Yamaha Engines!

[benc]

Last year, in April... I was happily bouncing along in the Solent when my port engine went BANG! Luckily, having two engines, I was able to get back into Warsash safely.

I had the dealer check out the engine, only to discover that I had managed break a con rod and blow a hole in the crank case!

After some further investigation, the dealer found out that the sixth cylinder had quite a bit of rust build up, which caused more friction for the piston... causing it to jam and snap the con rod... or something along those lines. Apparently when the boat water was getting in through the exhaust port and lying in the cylinder.

After some long conversation with both the dealer, and Yamaha direct, we managed to come to the agreement that it should be covered by warranty, and as such they supplied a new powerhead.

By about mid-late June, the warranty work was completed, and the boat ready to go again... or so they said.

I took the boat out, and ran that engine in again... A couple of days later, I had put the required 10 hours on the engine and was ready to "feel the power" once again... so slowed to a crawl, checked around to make sure no one else was around... opened up the throttle... and the previously knackered engine was not going any higher than 4000rpm... whereas the other engine went up to 5300rpm like it did before the incident.

I took it back to the dealer, who looked at it.. adjusted the throttle etc.. and asked me to try the boat again... unfortunately, it hadn’t made any change. So the dealer spoke to the main Yamaha technical support team, who asked them to do diagnostics... and send the information back. This went on and on and every time the repaired engine never went higher than 4000RPM.. The dealer told me the boat was "safe to use"... but I just didn’t feel confident using it when one of the engines wasn’t right.

Anyway, between June and December, the dealer kept sending data to support team who told them to try x,y,z (and then some other things...)...

By Late December, I was getting really agitated that I had a boat that, at least in my eyes, I could not use. I hadn't been able to charter it, or make the most of the summer. So I gave the Yamaha support team a call. The first person I spoke to kept telling me they are waiting for more information and they will have to give me an update once they got the diagnostic data back from the dealer. I spoke to the dealer who told me they were awaiting further instruction from Yamaha... this went on again until February, where I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for another Summer to waste away, let alone my warranty and the cost of depreciation... so I called Yamaha every couple of days to find out what the status was...


On Thursday the 21st Feb, Yamahas final suggestion was to swap the powerheads over between the engines, to see if the problem goes away... luckily I called them before they did it... and said it wasn’t an option, as the other engine was working perfectly... after discussing it with Yamaha Technical a bit more, and finally agreeing that they will take full responsibility if anything was to go wrong, I agreed to the change being done.

On Friday 22nd Feb, I called back the Dealer to ask how it was going... and they told me that they think they have fixed the problem! I was confused... how did they have one working engine, one broken engine and swap over the powerheads and get two working engines!? I called the mechanic on Monday, and basically found out that all he did to find the fault was to swap over the coils between engines and in doing so the problem jumped from one engine to the other... they finally had diagnosed the problem, NINE months later and nearly a year since the engine broke!

I have taken it out, and the boat is back up the performance it was before the breakage.

I am now feeling mixed emotions.. I am really happy the boat is fixed; on the other hand feel I have made the biggest mistake ever in choosing new Yamaha engines. I have lost a years warranty on both engines, the boat has depreciated over the last year and I wanted to start chartering out the boat last year to try and bring some money in to cover the cost of upkeep and storage of the boat...

I don't know what to do now, I am going to talk to Yamaha warranty people, and see if something can be done about the warranty I have lost. I doubt I will get anywhere, but I have to try.

Overall, I am really disappointed with Yamaha Customer Support, and will definatly think twice before buying Yamaha engines again!

[matt h]

i sympathise with your issue, not a good place to be, Yamaha are generally more expensive than other makes and you would expect Nil PROBLEMS in the ideal world,
if your dealer had have been quicker off the mark you would have been on the water sooner,
a friend of mine has bought a new Phantom Rolls, well, he has owned it 5 months, and its been one month in the Dealership trying to fix a starting issue,
sometimes you just get unlucky, which i know does not help you out!!

[Chris]

Hi Ben, I was thinking the other day I had not seen much of you on here over the last few months! Sorry to hear about your problems.

I totally sympathise having had some issues with my new engine that thankfully have now been completely resolved following the correct software map being installed in the EMM.

It took me three dealers to get this right.

I think you have every right to go back to Yamaha on this and I would not take no for an answer.

I do find that with many of these companies its case of he who shouts loudest etc etc.

Chris

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by benc;23976 Apparently [I

when the boat water [/I]was getting in through the exhaust port and lying in the cylinder.

Hi Ben,

Wondered why you were so quiet last year !

Just to clarify things as I think you might have made a typo. Are you saying that water was getting in to the engine when it was moored up ?

Regards Nick.

[benc]

Yeah, when the boat was moored up, with the engines down (as they didnt clear the water when I lifted them up)... water splashed up and went in through the exhaust port

[Hugh Jardon]

definately worth taking up with yamaha, dont take no for an answer, demand compensation for such an appauling lack of support

[blinddog]

If yamaha are not willing to play ball threaten to name a shame with a nice little story as above in one of the Mags,

They really dont like this kind of thing.
gaZ

[Roy Smith]

Same problem used to happen with the 225 Honda,s
the set up was critical.
Ben What dealer was giving you the run around.
I know BHG at Lymington and though past experiences they have always
been more than good at sorting warranty stuff out,
I know it wont make you feel any better, but the clutch went in a new nissian navara pickup we have .
4,000 miles and they kept me waiting for 3 days until they had taken Digital pics
and head office agreed to a replacement under warranty, no replacment pickup
no courtesy car. no compensation.
Any way i hope it all works out for you.