60 HO/75/90 HP ETEC's Good Engines? Dependable?

[Maxacceleration]

Hello all,
Looking at engines for my small 13' runabout boat. ...New two strokes are disappearing. But I am looking at the Evinrude etec line. And the 60 HO to be specific. My boat is USCG rated at 70 hp max. The 60 HO is a heavy motor (another consideration).

Any issues or concerns with this motor? I bumped into a consumer affairs page the looked to be a horror story for the etec motors in general. Any truth? Very small percentage?

Can a 60 HO be mapped or uprated to the 75 hp motor??

TIA, hoping to learn some.

[David]

We have loved our Etecs. 6 years with a 115 HO and one year on the 150HO

[Motv18]

Haven’t heard much only one runs rude and he has few issues.

[Maxacceleration]

Thanks gentlemen. I know this site is much more power oriented vs lower hp motors. And I will suppose why map a lower hp engine, just get a more powerful one.
I have already purchased the 60 HO, so my research is a little behind.

[racer]

Currently you can not remap these engines.

[Baja16]

Inline 3 Cylinder E-Tecs are very reliable motors in general. I especially like the 60HO/75 motors, good power and torque. The 90's seem to lack some power (a 90hp should really be a 4 cylinder, hence why a 90HO model is offered in the 4 cylinder line). The 2004 to ~2008MY motors had issues with the pans cracking if they are always in the sun and the oil tanks would also crack at the seems after awhile. Both issues had been improved since then. Not too many major changes have been made in these past few years so the quirks have all been worked out.

[Maxacceleration]

Ok, lets go to gearcases & ratio's. Can the gearcases be swapped to gain a better ratio on the 60 HO/75/90 motors?

[Baja16]

The Inline 3 cylinder E-Tecs with 20'' midsections all have the S2 lower unit. Its essentially a revised version of the V4 lower unit which Evinrude has been using for years on all the 20'' V4's. Technically the 60HO is unique because it has a 2.36:1 gear ratio unlike the 2:1 ratio used in the 75 and 90 models (and any other motor that is offered with the S2 case for that matter). That being said i really doubt changing lower units or gear ratio's will gain you anything. Because these lowers use V4 propellers your going to have a pretty good selection of props and not gonna have any issues finding high enough pitch to keep the motor off the rev. limiter.