DF 200 4 Stroke lower side panels

[Gulf Coast]

I bought a new DF200 in-line four cylinder 4 stroke engine in November, 2015. Last summer, 2016, the plastic lower side panel on the starboard side cracked/broke around the screw bosses and came loose. Suzuki replaced the panel under the warranty. Just recently the lower side cover on the port side broke around the screw bosses and came completely off the engine when I was running at speed. My boat is now in the shop awaiting a replacement panel. I can't help but think that this is a design defect. Is this a known problem with this series of engines - i.e., the in-line 4 cylinder engines - or is my engine an anomaly?

[Hoosmatroos]

Never heard of this before. Strange that both broke down. Maybe a so called "monday morning" engine

[Moonlighter]

Also never seen reports of this before.

Seems likely that someone has severely overtightened the screws......

[Gulf Coast]

Follow-up to original post

I just picked my boat up from the shop. They replaced both lower side panels under warranty. Just for clarity on the situation, my engine has a 25" shaft length, and the engine is set back about 24" off the transom on a bracket. I'd be interested in knowing whether anyone else runs into this problem.

In another matter, I purchased the C10 color digital LCD display unit with the new engine and I really like it. However I recently had an issue with it when it stopped displaying the engine data. The gauge was working because it was still displaying the data from my GPS which is networked with it. And the gauge was displaying small icons in the upper left corner for all of the normal engine display data, such as RPM, Temp, voltage, etc. I assume that these were indicating that they were not receiving data from the engine. In any event, the Shop Manager said that the gauge was,in fact, still receiving the data from the engine, it simply wasn't displaying the data due to some glitch. The fix was to delete the gauge from the system setup, shut off the system, restarting the system and reconfiguring the gauge.

[Moonlighter]

Re the engine panel, I think ypu are wondering if water pressure due to the mounting position might be a factor? Just to be sure, I would suggest you check your engine height is correct, you dont want the engine to be set too low and creating unnecessary drag. In the sticky thread near the top if this forum about selecting props the is good info about correctly setting engine height, so have a read of that and make sure your engine is not buried too deep.

Re the gauge losing data sources, If it does it again, there could be a simpler solution to try.....

First, turn on everything that is connected to the network.

In the C-10 menu, find the network menu, then device list, and select the option to auto-select data sources. Do that. See if it works.

[carrabellefun]

Gulf Coast, did you ever resolve the issue. I repowered my boat with twin DFA200 last year (2019) and are now having the 2nd set replaced with 140 hours on the engines. My motors are mounted simular to yours on an armstrong bracket? I strongly beleive that water at below planing speed is hitting these covers, causing them to flex and vibrate are plastic is just failing.

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