Big Brother is Watching (Your Outboard!)
Published: Monday, November 16, 2020
By: John Tiger
When talk comes to modern outboards, it’s clear that, like today’s tow vehicles, they’re engineered and built better than ever. They run better, burn less fuel, idle more smoothly, and have more power than their older brothers of yesteryear. You don’t get something for nothing, as the old saying goes, and so with those improvements come some downsides—outboards today are typically heavier, more sophisticated, and more complicated than ever. They’re no longer easy for a shade-tree mechanic to troubleshoot and repair; indeed, factory training is now pretty much a standard requirement, even for simple tasks like a thorough check-up and maintenance service.
Outboards in the Computer Age
Here’s the brief history: Mercury, Yamaha, and Suzuki (and OMC Johnson/Evinrude racing engines) started the march into employing computer-controlled systems such as ignition, fuel flow (fuel injection), and timing, following the automotive lead, in the very late 1970s and through the 1980s. In the 1990s (1996 to be exact), outboard builders introduced fully computer-controlled, direct-injected outboards such as the OMC Johnson/Evinrude FICHT and Mercury Optimax.
These engines used digital EMMs or ECMs (Engine Management Modules or Engine Control Modules) to synchronize fuel flow, engine timing, and ignition, helped by inputs from air sensors, fuel sensors, and temperature sensors, to manage the engine’s running from idle to full throttle and everything in between. This was due largely to then-coming EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) air quality management regulations that demanded cleaner emissions from outboards, starting in 1996 and finally by 2006, pretty much eliminating all traditional carbureted and standard fuel-injected two-stroke outboards.
This left only four-stroke and computer-controlled, direct-injected two-stroke outboards as the only engines produced that would pass the strict EPA emissions regulations. Today, a decade later, these cleaner-and-greener engines are the only outboards available for purchase from outboard makers such as Mercury, Evinrude*, Yamaha, Suzuki, Tohatsu, and Honda by consumers for recreational use.
The Computer Knows!
As a result of all this computerization, consumer outboards today truly rival autos and trucks for sophistication, starting and running ease, running quality, and reduced emissions. But since the EMM/ECM (computer) controls all these functions, it’s easy to understand that the computer memory also records data that is produced from running the engine.
For this reason, it’s important that consumers really pay attention—more so than ever before—to engine owner’s manuals and dealer instructions on important events like break-in and annual maintenance requirements. Why? Because it’s easier than ever, thanks to computerization, for the manufacturer to be able to see your engine’s running and service history by simply plugging in a diagnostic terminal to your outboard’s EMM.
When your engine is in for service at the dealership, a technician uses a computer diagnostic terminal to view the engine’s running history in full detail. What can be seen? It varies by manufacturer, but typically overall running hours, hours at incremental RPM levels, engine temperature (overheating episodes), if the engine has hit its RPM limiter (and how many times it’s done so), and of course, fault codes (for example: ignition misses, engine knock sensor, etc.).
This means that if you’re not following break-in instructions, for example, the dealer can see it. If your engine is not set up properly (with the correct size propeller, or raised too high on the transom, as examples) and it’s over-revving, the dealer can see that too. Conversely, they can also see if it’s over-propped (not reaching the manufacturer’s recommended full throttle RPM range) and therefore over-loaded. These are easy checks that can be done in seconds by the dealer technician.
More Involved Forensics
Beyond working with the engine’s computer, factory service representatives and engineers can do further diagnostics to see how an engine has been treated, even down to what type of lubricating oil and gear lube has been used! Typically this type of detailed review would not come to pass unless a failure occurred (and as a result, a claim made for warranty coverage). But, careful failure analysis for warranty claims has happened many times in the past and will continue into the future. The difference is manufacturers today have better engineering intelligence and easier ways to test products and lubricants, to find out the true service history that contributed to an engine failure. Oils and lubricants can be lab-tested and examined for properties, then compared to known samples to measure the differences. What that means to consumers is to be careful about the oils and lubricants you choose to run in your engine. While most in today’s markets are very good, there are still products available that do not meet manufacturer specifications. TIP: Oil type and specification can be critical! When in doubt, ask your dealer or go directly to your engine manufacturer’s website and/or consumer helpline to confirm.
This article first appeared in the Buyer's Guide 2021 (Nov/Dec 2020) of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Engines, Monitoring Systems, Smart Technology, Software & Apps
