Bombardier Recreational Products, manufacturers of Johnson and Evinrude outboards, have concluded that the failed engine holder casting on my Suzuji-manufactured 90-horsepower 4-stroke EFI outboard motor is not their responsibility.

Oh yes, they “apologize for any inconvenience”, and “customer satisfaction is a top priority”, but the problem I experienced was the result of corrosion, and that’s not covered.

A disappointment, to be sure, but not a big surprise. They were able to provide a bit of background on the changes I noticed in the part that failed:

“Upon further inspection of this issue after reading your letter, the change in the casting was due to the elimination of a test port. Your pictures illustrate this change well, the noted change in the casting was due to the elimination of the machining for a test port for an oxygen sensor, which is no longer used. Otherwise the casting is the same.”

That makes sense, and it explains the change. The engine has over 800 hours on it, which is a lot for a three-year-old engine. The previous owner used the boat a lot, and I’ve put about 100 hours on it in the past eight months. So maybe this part was just going to fail at this point eventually, and mine failed early due to the large number of hours on the engine.

It will be interesting to see if other owners of these Suzuki-manufactured engines begin experiencing the same failure in large numbers when they’ve got 800 hours on their engines. Affected models probably include Johnson and Suzuki 90 HP, 115 HP, and 140 HP 4-stroke EFI engines manufactured between 2001 and at least 2005, the model year of my engine. But I don’t know when Suzuki modified the part, so it’s possible some newer engines are similarly at risk.

If you own one of these engines and you’re experiencing exhaust leakage into the engine enclosure, please contact me. You can identify this problem because of the soot that will gradually build up in the vicinity of the exhaust leak and, eventually, rough running and stalling that’s difficult to diagnose.

Never fear, there’s a happy ending for this Thanksgiving story: now that it’s fixed, my engine’s once again the smooth, reliable runner I’ve come to know and love.