Survey: Did you know ... every 12 months or 100 hrs?

[MrMoose]

This is a Yamaha poll.
I think that most of us have looked at the "Maintenance" section in our owner's manual, and for various reasons, we decide that we want to do our own annual maintenance.
If your maintenance table has a line item that says "Impeller Ducts... Check and lubricate", like this:



Did you know that this is what is required?

 

[Ilmmct]

Did not know, thanks for the heads up

 

[Mainah]

@swatski has some recent experience working with the cones. Hopefully he can weigh in if he thinks this is needed and on the needed parts and grease.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I checked mine when I did the liners at about 400 hours and they looked fine .

 

[FloJet]

Funny thing is I bet no dealership does this for the 100 hr maintenance. If we were to go to dealer within the warranty period, I wondering how many of them would actually do this? lol

 

[Bill D]

@Murf'n'surf and @Big Shasta had some ugly posts of what can happen if water gets in the cone and isn't noticed. That scared me into pulling the cones to at least inspect.

I have purchased the Island Racing slurry to change over from the grease. That was before @swatski found the mythical oem reccommended grease.

 

[Speedling]

@Murf'n'surf and @Big Shasta had some ugly posts of what can happen if water gets in the cone and isn't noticed. That scared me into pulling the cones to at least inspect.

I have purchased the Island Racing slurry to change over from the grease. That was before @swatski found the mythical oem reccommended grease.

I find that my marine grease that i bought when i first bought the boat seems to have a shelf life too. I will probably do an extra thorough job cleaning everything out and putting a fresh batch of something in it. Last thing i need is a bearing out while on Lake Michigan or on the way to Bimini. I may get one of the less expensive options for cones as well. The lucky 13 cone looks sweet but really don't know if it would do me any good as i am already slightly over propped.

 

[Bill D]

Agreed, the thought "I don't want something to break down on me" was the sole motivator in opening the cones. Thinking about the half-full products sitting on my shelf, it makes me shudder when you say they have a shelf life. Did you have an unusual result with old grease?

 

[Speedling]

Agreed, the thought "I don't want something to break down on me" was the sole motivator in opening the cones. Thinking about the half-full products sitting on my shelf, it makes me shudder when you say they have a shelf life. Did you have an unusual result with old grease?

For some reason my marine grease (valvoline i believe it was?) Seems to get runnier and runnier and actually just leaks out of the tube and is on the floor of my garage as thin as water but slippery.
Threw it away but kinda freaky as i put it in my wheel bearings as well.

 

[MrMoose]

For some reason my marine grease (valvoline i believe it was?) Seems to get runnier and runnier and actually just leaks out of the tube and is on the floor of my garage as thin as water but slippery.
Threw it away but kinda freaky as i put it in my wheel bearings as well.

Same thing happened to me (different brand). Dripped all over myself when I was crawling under the trailer to grease things.

 

[MrMoose]

I checked mine when I did the liners at about 400 hours and they looked fine .

So, did you add any grease, or did you just close it up?

 

[MrMoose]

@Murf'n'surf and @Big Shasta had some ugly posts of what can happen if water gets in the cone and isn't noticed. That scared me into pulling the cones to at least inspect.

I have purchased the Island Racing slurry to change over from the grease. That was before @swatski found the mythical oem reccommended grease.

So, @Bill D, you checked yours and all looked good, so you closed it up? Or, did you do something more?

 

[Big Shasta]

For some reason my marine grease (valvoline i believe it was?) Seems to get runnier and runnier and actually just leaks out of the tube and is on the floor of my garage as thin as water but slippery.
Threw it away but kinda freaky as i put it in my wheel bearings as well.

It's actually separating...Just like natural peanut butter.....if you could mix it up, it would be good as new again. Unless too many of the liquids have separated and been lost....you would have too many solids left behind if that's the case.

All you could really do is empty your grease gun into a pail and mix/refill it when you need it. It would last forever that way. I doubt anyone is going to do that.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

So, did you add any grease, or did you just close it up?

This is the third pump I have inspected with over 400 hours and one had 650 hours on it in my supercharged ski.
I never had an issue with the grease falling out or needing anything.
I will say I did the check on each one when I had the pumps off during the pump liner replacement procedures.
I have never had an issue with Yamaha pump bearings. In my experience Kawasaki gave me the worst pumps and sea doo angle bearing pumps were the reason I stopped buying sea doo.
But that is just my opinion as I ride hundreds of hours a year so reliability is very important to me and I am still very disappointed that I can't enjoy my red 2014 fxho cruiser because I don't trust it. TIMING CHAIN FAILURE ISSUE it's a very serious thing when you go out by yourself and certainly not something I want to have happen when I ride out in the Gulf of Mexico with off shore winds in the winter.
I will say that the drive shaft bearing is my next concern as 400 hours seems to be the breaking point for those based on my past experience. The grease fitting is more of a hindrance than a help since the bearing unit has no vent to allow the excess grease to exit the system without blowing out the seals, so I have pretty much avoided adding any grease to that , When I replace the bearing housing I will probably remedy this shortcoming. If you over fill the bearing you can seperate the rubber from the housing and allowing it to leak water quite rapidly.

 

[Bruce]

I will probably do an extra thorough job cleaning everything out and putting a fresh batch of something in it.

There are two bearings in there. The front bearing is several inches from the rear. You can only get to the grease on one side of one bearing. If it looks ok I would leave it alone. If the grease is questionable I would replace both bearings and the seals. I switched to an oil bath so I can change the lubricant.

You can read about my bearing replacement at
https://jetboaters.net/threads/changing-yamaha-jet-boat-pump-duct-housing-bearings-and-switching-to-oil-bath-lubrication.10155/

You can see the two bearings and their separation in this pic

 

[buckbuck]

@Bruce Does she always allow you to put boat parts on the kitchen counter?

 

[Bruce]

@Bruce Does she always allow you to put boat parts on the kitchen counter?

She is good about that but I not sure that she knows that I once baked Porsche calipers in her oven to dry them out.

 

[Bill D]

I checked it and it didn't look like there was any need to do more. But, when I got home I went about ordering the Island Racing Marine Liquid Pump Grease with the intent to clean the old grease out and change over to that before this season.

 

[MrMoose]

So @Bill D, what color was the grease in your bearing/hub? I just want to know what to expect when I open mine up.
thx

 

[Bruce]

I checked it and it didn't look like there was any need to do more. But, when I got home I went about ordering the Island Racing Marine Liquid Pump Grease with the intent to clean the old grease out and change over to that before this season.

How will will you clean the grease out?