252SE Taking on LOT'S of Water

[paulthepilot]

Got our 252SE last year in November after finally finding one. Amazing boat coming from a 2013 242 Limited.
Finally put it in the water a month later and when we took it out and pulled the plug, there was quit a bit of water that came out of it after only being out for 45 minutes. This already had us a little suspicious because the 242 was dry as can be.
Finally got it out to havasu this weekend and holy crap. This boat will not stop taking on water. The bilge pump is running basically 24/7. We thought it was the front cooler plug because when I looked inside the 2 pieces were not connected so i plugged it up, but that wasn't it.
After being out for about 2 hours on the first day I pulled it out of the water and there was a 40 second stream of water coming out of the drain plug, mind you, again after running the bilge 3 times during that where it spit out water for about 15 seconds.
Then the second day we left it in for 3 days total and every morning we got to it, the bilge would run for over 30 seconds just pissing on the dock. The boat is taking on water even sitting at the dock without being moved.....
When we got home today we took a look underneath. One of the screws for the intake grate was completely out. Couple more miles and it would have just fallen out. but we don't believe that was it. Then we looked at the other engine and they installed it sideways. The grate and the engine itself are actually overlapping and they still installed it that way. No locktite on any of the bolts on the bottom.
The weirdest part? Only the bottom hull is filling up. The engine area stays almost completely dry unless it sat overnight then there is usually a tiny bit of water in it.
To us this is completely disgusting to be selling a 80k boat and have this many issues with it taking on water. Im hoping that yamaha support will help us when I call them tomorrow because every boat shop is busy as can be right now, but I should also be having my boat on the water when it is brand new and not sitting in a shop, or sinking for that matter.
Just wanted to write this up for you guys that bought a new 252. Just keep looking for little indications of water somewhere.

If anyone has any other means of getting a hold of someone at Yamaha, it would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Sonic Blue]

Whoa. I’d be losing my S#!T. I have yet get my boat but I have had a chat with my dealer and voiced some concerns (Like this) Before they PDI. I have a $1200 PDI charge so I’m thinking that’s 10 hours at $120 per hour or 2 people for 5. You would think a dealer would catch something like that before it goes out the door. Something that serious is absolutely unacceptable. Please keep us posted on you progress and let Yamaha know that hundreds of owners are watching. .

 

[paulthepilot]

Totally agree!! we are pretty livid right now. And like you said, we had a $2200 PDI done and they even test drove it. The sales guy told us that it was all good to go because we got it with 5.5 hours on each engine.
I will definitely let them know that. Because this is just unacceptable to being selling a boat like this!

 

[paulthepilot]

252 SE Taking on Water. This was after 2 hours on the lake

For anyone that is interested in seeing how much came out after 2 hours and running the bilge pump the whole time.

 

[adrianp89]

Mine isn’t much different. No idea on what the issue is. My SX210 was the same so I’m used to it. If you find a fix please post.

 

[paulthepilot]

Dang. That doesn't sound fun either. Does yours run the bilge pump all day also? Because ours runs the entire day. Probably about every 30 minutes or so where it sends out a good 10 seconds of water.

 

[adrianp89]

Dang. That doesn't sound fun either. Does yours run the bilge pump all day also? Because ours runs the entire day. Probably about every 30 minutes or so where it sends out a good 10 seconds of water.

it was running a lot on the first trip. Didn’t pay attention much the second

 

[haknslash]

That’s a lot of water. Have you looked into the bilge area or engine compartment while the engine is running on the water? Is the water cold or warm? These boats do leak a little but your bilge should not be running that much. It is not a trawler after all. There are some good threads to help try and diagnose the source of the leak so I would look into those to help your dealer isolate where to look and hopefully fix the issue. It could be coming from your rub rail, cleats, anywhere around the pump or intake, engine cooling system, exhaust system lots of places but it will take some diagnosing.

 

[Cambo]

Have you looked into the bilge area or engine compartment while the engine is running on the water? Is the water cold or warm? These boats do leak a little but your bilge should not be running that much. It could be coming from your rub rail, cleats, anywhere around the pump or intake, engine cooling system, exhaust system lots of places but it will take some diagnosing.

While on the trailer try to get the bow as high as possible maybe your drive way is on a hill. Unplug the bilge add water in the engine compartment look for water leaking out . There are a lot of hull penetrations but also other ways water can be filling it up as listed above

 

[1WetBoat]

Then we looked at the other engine and they installed it sideways. The grate and the engine itself are actually overlapping and they still installed it that way. No locktite on any of the bolts on the bottom.

Whoa, that doesn't sound right? Can you take a pick and post it if possible? How the heck did they manage to do that? That is a lot of water to have on the boat. I have taken mine out a few times including hanging out at a couple islands anchored (unsuccessfully my second time out, lol) and my bilge pump only came on once and it was for like 5 secs. My bilge isn't dry, but i get minimal water out of the drain plug when I pull the boat back on the trailer. Most of that was due to it coming in from the clean out hatch drain area.

 

[1WetBoat]

Totally agree!! we are pretty livid right now. And like you said, we had a $2200 PDI done and they even test drove it. The sales guy told us that it was all good to go because we got it with 5.5 hours on each engine.
I will definitely let them know that. Because this is just unacceptable to being selling a boat like this!

That seems like an excessive amount of hours on an engine for a brand new boat even if the dealer test drove it. When mine was first fired up it had .1 hrs on each engine. Unless they ran it on the hose for that many hours, they should have seen what you saw.

 

[mrcleanr6]

I was taking on a ton of water as well. Pump would kick on about every 10 min and pump out maybe 5 gallons or so. You need to check your anchor locker drain. Common issue with yamaha for years. They dont use a proper thruhull fitting so while you are at slow no wake sppeds that drain is close to being under water and in many cases the white plastic insert isnt long enough to make it into the anchor locker hole so it dumps right in the bilge. Remove the white plast and replace with a 3/8” stainless thru hull

 

[paulthepilot]

That’s a lot of water. Have you looked into the bilge area or engine compartment while the engine is running on the water? Is the water cold or warm? These boats do leak a little but your bilge should not be running that much. It is not a trawler after all. There are some good threads to help try and diagnose the source of the leak so I would look into those to help your dealer isolate where to look and hopefully fix the issue. It could be coming from your rub rail, cleats, anywhere around the pump or intake, engine cooling system, exhaust system lots of places but it will take some diagnosing.

We looked at all of the above so far. It was cold lake water so we are suspecting its not a cooling system leak. This is also confirmed because the boat fills with water while it is sitting at the dock. Yesterday we filled up the entire engine bay with water to check for leaks outside and nothing. Then we filled the clean out port area with water to make sure the little drains were draining and not filling the hull through the inspection cover and nothing there either. This has been baffling us for some time now.

 

[paulthepilot]

I was taking on a ton of water as well. Pump would kick on about every 10 min and pump out maybe 5 gallons or so. You need to check your anchor locker drain. Common issue with yamaha for years. They dont use a proper thruhull fitting so while you are at slow no wake sppeds that drain is close to being under water and in many cases the white plastic insert isnt long enough to make it into the anchor locker hole so it dumps right in the bilge. Remove the white plast and replace with a 3/8” stainless thru hull

Totally agree! This was the first thing we checked. I couldn't find a new piece so I got a rubber plug that is in there really tight and that sadly didn't do anything, but thank you for the info because I will now be replacing that piece for the long one! When i first checked that I saw that the piece installed wasn't long enough. The part that doesn't make it that piece though is that the boat takes on water while sitting at the dock overnight.

 

[paulthepilot]

That seems like an excessive amount of hours on an engine for a brand new boat even if the dealer test drove it. When mine was first fired up it had .1 hrs on each engine. Unless they ran it on the hose for that many hours, they should have seen what you saw.

I totally agree. 5.5 hours was a little much, but I didn't even think about checking that. Expecially since that is basically the break in period that I now didn't get the chance to do. So who know's who really wore in the engines.....
I doubt they ran it on the hose for that long. The sales guy did mention that they had it out for a test run. Im thinking that maybe they just figured all the water that was in it was from washing it or something. Thats what we figured on our first test run after we bought it, but it turned out not to be the case.

 

[1WetBoat]

Since you mentioned you found one of the bolts loose on the intake grate, I would concentrate in that area. Especially since you are saying the boat takes on water while docked. Im sure you checked, but there are a few places in the rear of the boat that can seep water and might not be noticeable right away. I would put it back in the water and put a camera down in the bilge area if possible.
Of course this is if you cant get to your dealer right away.

 

[haknslash]

Another place you could check is the rubber tube that covers the shaft(s) inside the bilge area. It’s rare but I recall a member or two having a leak there with a new boat.

I sold my Yamaha and I can’t recall how the intake grate screws were mounted. I’m not sure if they drill through the hull or not and have a nut or if there is support material glassed in that they screwed into. Might be worth removing that one that was loose and have a look to see if the bilge cavity is visible.

As mentioned if you put your trailer on a hill and fill the bilge with water it may show where you’re leaking from. You may have already done this. There is also baby powder you can use as sort of a “trace” to help isolate areas around the rub rail and cleats. Since you say it is happening while sitting at the lake I would focus on somewhere below the waterline.

 

[NewBoater]

When your on plane and come off speed quick does water come pouring over the back/transom and go into the cup holders and other places? When I slow down off plane I thrust forward a little right before that little wave comes over the transom. I started getting way less water from the drain plug when I started doing that.​

 

[Mike Clark]

So I have 2015 240, which had similar issues when I got it, not nearly as much water as you are getting, but still 1-3 gallons based on how long I was out on the water.

In my case it was the exhaust outlets that were not tight and letting water into the boat. So on the back of the boat, looking at the jet nozzles, Look to the outside of each nozzle and in the recess of the actual boat , you will see a round rubber slit outlet. There are three bolts around it, check to make sure they are tight, water goes into this outlet as it is the exhaust for the engines and water goes in to fill the water box. The three bolts go into a metal flange that pulls tight against the rubber seal and keeps the water out of the main part of the boat. It almost completely eliminated all the water in mine. I pulled the screws out 1 at a time and put thread locker on them to keep from loosening up again.

Hope this is your issue, and fixes it?

 

[Yamahajetboatadvenures]

Got our 252SE last year in November after finally finding one. Amazing boat coming from a 2013 242 Limited.
Finally put it in the water a month later and when we took it out and pulled the plug, there was quit a bit of water that came out of it after only being out for 45 minutes. This already had us a little suspicious because the 242 was dry as can be.
Finally got it out to havasu this weekend and holy crap. This boat will not stop taking on water. The bilge pump is running basically 24/7. We thought it was the front cooler plug because when I looked inside the 2 pieces were not connected so i plugged it up, but that wasn't it.
After being out for about 2 hours on the first day I pulled it out of the water and there was a 40 second stream of water coming out of the drain plug, mind you, again after running the bilge 3 times during that where it spit out water for about 15 seconds.
Then the second day we left it in for 3 days total and every morning we got to it, the bilge would run for over 30 seconds just pissing on the dock. The boat is taking on water even sitting at the dock without being moved.....
When we got home today we took a look underneath. One of the screws for the intake grate was completely out. Couple more miles and it would have just fallen out. but we don't believe that was it. Then we looked at the other engine and they installed it sideways. The grate and the engine itself are actually overlapping and they still installed it that way. No locktite on any of the bolts on the bottom.
The weirdest part? Only the bottom hull is filling up. The engine area stays almost completely dry unless it sat overnight then there is usually a tiny bit of water in it.
To us this is completely disgusting to be selling a 80k boat and have this many issues with it taking on water. Im hoping that yamaha support will help us when I call them tomorrow because every boat shop is busy as can be right now, but I should also be having my boat on the water when it is brand new and not sitting in a shop, or sinking for that matter.
Just wanted to write this up for you guys that bought a new 252. Just keep looking for little indications of water somewhere.

If anyone has any other means of getting a hold of someone at Yamaha, it would be greatly appreciated!!

Check out my video on youtube. Just type in 252se the video should come up. I had an issue with a ton of water as well. It came in through the anchor locker through hole connection.