1999 OMC Ficht 175

J

jim scrivens

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I'm thinking about repowering my old 20' Dolphin with a low hours 1999 175 Ficht OMC, but I seem to remember something about the top cylinders burning on the Ficht models due to low oil pressure up there at some point, does anyone remember the deal on that?

Jim
 
Worst motor OMC ever built. The 1999 Fix, I mean Ficht, is what put OMC out of business. Makes a nice anchor though. I lost 2 150 Fichts both 1999 models 12 and 30 hours. :shock: I would not trust them even with the updates. IMO.
 
Had a 175 on my Dolphin, power head blew w/ 200 hours and exceptiomal regular maintaince. Mechanic told me to use it for an anchor. spend some dough and get rid of the headache.

LOve to see pics of the dolphin. I loved that boat
 
Yup, I thought that I'd heard they were problem ridden, I guess I'll stick with the regular OMC 2 stroke. I'll post some pictures of my well loved Dolphin, it stopped being pretty long ago, but it plys the Gulf of Maine all summer long!

Jim
 
Ficht

My Father Inlaw passed & he left his 84 Trophy to us, its powered with 2 175 Ficht model#E175FPXSSR & # J175FSXEC9 are these the same motors that your talking about with the problems ? Ken
 
Went with the 150

I put on a low hours OMC 2 stroke 150 (2004 so its a Bombardier) on the old girl and love it. Plenty of go and not bad on gas. I've been running it all summer and havent had a single issue.
 
FICHT put OMC out of business in late 90's. Created havoc in outboard industry.

Same time Grady shot gun wed Ms. Yamaha, all because of FICHT.
 
I had twin 1999 175 hp fichts on my old 25 sailfish when I bought it. I got less than 40 hours on them when they died. They were replaced by OMC. The new engins lasted about the same time. Omc then told me that they would no longer help me and that the engine failure was my fault. I repowered with Yamaha HPDI 200s and had no problem. When the boat had about 1600 hrs I sold it in good running condition and traided up to the 272 with HPDI 200s. Marty
 
I'm waiting for someone to respond they have 1500 hrs on their FICHT and never had a problem since it was first fired up. And don't understand what all the negative FICHT talk is about.

This will make my day today.

Get a FORCE outboard instead. I don't think the use-once-throw-away FORCE motors ever exploded nor set people on fire.
 
BobP said:
I'm waiting for someone to respond they have 1500 hrs on their FICHT and never had a problem since it was first fired up. And don't understand what all the negative FICHT talk is about.

This will make my day today.

Get a FORCE outboard instead. I don't think the use-once-throw-away FORCE motors ever exploded nor set people on fire.
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I had a 1985 force 125 on a 18ft bayliner, loved that engine, easy and reliable. blew up around 500 hrs, cost to rebuild was about 2k, ran for another 500 hrs when sold, still running today, Buyer told me he had to rebuild the lower unit cost him about 700$ , saw the guy on the lake tubing with his kids last Month!
Only complaint was the 125 felt more like an 85hp but still loved it.
 
Many years ago, a buddy bought a Bayliner boat motor trailer combo at incredible price, it was 24 ft fishing style boat as I recall.

A few years later I reminded him he had to change thermostats, do water pumps, etc, he said he didn't want to touch a bolt, last time he tried to screw a few out, each one sheered right off, so he decided to do no maintenance.

I think they were cheap knockoffs of full priced Mercs, probably used cheap steel for bolts.
 
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS said:
I have a 2000 Ficht with 1234 hours on it with absolutely no problems from day one. I love this motor.
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If thats the case it needs to be in the Outboard hall of fame. I bet out of all the 1999 Ficht 150s made they did not have that many hours combined. :lol: :mrgreen:
 
The first 6 cyl FICHTS were horrible. Injector and fuel pump gaskets failed causing gas leaks, explosions & fires. The 4 cyl were pretty much bullet proof from day 1.
A Bombardier FICHT 6 cyl may be OK.
Also the brains would overheat and fail causing a $1,000 bill. Avoid that problem by disconnecting the cooling water hose at the to front and back of the brain and flush with freshwater rodding out any salt build up. Its a straight thru tube front to back.
I flush with fresh water after each trip and haven't had the salt buildup.
 
BobP said:
Many years ago, a buddy bought a Bayliner boat motor trailer combo at incredible price, it was 24 ft fishing style boat as I recall.

A few years later I reminded him he had to change thermostats, do water pumps, etc, he said he didn't want to touch a bolt, last time he tried to screw a few out, each one sheered right off, so he decided to do no maintenance.

I think they were cheap knockoffs of full priced Mercs, probably used cheap steel for bolts.
Click to expand...

Very cheap engines but simple, I had the chrysler model not the merc force and oh yes I do remember changing the stat and the screw head popped right off the bolt, then I drilled em out, enlarged the hole and tapped new , and use ss bolts. Also replaced most bolts on that engine with SS. Kinda miss that engine it never let me down, even when it blew it stayed running on 2 cly for about 2 miles back to the ramp, clanking and clunking..... lol I saw a trophy 20ft with a pair of them running across the bay in March so lots of peeps still use em....
 
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