Losing faith in Yamaha.......

[CONTENDERICAN]

with only 68 hours on my new f250's, the mechanic the dealer sent over finds water in the oil. He takes the engine apart, replaces some gaskets, and after running it for about 20 minutes, water once again finds it way back into the oil. This whole process took about 3 weeks. Now the dealer asks me to take the boat to them and they want to open up the engine again and replace all the gaskets (full set gasket kit). The mechanic found rust marks on the piston rods, but the dealer says that is not a problem!!??!!! They tell me I should have the boat back in about 2 or 3 weeks.

I believe they should replace the power head. Am I wrong? Only 68 hours and I will have a rebuilt engine. I run charters on my boat and this is already becoming a major problem. Not to mention the 4 blown powerheads in 6 months on the 250 HPDI's I had on my previous boat. I thought with the change of engines my problems would be over. I guess the problem was Yamaha and not the HPDI's.

Is this a common problem on the F250's?

[Brewhedd]

Sorry to hear about your problems, Yamaha doesn't seem to have a very good reputation when it comes to engineering or backing their product. Maybe some others that have had to jump through hoops to get proper service or file lawsuits have some suggestions.

[BigBone]

Good luck.

Shoot, I'd take the 2-3 weeks and go surfing.

RINCON!!

[FireFly]

Just sounds like you are having a bit of bad luck. Sorry to hear it.

[B-Faithful]

My father's fishing partner was having "making oil" issues with one of his F250's that had him down several times. It took them a while and with a lot of hollaring but they replaced the powerhead and I think he is fine now. You may want to start pushing hard for a new powerhead...

[Bugbuster]

Man, you guys must love those Yamahas. After that many major problems and that much down time and a total absence of customer service, I'd be done. I lost an air pump on one of my 225 optis while on vacation in the keys and in 48 hours had the part replaced on the boat in the water behind the house. Mercury is on top of warranty work period. Some of the things you guys are talking about would make me buy and inboard or sell my boat.

[strikerthree]

68 hours i would want a whole new motor not just a power head Yamaha's customer service sucks I learned my lesson when i bought a waverunner back to them for a small issue thats why when Irepowered my boat I went with mercury #1 on the water lol

[grunthunter]

First, sorry to hear of your problem.

In my experience, getting the attention of Yamaha customer service requires having a well-connected local Yamaha certified mechanic. It is very difficult getting through to anyone from Yamaha directly. If your mechanic won't go to bat for you, then I would try to find another Yamaha certified guy. Good luck.

[scottaboat]

Why was a mechanic sent over in the first place? Seems to be another part of this story missing?

[CAPTDASH]

Should have bought an E Tec then you would not even have to have the Merc mechanic come to your house. You could take him fishing on your superior powered boat. I have to agree with a couple of guys above though. 68 hours, screw them, they would put me a whole engine on there or some one would tote an azz whipping from the mechanic to the president of Yamaha.

[South Point]

My 250 HPDI blew a cylinder after 34 hours. Yamaha replaced the power head and performed al updates. The motor has been 100% since. Maybe the lesson is to not buy the latest technology. It seems like after the first year the manufacturer usually works out the kinks.