2021 Yamaha 275SD engine died - thoughts?

[BGN123]

Boat has about 40 hours and had maintenance. Today when out heard a “whirring” noise on left engine. Then had trouble getting high RPM. Then low oil pressure warning. Then engine died.
Calling Yamaha tomorrow. What happened?

 

[NewBoater]

Something stuck in clean out plug or impeller?

 

[Ronnie]

Did you check the oil level in each engine after the low oil pressure warning light came on? If so what did you see? If not how long did you operate the engine before it died? Normally the engine wouldn’t just die, it would go into limp mode (limit rpms to 2k to 4K, it’s sounds like this happened to you (it happened to me last season but stopped after I added 2 quarts of oil to the hurting engine).

Did you look in the engine compartment/engine that died? If so what did you see? Any oil at the bottom of the engine compartment? Any oil discharged through the bilge pump? Any pics (even if it’s just of the oil/oil level on the dip stick)? What does the engine do now when you try to start it?

if you want help diagnosing the problem we (or at least I) need a lot more information. Case in point, my response/this response so far consists of mostly questions and is longer than your original post.

If I had to form an opinion to answer your “What happened?” Question based just on the information you provided so far, I’d say you burned out your engine by running it too long with little or no oil in it and I would not bet that yamaha would honor any warranty claim on this if the cause of the engine failure was lack of maintenance/oil.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but when a warning like low oil pressure comes up, the best course of action, in my opinion, would have been to shut down both engines, toss out the anchor if necessary, and diagnose the issue immediately. If you could not resolve the issue, cancel the days boating trip and limp back to port on one engine so you can have a mechanic look at it either on the trailer or at the dock.

I hope I am wrong but think you may have caused a lot more damage by continuing to run the engine throwing the low oil pressure warning.

 

[BGN123]

Thanks. I have Yamaha coming to look at and hopefully fix. It was just serviced by Yamaha for 10 hour 2 months ago - about 30 hours since then. There was no oil in the compartment. And the low oil pressure warning only came on when the engine died. That was only warning (other than the whirring noise on start up which went away for first leg of trip then returned on way back). I was in a long no wake zone and got the whirring (uploading video with sound) and when got out of no wake zone the rpms wouldn’t go above 5,000. Then the low oil pressure warning went on and engine cut out. No fun on one engine. Can’t go above 10mph. And getting rocked all over the place! Thinking a nice big center console with 4 engines looking good right about now! Will post what happens so if it was my fault no one else has it happen.

 

[Ronnie]

Good luck with this, hoping for a loose wire/something easy and relatively cheap to fix. If the oil level in the dead engine is good and the oil on the dip stick looks ok you probably don’t have an oil related problem but why did the low oil pressure warning come up?

a four engine boat has a lot more return to port ability but also requires twice the maintenance of a twin engine boat and of course at least twice the cost engine wise, not to mention the extra fuel needed to power the additional engines.If I had a 27’ yamaha I would hold on to it as long as I could.

 

[fatboyroy]

when ignition is on and engine turned off, oil level warning will be on but it doesn't mean its low on oil. Check the impeller maybe you ingested something while on no wake mode.

 

[zipper]

Have you tried to restart the engine? Will it turn over?

EDIT: If not you could have trash stuck in the impellor. Have you pulled the cleanout plug to check?

 

[Ronnie]

On the 230 series boats their are three warning lights on each guage on the 240 series boats and I suspect any yamaha with analog / multi function gauges post 2010 the words “low oil pressure” scroll across the screen of the multi function guage when the oil pressure is low. How boats with connext indicate low oil pressure I don’t know.

I think the 10 minutes or so it would take to inspect the oil level, try to turn over the engine and feel the around the impeller and shaft through the clean out port would be time well spent and may help avoid the call to yamaha and the possible downtime involved entirely.

 

[BGN123]

Thanks for all the tips. I did not check the clean out port. The Yamaha guys are collecting it and will see what’s up. I will report back. It would turn over at the dock but it sounded VERY strained and the connext screen said “shut off engine” so I did. Guessing no boating for a week or 2. Damn it. Just got the BBQ and mount too! Other than that the 275 is so much fun. Maybe I killed it!

 

[buckbuck]

Please take pictures and report back with all information.

 

[Ronnie]

Crossing fingers for something minor like a plugged cooling water intake.
If my local dealer could get my boat back in the water within two weeks i would love them.

 

[Beachbummer]

Very possible it's as simple as some trash in the pump. Take the clean out and feel around for any debris. I once pulled a 2 liter coke plastic bottle out of there.. I hope it's that easy.

 

[mrcleanr6]

5000 is the rpm you will max out at when the supercharger clutch goes. Kinda odd to go out on a boat. A ski i can see. They go all the time in those because they constantly come unhooked. Boats not so much but it can happen i guess. If it is the clutch then its no big deal and an easy repair for any dealer. just a thought

 

[tdonoughue]

I agree: this could be anything from something trivial (trash in pumps) to something serious. The oil light would not immediately concern me. Most engines when they shut off will lose oil pressure, so it could be that as it was dying you got that error. The failure to restart (without error) seems more significant.

Do let us know what you hear from the dealer.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks for all the tips. I did not check the clean out port. The Yamaha guys are collecting it and will see what’s up. I will report back. It would turn over at the dock but it sounded VERY strained and the connext screen said “shut off engine” so I did. Guessing no boating for a week or 2. Damn it. Just got the BBQ and mount too! Other than that the 275 is so much fun. Maybe I killed it!

Any updates?

 

[BGN123]

Boat is in the shop. No news yet. What a pain in the ass to get it in there. Marina can’t hold trailers. Service center doesn’t have trailers. So dealer picks up my trailer from storage on the one day of the week the marina allows trailer pickups. I am supremely annoyed although very aware this is a luxury problem I am lucky to have. Guess we’ll find out.

 

[BGN123]

They said i broke a drive shaft, the shaft and the impeller need to be replaced. They said the housing is scored but doesn’t look damaged. No idea what any of that means.

 

[Beachbummer]

Wow, You should ask for pictures. The drive shaft is a round piece maybe 2+ feet long, 1/2 inch in diameter of solid stainless steel that is pressed into the pump bearings. It was common in old seadoos to wear out the splines in the shaft, but I have never seen a broken drive shaft. These parts are common and shared with many other boats and skis, so hopefully they get you back on the water soon.

 

[fatboyroy]

I just saw your comments in the other thread with same issue. Both newer boat, this sucks, I have a 2021 190 so I can go offshore (on a calm day), now with this drive shaft issue on newer boats I better stay within radio range for towboatus.

 

[mrcleanr6]

Yes the 275 has the same pump and motor as my fzs waverunner. That is cranking close to 450hp, spinning 9200 rpm @ 90mph. It holds every bit of that and there are to s of other guys out there with higher power setups than mine and i have never heard of a broken drive shaft.