2007 Yamaha AR230 HO timing chain replacement

[Gus7]

Hello, Can the timing chain be replaced without pulling the engine on my 2007 AR230 HO?
The portside engine's chain broke and thinking replacing starboard chain to avoid potential
of another damaged engine.

 

[zipper]

Have not heard of any issues with mr-1 timing chains. What is yours?

 

[Gus7]

Have not heard of any issues with mr-1 timing chains. What is yours?

portside compression is zero on all cylinders, mechanic feels timing chain
broke. when i find a shop to rebuid/replace bad engine want to avoid the
same issue on starboard engine. I have a mechinic that can replace the chain
but isnt set up for anything more involved.

 

[Beachbummer]

Where are you located?

I think yours is the first report of a broken timing chain on an MR1 we have heard of on this board.

 

[Scottintexas]

how many hours are on your engines ?

I don't know the answer to your questions since as the others have said, we've not seen a MR1 issue before.

I would assume not and If i had to pull one engine ( it's not difficult and members have done it in their driveway ) I would be pulling both just to get it done and a general cleanup / inspection of all cooling passages ( maybe even change the starters since they not easy to get to )

@finnrigged - do you think it's possible / worthwhile to change a timing change while still in the boat ?

 

[Ronnie]

portside compression is zero on all cylinders, mechanic feels timing chain
broke. when i find a shop to rebuid/replace bad engine want to avoid the
same issue on starboard engine. I have a mechinic that can replace the chain
but isnt set up for anything more involved.

Did your mechanic visually verify the chain broke or just thinks so because of the symptoms? If the latter I recommend that you verify the chain actually broke before taking any other action. If you can get to the timing chain your self consider doing so. If the chain is broken that fact that you have already done the labor to expose it should reduce the number of billable shop hours.

if your mechanic hasn’t replaced a timing chain or a few on these engines before seriously consider finding someone with experience to do the job, especially if you want both chains replaced. I recently had a mainly PWC shop that I trust/been doing business with for years replace a timing chain with 506 hours on it as a preventative maintenance task (the chain on my other engine with roughly the same hours broke). As expected they bill for the time it takes to get to the chain, replace the chain/guides/gaskets/etc. and to put the engine back together. I think the total time on task was 10 hours. The chain and related parts were less than $150.

 

[Gus7]

Where are you located?

I think yours is the first report of a broken timing chain on an MR1 we have heard of on this board.

Located in upstate NY, boat is presently in Lake George NY

 

[Gus7]

Did your mechanic visually verify the chain broke or just thinks so because of the symptoms? If the latter I recommend that you verify the chain actually broke before taking any other action. If you can get to the timing chain your self consider doing so. If the chain is broken that fact that you have already done the labor to expose it should reduce the number of billable shop hours.

if your mechanic hasn’t replaced a timing chain or a few on these engines before seriously consider finding someone with experience to do the job, especially if you want both chains replaced. I recently had a mainly PWC shop that I trust/been doing business with for years replace a timing chain with 506 hours on it as a preventative maintenance task (the chain on my other engine with roughly the same hours broke). As expected they bill for the time it takes to get to the chain, replace the chain/guides/gaskets/etc. and to put the engine back together. I think the total time on task was 10 hours. The chain and related parts were less than $150.

Mechanic going off of symtoms, has not visually. will work on getting a visual etc., thanks

 

[Gus7]

Where are you located?

I think yours is the first report of a broken timing chain on an MR1 we have heard of on this board.

approx 600 hours

how many hours are on your engines ?

I don't know the answer to your questions since as the others have said, we've not seen a MR1 issue before.

I would assume not and If i had to pull one engine ( it's not difficult and members have done it in their driveway ) I would be pulling both just to get it done and a general cleanup / inspection of all cooling passages ( maybe even change the starters since they not easy to get to )

@finnrigged - do you think it's possible / worthwhile to change a timing change while still in the boat ?

Aprox 600 hours

 

[Ronnie]

Most shops will include the diagnostic costs with the repair costs if you have them do all the work. Not sure about the 1,052 or 998 cc engines but the 1,812 cc engines were easy to disassemble to the point where you can determine if the timing chain is broken or not. Just remove the valve cover and the top of the chain is exposed at the front of the engine.

 

[mattar230]

Hello, Can the timing chain be replaced without pulling the engine on my 2007 AR230 HO?
The portside engine's chain broke and thinking replacing starboard chain to avoid potential
of another damaged engine.

No, you have to pull the motor order to change the timing chain. You sure your tensioner didn't go bad and it jumped a couple teeth

 

[finnrigged]

@finnrigged - do you think it's possible / worthwhile to change a timing change while still in the boat ?
[/QUOTE]

No I would not try to do a timing chain replacement while it's inside the hull. When I pulled the motors out of my 2007 in my driveway recently I was rather surprised at how much of a pain in the asset actually was. I used to pulling these motors out of a Waverunner hull and thought that was a big enough pain in the butt because of the disconnecting enclosed quarters but removing these even with the entire back seat trunk cover removed from the boat proved to be a gymnastics challenge for me. I actually ended up removing the oil then removing the oil reservoir tank then removed the cylinder head just so that I could get a ratchet strap around the remaining motor and was able to then pull it out with brute Force. There's absolutely no way I could have pulled that motor out without some type of a system built on deck to do so. I found it to be a pain in the ass. However, about 2 weeks later we pulled two motors out of a 2008 SX230 using an overhead winch in my buddies workshop. Disconnecting the first motor took about 30 minutes because it's kind of cramped quarters on the first one starboard side but the port side motor took no more than 12 minutes to disconnect the remaining stuff and just minutes to remove the motor using the overhead winch.
Regarding replacing the timing chain specifically though, could you do it inside the boat... Yes. Would it be extremely difficult? Yes. You would need to remove the head cover and the water pipe from the head then remove the cams. You would remove The timing chain tensioner and then remove the port side timing chain guide by just pulling it up out of the hole straight up. Then you can wiggle the timing chain back and forth if you kind of understand how it makes its connection to the crank gear down low and eventually you might be able to walk it off but this would be very very difficult. I would say it would be equally difficult or even harder to walk the new chain back on. It would take me much more time to do that and to reset timing while sitting in those cramped quarters of that boat then it would to pull the entire motor and just do it where I should on the shop bench or shop floor. In the next few weeks I will be reinstalling to these motors in my 2007 and I plan on trying to figure out some type of lift system that I can build out of lumber to make a one-man install easy'ish. If and when I do this I'll try to document everything as thoroughly as possible for the benefit of the form in video and photo format. I will also try to do a video segment on me attempting to walk a timing chain on from overhead like discussed above.

 

[Beachbummer]

Is it possible? and is it a good idea? are 2 different questions.

I can't imagine how it's easier to do without pulling the engine.

I would humbly suggest if you are not comfortable pulling the engine, perhaps it's a good job to farm out.

I'm all for DIY, but I think you need to feel confident pulling the engine to do this job. My humble thought.

 

[Gus7]

No, you have to pull the motor order to change the timing chain. You sure your tensioner didn't go bad and it jumped a couple teeth

If the chain jumped a couple of teeth would compression show zero on all cylinders?

 

[tdonoughue]

Jumping the teeth would cause the valves to be open (perhaps just a bit) when they should be closed--thus zero compression. And it would be that way on each cylinder, as each valve run would be off by the same amount.

 

[finnrigged]

It is also unlikely that the motor would run if it jumped a tooth or two or it would run absolutely terribly

 

[WREKS]

Jumping the teeth would cause the valves to be open (perhaps just a bit) when they should be closed--thus zero compression. And it would be that way on each cylinder, as each valve run would be off by the same amount.

May also bend valves. Members say engines are interference.

 

[Gus7]

May also bend valves. Members say engines are interference.

Want to thank everone for their help on my issue, am very appreciative!
Although there are boat shops willing to replace the engine, find it
very difficult locating a mechanic in my area willing to diagnose/possibly
repair the damage.

 

[WREKS]

I would check the compression again.