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Yamaha knows of the problems with these HPDI Engines. They have used the public as the testing grounds for their product. I know this cuz I over heard the other day some big wigs from Yamaha and the owner of the dealership go at it very loudly. The dealer which sells Yamaha and Evinrude has had 16 of the last 21 300hpdi come back to him with blown power heads and the like. Glad I bought Evinrude!!! I had to stick around until after the Yamaha guys left to get the whole scoop while the owner was still mad and was willing to talk. The owner and I are very friendly.
The whole arguement was over the new bulletin from Yamaha telling the dealers that they (the dealers) had to put the first 3 hours on the motors. Yamaha is not going to pay the dealers for this and this made the owner mad as hell. The bulletin also had the new set up procedure for these HPDI motors which included taking a syringe of oil and pre lubing the cylinders. The dealer said this would be another hour on the motors that yamaha will not pay to the dealer. So he told me right off the bat the dealer is going to have 4 hours in the motor that yamaha is not going to pay back to the dealer. The owner said thats 1/2 day shop time for each motor at 70.00 per hour or 280.00 just to take care of something the factory should be doing. The dealer told me that the majority of the HPDI problems are dealer set up but not all the problems. Rush to the market, tighter EPA requirments are all playing a roll in the problems.
The dealer told me that out of the last 16 motors back 6 of them blew before 5 hours. He told me to think about this.... the way Yamaha has this set up with the dealers, sink in 4 hours in the motors without pay, dealers are gonna put these motors out on the street and not do what Yamaha wants them to do, to cut dealer cost. Now these engines are under warrenty so when they come back in to the dealership for repair or whatever, the dealer gets paid under the warrenty plan by Yamaha. The dealer said there is no way that Yamaha can tell if the engines were set up correctly so the battle go's on and on so the dealer can make his money. Again in life it is all about money.
The owner of the dealership said if Yamaha wants or needs these engines to have a special set up or break in then it should be done at the factory and not at the shop.
Sounds to me like a war with factory and dealer and the consumer is paying for it. The dealer also said that the customer is upset at Yamaha and not at the dealers cuz the dealers dont make the engines, they just rig and fix them, so it is really no skin off the dealer back....Yamaha takes all the heat.
The dealer also said why dont you think now days that most dealers sell more than one brand of outboards? Because of chit like this with Yamaha. Back in the old days a lot of dealers would sell only one brand.
At the time I bought my boat I wanted a 300HPDI but the dealer just said Yamaha is having problems now and do him a favor and take the Evinrude 250. I trusted him and I went rude. I have had a small problem due to a bad wiring harness from the factory but all is ok now.
Well if were lucky bomb will buy them out next and fix their problems too!!! I truly feel sorry for the consumers that spend their harder than ever earned wages on a state of the art engine only to be at the mercy of the dealer having to fix them! THis is the trouble when engines start costing so much, they charge sooooo much that we as consumers expect them to be perfect and for that kind of $$$$$ they should be!!! If they cost half as much would some of you only be half as mad??????
If they don't take care of the dealers things will get ugly. A dealer with Bomb, Yam, Merc lines is going to start leaning customers away from Yami. The big hit will come when the factories start offering Rudes again as rigged options. If I was Yamaha I would eat some profit right now and get things back on track with these big HPDIs, not a time to be short sighted.
The bulletin also had the new set up procedure for these HPDI motors which included taking a syringe of oil and pre lubing the cylinders.....tighter EPA requirements are all playing a roll in the problems.
I've heard you guys talking back and forth about the HPDI's for a while now. I'd wager that a syringe of oil into the cylinders would cause the HPDI's to NOT meet the EPA standards and that is why the manufacture won't do it! I'd bet'ca the manufacture is cutting a very fine line with the EPA specs and a little bit of oil would be enough for the gov. to say, "That doesn't pass our min. standards, take it off of the market!"
Gready dealer won't pay a yard rat $8 to tend to the boat during break in. It would be a $50 cut off his bottom line! If that's the way he cuts corners, clue us in to who he is so we don't go there.
Greedy dealers and yard rats? I'd figure a boat and motor combo like that would have to start at $40,000 plus. Now if I was the buyer, I think I'd rather have the dealer make sure a properly trained tech do the breakin than an $8.00 an hour yard rat. Sounds more like greedy Yamaha rather than the dealer. With today's computer controled engines, Yamaha ought to be able to put a program in there that would insure the owner broke the motor in properly.
Did I hear that someone around here is just passing out $50 bills for the heck of it? Where does the line form. I want to get me some of those bills. Be quick because businesses doing that don't last long.
I would have a hard time buying an HPDI if all this prelube crap were true. Could you imagine going to pick up your new car and the dealer saying "We have to squirt oil into the cylinders first"!!!
What kinda crap is going on with these motors? It sounds exactly like what was going on with the first Ficht motors.
I suspect the manufacturer prefers that it remain a mystery. I suspect if the truth were known they would have difficulty selling any more of these engines.
I don't doubt that the "hearsay" has thrown gas on the fire, but there was something burning before that started. Anyone who doesn't believe that there are fundamental problems with these engines has their head buried in the sand. As I said previously, Yamaha will never admit to any error-they will point fingers at the dealerships and say the problem is there.
Just as I had no problems with my Opti's, there are folks out there who love their HPDI's and have had great service--a la typical Yamaha performance. But these engines are having WAY too many catastrophic failures, and I would never be comfortable owning them as long as Yamaha is shirking their responsibilty to correct the problems.
When I picked up my new boat w/225-4 Yamaha, the dealer insisted on having his man run the first hour. Unfortunately, the "technician" was the same man that, 15 minutes earlier attempted to make a console repair with a 2x4 block and a 2# hammer, before I stopped him.
I can confirm that dealers are pointing customers away from the big yammies. When I bought my boat this past Spring the dealer gave me a wink and pointed to the merc efi. He said it was too long of a drive from my house to his dealership to buy the HPDI I hope Yamaha gets this thing turned around because I want choices in my power plant.
When I took delivery of my boat from Tri-State, the hour meters for the two F115s showed 2 hours. The technician who took me for the check-out ride indicated that they put the first 2 hours on the motors before releasing the boat to the customer. This was three years ago.
30 years ago, when I was one of those "yard rats" we would install the motor, mix the first tank of fuel at twice the ratio (this was before VRO), and run the motor an hour or so and finish off with a check of the timing and the carb syncronization. When we rebuilt powerheads, we squirted at least a teaspoon of oil into each cylinder before starting them for the first time.
So...these breaking procedures are not new, and in fact some common sense things that should be done by the dealer anyway.
BTW, I have 305 hours on each of my F115s and narry a hickup. I have one motor that may be showing signs of the F115 "making oil" problem, but I'm waiting on the oil analysis to come back. Problem is not showing up since I change the oil about 15 hours back. The local marina tech, gave me a photo copy of the F115 tech manual which describes the problem and the solution. According to the manual, the techs are supposed to put in hotter plugs, a hotter thermostat, and ensure the customer breaks them in harder to seat the rings. Apparently they come from the factory running too cool to adequately seat the rings. Tech told me that at this point (300 hours) to cruise at a higher rpm for several hours. I generally cruise at 3,700-4,100 rpm, and he indicated that I should run it at 4,500-4,700 for a few hours.
Folks......Yamaha Knows Of The Problems! 
I hope Yamaha gets this thing turned around because I want choices in my power plant. 
