Good morning. I've been a jet boat owner since 2011!

[paulfree]

And, I have loved my boat, and have taken good care of it. However, in 2020, I have a failure in one of the engines. I submitted the claim to insurance, and the marina suggested to the insurance company that a remanufactured engine be purchased from SBT. This is where everything has just gone so wrong!
I want to attach my letters that I sent to SBT about their inferior engines:

pfreebery1@verizon.netHide
To	sales@sbt.com sales@sbt.com, warranty@sbt.com warranty@sbt.com, info@sbt.com info@sbt.com
Cc	service@beaconlightmarina.com service@beaconlightmarina.com

To whom it may concern...... AGAIN !


You know, I thought my last letter had said it all about my dis-satisfaction with the rebuilt engines your company is turning out. I never knew I could be so wrong.
After waiting a total of almost 8 months, ( and missing out on the entire summer of 22 boating season ) , it appears that I'll now be missing out on the Summer of 23 boating season, as your last engine installed in my boat in May of this year, ( yes... , less than a month ago, , FAILED AGAIN AFTER 3 HOURS OF RUN TIME !

Do you think that it's fair that I should be without my boat for another whole summer because of your company's inability to produce a quality product ?
On top of the fact, that now, I'll have to pay more labor and incidentals charges... you know... removal and re-installation of the motor, and the shipping of the motor...... all the stuff that your company doesn't cover? Oh yeah, thats right... you covered 1 way shipping... Well that awful big of you.

I wish that I could sue you under Florida's " Lemon Laws" , but they don't cover boats. So, I did file a complaint with the Florida BBB, and I'm thinking that I'll send this letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with a copy of the complaint sent to the BBB, and advise him of what I call " Deceptive practices" .. Maybe he'd like to help out a USAF Veteran attain a little justice here.

These letters, ( both of them ) , will be uploaded and posted on the Yamaha Forums and on Facebook for starters. If I can think of any other avenues to get myself some satisfaction , I'll post them there also.


SIGNED AGAIN, FOR THE 2ND TIME IN JUST MORE THAN A YEAR......


PAUL J FREEBERY SR, CMSGT, RET , USAF

On Oct 21, 2022, at 8:18 AM, pfreebery1@verizon.net wrote:

To whom it may concern:

I can't tell you how disappointed I am with the quality of your rebuilt Yamaha MR1 engines.

A rebuilt MR1 was purchased on my behalf by Beacon Light Marina in the last quarter of 2021. After taking almost 6 months for the delivery and the installation, the boat was turned back over to me, and I followed all of the guidance for engine break in. ( 2 hrs @ each speed / rpms , gradually increasing the speed in 2 hour increments )
Within the fist 2 hours, I started to get oil alarms, and immediately contacted the marina.

After transporting the boat back to the service facility, ( which is 2 hours away ), no codes could be found, and I was told everything was fine, including the oil level.

Taking the boat out again on the next weekend, I again received an oil pressure light, which shut the engine down. After checking the oil level in the engine, and finding everything to be OK, we idled into the dock.
3 hours later, we got back in the boat , started both engines, and while running the new engine in the " no wake" mode, the rebuilt engine blew up.

I suspect now that once the engine is pulled and sent back to your facility, It'll be at least another 6 months before another rebuilt engine is received.

So, if its not bad enough that the engine blew up, I've got to eat the cost of labor to remove it, have it shipped to your facility, have it shipped back to Maryland, then installed in my boat......... after a total of only 6 hours of run time???
Pretty piss poor!

You warrant the quality of your engine, but won't reimburse the customer or the Marina for any of the other work involved ?? You got a hell of a racket going on down there!

Unfortunately for me, I have to accept a second rebuilt engine whenever it arrives and is installed. I guess for me it'll just be another season out of the water by the time this is all done.

PRETTY DAM UNFAIR!

I expect feedback to me, and to the Marina in regards to this situation, and if this letter doesn't produce any kind of correspondence or assistance in any way.... well, there's always Facebook....... and trust me... I'll do it.
I'm also sending a copy if this email to my Insurance Carrier so they are well aware of your quality assurance problems


Signed.......

One pissed - off retired Chief !


Paul J Freebery Sr., CMSgt ret., USAF

 

[Scottintexas]

sorry to hear about your problems, the recent things we've heard about SBT 4 strokes we're much better than the old 2 stroke stories,

edited /// sorry I just saw the collapsed email at the bottom of your post,



.

 

[Scottintexas]

you may consider a independent jet ski shop for repairs since it's the same motor and they probably will have more experience than a marina mechanic,

 

[Scottintexas]

when you say the engine blew up, what do you mean ?? a rod went through the block ??

 

[paulfree]

sorry to hear about your problems, the recent things we've heard about SBT 4 strokes we're much better than the old 2 stroke stories,

edited /// sorry I just saw the collapsed email at the bottom of your post,



.

1) Both of the installs were done at an authorized Yamaha dealership at the Beacon Light Marina outside of Baltimore , MD.

2) Just after the first motor was installed, I immediately stated getting oil lights. The boat was retuned to the marina twice, each time citing no issues or codes. The next week, I took the boat out for a ride, and the starboard engine broke, while the engines were operating in the " no wake" mode... basically idling.
I was never told what actually occurred on the interior of the motor. This motor had 6 hrs of run time before self destructing.

3) The second motor, ( just installed during the first week of May 2023, this year , ) had exactly 3 hours of run time before it self destructed. I am told that the piston connecting rod in cylinder #1 broke, which allowed the piston head to travel upward, striking the sparkplug / shattering the sparkplug, and the #1 cylinder.

Now, I have been told, that in the past SBT bought all of their parts from Yamaha for engine rebuilds. But during covid, Yamaha stopped selling rebuild parts to SBT, because they couldn't get enough parts to build their own engines for new boats. So, SBT started shopping for parts around the world..... and we all know that that can all end up.

And that's where we are... My boat is done for another season, and I have to shell out the money for the removal of the engine, the shipping of the engine back to Florida, and the re-install, along with about $900 in incidentals.

How is any of this fair to me? I'm now without my boat for the 3rd season. I sent the email to SBT and have heard nothing. I also filed a complaint with the BBB of Florida

 

[paulfree]

Both of the installs were done at an authorized Yamaha dealership at the Beacon Light Marina outside of Baltimore , MD.

2) Just after the first motor was installed, I immediately stated getting oil lights. The boat was retuned to the marina twice, each time citing no issues or codes. The next week, I took the boat out for a ride, and the starboard engine broke, while the engines were operating in the " no wake" mode... basically idling.
I was never told what actually occurred on the interior of the motor. This motor had 6 hrs of run time before self destructing.

3) The second motor, ( just installed during the first week of May 2023, this year , ) had exactly 3 hours of run time before it self destructed. I am told that the piston connecting rod in cylinder #1 broke, which allowed the piston head to travel upward, striking the sparkplug / shattering the sparkplug, and the #1 cylinder.

Now, I have been told, that in the past SBT bought all of their parts from Yamaha for engine rebuilds. But during covid, Yamaha stopped selling rebuild parts to SBT, because they couldn't get enough parts to build their own engines for new boats. So, SBT started shopping for parts around the world..... and we all know that that can all end up.

And that's where we are... My boat is done for another season, and I have to shell out the money for the removal of the engine, the shipping of the engine back to Florida, and the re-install, along with about $900 in incidentals.

How is any of this fair to me? I'm now without my boat for the 3rd season. I sent the email to SBT and have heard nothing. I also filed a complaint with the BBB of Florida

 

[itsdgm]

Dang. That’s horrible. So sorry you’re having all these issues. One solution might be to find a waverunner with the same engine. Put that engine into your boat. It would hopefully save this season. Then you could put the SBT engine in the waverunner when it arrives and sell it.

 

[JO6636]

Hi guys, same thing what happened when I bought the engine @SBT. I followed all the breaking in procedures and not even done with break in, I've
lost the compressions on two cylinders. I don't know if it's a good thing that I'm still covered with the warranty so they sent me another SBT engine.
Of course I have to pay for the shipping. So I put the engine back, same thing followed all the steps breaking in, didnt even last one season. The cylinder #1 broke end up putting a hole on the crankcase. Never again!!!!

 

[Ronnie]

I feel for anyone in this situation. I had a used ski with a remand SBT two stroke that ran well for years. When one of timing chains broke on my 242 last year one of the first places I looked for a replacement was SBT (small block technologies). Many here said don’t do it but if I did get the two year warranty (supposedly better/oem parts). However since I’d have to do a core exchange and cover all the shipping costs from CA I decided to take a gamble and find a wrecked boat or Waverunner to salvage the engine from. I’m glad I took that route instead of going with SBT.

as for the letters to SBT, if they made the OP feel better they accomplished something but I’d bet they won’t sway SBT at all. They will only honor their Contract.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Can’t a person just buy a complete engine from Yamaha? Kinda like how you can buy a crate motor from Chevrolet or Ford?

 

[zipper]

Can’t a person just buy a complete engine from Yamaha? Kinda like how you can buy a crate motor from Chevrolet or Ford?

No, not many choices out there for repowering like an outboard. We now own 4 yamaha OB's, 1 mercury outboard and a Volvo penta IB diesel. The oldest is a 1985 115hp 2-stroke, runs great on the whaler. Did not have any problems with our MR-1's, but there was anxiety about replacement options.