above, and you will use more oil. But spend even longer amounts of time at lower rpm and you'll barely use oil.<br /><br />There are a couple of things that could also possibly increase your "perceived " oil consumption - they are the occurance of no oil warnings, which will "over activate" the oil injection until the EMM senses oil delivery is restored and, (assuming) you activate the winterization feature to try to purge the oil system when no oil alarms happen. Winterization mode delivers the maximum amount of oil possible for 1 minute.<br /><br />I've worked with Evinrude tech to sort out a high oil consumption complaint for a customer. They have a "controlled" test to determine if its right. Has your dealer done this for you?<br /><br />-John

 

[seahorse5]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

Originally posted by tpbrady:<br /> I have a 90 ETEC on a 22 foot C-Dory that now has 114 operating hours. <br /><br /> It seems XD100 is simply too thick at temperatures below 50F with water temperatures in the 40s for the oil sensors to work properly. Thankfully Evinrude as able to get that fixed by having me switch from XD100 oil to SkiDoo XPS synthetic two cycle oil.

You should be using the XD-100 oil which is ashless in your motor. The SkiDoo XPS will leave combustion chamber deposits that could cause problems in the future.<br /><br />Here is an image of what you should be using and it is available in 55 gallon drums so a dealer can sell it in bulk. There is a gold oval on the label that says "Temperature EXTREME Formula".<br /><br />

 

[tpbrady]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

Seahorse,<br /><br />Thanks for the image of the oil. That is definitely different than the container the dealer is selling me. With the XPS I didn't get any oil alarms so hopefully that would be true with the proper XD-100 oil. <br /><br />John,<br /><br />Thanks for the data on oil consumption. BRP had taken a report from my engine at 82 hours and analyzed the data to determine the engine should have consumed 1.2 gallons of oil based on average engine rpm. That would have translated to about 50 hours or so per tank. During that 82 hours I actually put 3.5 gallons of oil into the tank. That gave a little less than 24 hours per tank. During the last 14 hours using the XPS 100, I consumed 57 oz of oil which translated to about 20 hours on a tank of oil. <br /><br />All in all BRP has not been able to tell me why I am consuming so much oil. It is unlike any other ETEC I have heard about.

 

[rabidfish]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

Tom,<br /><br />As I stated at the C Brat site... Someone has missed something. Not sure what, how, where, when, etc...<br /><br />I am wondering if you were originally programmed to run XD30/50 and when you change to the XPS100 someone actually changed the programming... Helping, but not curing the issue. <br /><br />The XD100 is rated to run down to 32 degrees... No one at BRP should have suggested you need XPS100. Now that your engine temp problem is better, you should be running XD100. <br /><br />If you engine is still using too much oil, then you need a BRP rep to take a look. <br /><br />Keep calling the BRP number I gave you. You'll get results if you keep "the wheel squeeking"<br /><br />Good luck!

 

[jegervais]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

... BRP had taken a report from my engine at 82 hours and analyzed the data to determine the engine should have consumed 1.2 gallons of oil based on average engine rpm. That would have translated to about 50 hours or so per tank. During that 82 hours I actually put 3.5 gallons of oil into the tank...

I understood that earlier. They actually have a "Controlled" test that can be run. It requires resolving any "no oil" codes first, and best results are attained using the lap top computer program, not the pda.<br /><br />Have you & your dealer discussed or done the controlled test?<br /><br />-John

 

[tpbrady]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

John,<br /><br />Neither the dealer nor BRP have suggested this type of test. I don't think the dealer has the laptop computer program. They use exclusively PDA's. I would unpickle my boat (it's been winterized) if BRP wanted to try that. However, the dealer is in the snow machine mode now, so getting boat work scheduled is tough. I priced the software for the laptop and it was a little steep for personal use. The cable wasn't too bad. Maybe I can strike a deal with BRP for some cold weather testing. <br /><br />I did talk to BRP today about the oil. I have to call them again tomorrow with the lot number from the XD100 I have been using to see if it was the temperature extreme version. <br /><br />Thanks for all the tips. It helps when I talk with BRP. I have a call into the western US sales manager to voice my reservations about cold weather performance and the lack of apparent concern over unusually high oil consumption. If I knew I was going to use that much oil and foul my plugs after two hours of trolling, I wouldn't have bought the motor.

 

[tpbrady]

Re: ETEC High Oil Consumption

After talking with BRP today the lot of XD100 I was using was the temperature extreme version so yet another data point. The engine would go into no oil alarm at cold temperatures without XPS SkiDoo oil after about 10 minutes and could only be reset by going through the priming procedure.