Another oil cooler bolt sheared

[txav8r]

If I am not mistaken @SCSTWG , the oil cooler bolt issue was only on the 2010 boats and corrected before the 2011...am I right?

 

[SCSTWG]

Early 2011' also have the oil cooler issue. My 2011 has the old (same as 2010) oil coolers. I'm just lucky like that. I have 100 hours on the boat and no issues as of yet (knock on wood).

 

[txav8r]

I knew it switched but older age causes a loss of continuity from now and what I once remembered Thanks for the reminder, I need all the help I can get! I remember the discussion of bolt markings in determining if you had the new or old ones...just forgot it didn't happen between model years!

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Early 2011' also have the oil cooler issue. My 2011 has the old (same as 2010) oil coolers. I'm just lucky like that. I have 100 hours on the boat and no issues as of yet (knock on wood).

I would be more concerned that you only have 100 hours on a 2011 boat! You better get on it this summer!

 

[SCSTWG]

I would be more concerned that you only have 100 hours on a 2011 boat! You better get on it this summer!

You make an excellent point.

 

[rkluck]

When I spoke to the dealer he told me the real issue was the way the robot torqued the bolts. I had debated doing this earlier but didn't, you could just take the bolt out and replace it with a new bolt and the correct torque. The issue is that when you do this you break the bolt anyway so be prepared in case. I am lucky mine just went and it was not during the summer and the dealer is treating me right (and no waiting). I thought it would not happen to me after so many years and many hours but it did last January during a nice warm winter day. You may want to see about fixing it now before the season starts.

 

[SCSTWG]

When I spoke to the dealer he told me the real issue was the way the robot torqued the bolts. I had debated doing this earlier but didn't, you could just take the bolt out and replace it with a new bolt and the correct torque. The issue is that when you do this you break the bolt anyway so be prepared in case. I am lucky mine just went and it was not during the summer and the dealer is treating me right (and no waiting). I thought it would not happen to me after so many years and many hours but it did last January during a nice warm winter day. You may want to see about fixing it now before the season starts.

I would buy the story from your dealer, but that doesn't explain why they changed the oil cooler in early 2011. Regardless of true cause, there should have been a recall on this.

 

[rkluck]

Oh I agree about the recall everyone knows this issue. The dealer is trying to get Yamaha to pay for this. Yamaha has been coving many of them so I am hoping I am not too late in the game for getting all my costs covered.

 

[Ronnie]

My dealer tech said he suspected that it was either a poor design of the cover (to thin) or that the cover was made of a different grade of material than the rest of the cooler such that thermal expansion and contraction caused the cover to crack or the bolt to fail.

If it was just an incorrect torque issue I don't see why Yamaha would go through the trouble and expense of redesigning the cooler cover as they could have issued a general recall to have the bolts retorqued which would have been a lot less expensive than replacing the entire cooler and would have built some loyalty in their customer base.

I don't know what bothers me more, the fact the Yamaha didn't step up and just replace the problem coolers or that they made it so that you can't just buy a new cover but instead must buy the entire cooler assembly (assuming you are not just replacing the bolts).

 

[jcyamaharider]

From looking at the bolt looks like a cheap fastener too me. No way on a good fastener that threads would pull.

 

[rkluck]

Yes I think the fastener is weak as well. (from the dealer) Once Yamaha figured out the torqueing issue they adjusted the robots in the manufacturing process. My understanding is that the jet skis have the exact same cooler and Yamaha didn't understand why the issue manifested itself in the boats. It is a shame they didn't simply have a recall and fix this for everyone. I see similar challenges from Harley-Davidson as well. This is the time of the year to get this fixed.

 

[pagekl]

I tried to get Yamaha to help me when my cooler bolt broke. I even got the dealership I bought the boat from involved to see if they could get Yamaha to budge and nothing (at least that's what the dealer told me). In the end I removed the cooler and replaced all the bolts and changed out the rubber gasket myself. That was about three years ago and no leaks or any other problems. I like my boat, but I would never buy a boat from Yamaha again because of the way they treated many of us who ran into this problem. This is certainly no skin off of Yamaha's back since they sell a lot of boats and they lead the jet boat market. A recall would have been the right thing to do, like Subaru did with the head gasket failures on many of their cars a few years back.

 

[davel501]

This shit really pisses me off after hearing all the problems with this part. Yamaha should step up and recall this piece of shit oil cooler!

Call them. It's fun. They tell you there is nothing wrong with the part. I even offered to exchange the old design oil cooler for the new via UPS and they were like "Why would we do that? There is nothing wrong with the part you have."...nothing except the sheared off bolt.

 

[buckbuck]

Hmmm...you seem to have a sheared off bolt on your oil cooler. Perhaps someone should call Yamaha and suggest they have a problem.

 

[davel501]

The number for customer relations is (800) 962-7926.

The new design oil coolers were $650/ea on yamahasportsplaza when I priced them last.

 

[Scottintexas]

@BigN8 wondering if you made any progress on this ?

 

[kthrash]

after having to fix the 2010 oil coolers with broken bolts 3x. I said the hell with it and bought new revised oil coolers with the stronger bolt.. hopefully that will be the last time I have to pull those things.

 

[ar240owner]

Where you fixing it your self ? I did mine and put a grade 8 bolt in it , I couldn't imagine that braking again

 

[kthrash]

Where you fixing it your self ? I did mine and put a grade 8 bolt in it , I couldn't imagine that braking again

First time I used factory Yamaha bolts, 2nd time I used Grade 8 SSbolts, 3rd time I used special sourced grade 10 bolts. All 3 times the same bolt sheared. The upgraded cooler actually has a much thicker bolt in the 3rd hole down.

 

[ar240owner]

First time I used factory Yamaha bolts, 2nd time I used Grade 8 SSbolts, 3rd time I used special sourced grade 10 bolts. All 3 times the same bolt sheared. The upgraded cooler actually has a much thicker bolt in the 3rd hole down.

Wow I will def need to watch mine , that's crazy to think a grade 8 and 10 would brake !!!