My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

[samo_ott]

I work on much older engines and have heard mixed reviews on these newer engines. Any comments, yay or neigh? Thanks. Steve.

 

[jonesg]

Re: My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

Nay, no resale value unless you find a sucker.
Parts cost a fortune, requires a computer to diagnose.
I read where a guy needed a computer and 2 injectors, the bill was $2500.
As soon as something like that comes along it might make more sense to part it out than fix.

 

[boobie]

Re: My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

Ugly!!!!

 

[samo_ott]

Re: My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

That bad eh. That's kind of what I had heard but wanted to get other opinions also.

 

[ChrisAG]

Re: My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

V4s are generally reliable but the design has evolved since then so parts are scarce and expensive. Same is true for all early DI engines, not just Ficht. The only scary Fichts were the early V6s.

That said, I love my 1998 115 Ficht - bought it used last year, put it through a season of heavy usage with no issues.

 

[jonesg]

Re: My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

They do run good when they run, the problem is when they don't or something breaks, they more disposable than rebuildable.
Yours might last for yrs, a lot of them do.

 

[Pintail58]

Re: My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

That was a dark time for OMC. Bombardier now . Bombardier has their act together , but when they came out with the FICHT it was short lived due to the problems. Yet it was the first of it's kind and Merc had is't share of problems Johnson got a black eye out of that ordeal.

 

[nymack66]

Re: My buddy is looking at buying a 1999 Evinrude FICHT 115hp. Good, bad or Ugly?

Cost of Ownership its expensive and PITA to diagnose without the correct tools ...=Ugly