Have you had a 1.8 timing chain failure, was it in warranty and how has Yamaha handled it?

[ncnmra]

These stories are troubling. A brand new engine failing in such a catastrophic way is bad enough, but Yamaha's handling of the matter is very disappointing. Our boating season here is only 2-3 (4 TOPS) months, so if that happened to someone at the start of the season, it would basically mean the whole season was shot. Payments are still being made despite the boat being out of commission. Very sad indeed, and another reason I will be babying my MR1s.

 

[MattFX4]

These stories are troubling. A brand new engine failing in such a catastrophic way is bad enough, but Yamaha's handling of the matter is very disappointing. Our boating season here is only 2-3 (4 TOPS) months, so if that happened to someone at the start of the season, it would basically mean the whole season was shot. Payments are still being made despite the boat being out of commission. Very sad indeed, and another reason I will be babying my MR1s.

Yeah that would be a bad. I don't think I would be a Yamaha boat owner for much longer if that happened.

 

[RoughRider]

So today I got my boat back, Yeah! Total time at dealer was 15 weeks. Once parts were in they finished it in 11 days, so local dealers service techs did a great job. Corporate Yamaha on the other hand could be questioned as to why they don't keep enough parts on hand in a domestic warehouse. All in all, I still like the boat and haven't yet seen one I want more. Hopefully that can be the end of my warranty use, but I have 5 more years just in case.

 

[LTM1964]

I also got my boat back yesterday after 14 weeks at the dealer. Last night, I was going to run it on the hose to avoid any surprises at the launch ramp. I never got to the point of connecting the hose. After several attempts to start, the longest it ran was 10 seconds. Normally, it sounded rough and died within 2 to 3 seconds. The dealer said they ran it. I believe them but they didn't mention it was difficult to start and keep running. I can't risk it being hard to keep running when the temperature is in the 40s so I took it back to the dealer this morning. Hopefully, I will hear back from them later today. I am going to call the Yamaha rep today just to get them involved as soon as possible if this problem isn't solved quickly.

 

[OperationROL]

That's great news guys. I am happy for both of you and know the start issue will be something small. It will be time for happy boating again soon!

 

[LTM1964]

Yamaha continues to demonstrate their incompetence and lack of customer support!

The mechanic first diagnosed the lack of running as having the idle set too low. I was concerned that they were trying to mask a problem by turning the idle up but the Service Manager said it would be within spec. While they were verifying that the boat was running right, an oil leak was noticed. Yamaha sent the wrong head, apparently, it doesn't mate with the block. Yamaha tried to blame the wrong part on the dealership but they pushed back and verified that Yamaha was at fault for the wrong parts.

Just out of curiosity, I asked the Service Manager what the head was for. He said he didn't know. I am not going to press that issue any further as it doesn't get me back on the water any faster. I will try to verify correct part numbers when I get the boat back.

My engine has been pulled back out and Yamaha has supposedly sent the correct head.

This happened two days ago. The Service Manager informed me about this. Still, no one in authority at Yamaha has contacted me.

I haven't regretted purchasing a vehicle since I bought a Ford EXP in 1982. But I regret buying this boat now.

Yamaha has failed at every step here. They should have done whatever it takes to make sure a customer doesn't lose the use of their product for 3+ months. All they have done is make feeble attempts at meeting warranty requirements.

On Monday, I will contact Yamaha again and attempt to speak to someone with some authority to make this right.

 

[MrMoose]

Yamaha continues to demonstrate their incompetence and lack of customer support!

The mechanic first diagnosed the lack of running as having the idle set too low. I was concerned that they were trying to mask a problem by turning the idle up but the Service Manager said it would be within spec. While they were verifying that the boat was running right, an oil leak was noticed. Yamaha sent the wrong head, apparently, it doesn't mate with the block. Yamaha tried to blame the wrong part on the dealership but they pushed back and verified that Yamaha was at fault for the wrong parts.

Just out of curiosity, I asked the Service Manager what the head was for. He said he didn't know. I am not going to press that issue any further as it doesn't get me back on the water any faster. I will try to verify correct part numbers when I get the boat back.

My engine has been pulled back out and Yamaha has supposedly sent the correct head.

This happened two days ago. The Service Manager informed me about this. Still, no one in authority at Yamaha has contacted me.

I haven't regretted purchasing a vehicle since I bought a Ford EXP in 1982. But I regret buying this boat now.

Yamaha has failed at every step here. They should have done whatever it takes to make sure a customer doesn't lose the use of their product for 3+ months. All they have done is make feeble attempts at meeting warranty requirements.

On Monday, I will contact Yamaha again and attempt to speak to someone with some authority to make this right.

Good luck @LTM1964 ... thank you for sharing your story. By doing so, we can only hope that Yamaha will be more on point for the others who will follow. If not, we can only hope that they share their experience like you have. It's about accountability. Yamaha has forged a strong reputation when it comes to reliability, let's see how they do when it comes to accountability.

 

[OperationROL]

So the dealership didn't notice it was the wrong part? Sounds like the dealership has fault here as well.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Well since getting my engine back everything is going fine, I run it every week, I have put 40+ hours on it since getting it back from the dealer.
I was out 3 days in a row this week with 80+ temps and the water in the 70s.
I did have an issue with the pump liner swelling up from sitting for 2 months so I replaced that. I just wish the other engine would go ahead and hatch during the winter but with my luck it will probably do it right in the middle of summer . I think the dealer doing the work has just as much to do with the job being done correctly as Yamaha does providing the parts and support. I took mine to Barneys in St Pete heck they had it for 2 months and didn't even charge me for storage!!

 

[LTM1964]

Maybe the boat is fixed now. The dealer called on Thursday to say that they had installed the replacement head and the boat ran. The Service Manager sounded somewhat offended when I reminded him that his mechanic said the boat ran nearly three weeks prior but it didn't run and was found to have the incorrect head. Since it is as winter and I was going to be the one out on the water, I expected it to start easily and keep running, I wanted him to confirm that he thought it was right. He said they ran it in their tank at the shop, same as last time. I picked the boat up.

I ran it on the hose yesterday and didn't find any problems. I didn't want to risk going very far the first time in the water on the new engine so I put it in the Arkansas River today. It was 45 degrees and foggy. I idled up river a few hundred yards and killed the motor a few times just to make sure it would restart. I planed out and ran about 30 MPH a few times. Everything seems to be OK. If I can find a period when it isn't raining next weekend, I will take it to a lake.

I reached the fourth month of downtime last week.

Yamaha hasn't contacted me since they tried to blame the incorrect head on the dealer. I requested to speak to someone with some authority in the matter multiple times and was ignored. Throughout the entire period, I was treated more like a warranty burden than a customer that may or may not buy one of their products again. I guess they don't even think about what my response will be when people at the lake ask me "How do you like your Yamaha?". I am planning on keeping this boat four more years. I hope I don't have to rely on Yamaha's support any more.

 

[itsdgm]

Man, that's tough reading how Yamaha's handled your complaint @LTM1964 But I'm glad to hear that you're back up and running again.

 

[Ricky Edgeworth]

Timing chain broke Labor Day weekend 2016 with 45 hours on it. 2015 AR 240 bought boat new in Febuary 15 .Took it to dealer that week couple of months later and several phone calls later from me never got a call from dealer. Finally they told me timing chain had broke and that Yamaha had sent them all the parts they needed to fix it. I called Yamaha about changing the timing chain in the other motor. The said that there was nothing showing evidence that there was a manufacturing problems with the chains. Boat is under 5 year warranty think goodness no problem getting parts to fix it.Needless to say 5 months later still don't have boat and never got a call from dealer I had to make all calls and drive 3 hours away to find out what is going on they said 2 weeks I called back Wednesday 01/18/2017 boats ready just need to test drive it before I pick it up.

 

[swatski]

Timing chain broke Labor Day weekend 2016 with 45 hours on it. 2015 AR 240 bought boat new in Febuary 15 .Took it to dealer that week couple of months later and several phone calls later from me never got a call from dealer. Finally they told me timing chain had broke and that Yamaha had sent them all the parts they needed to fix it. I called Yamaha about changing the timing chain in the other motor. The said that there was nothing showing evidence that there was a manufacturing problems with the chains. Boat is under 5 year warranty think goodness no problem getting parts to fix it.Needless to say 5 months later still don't have boat and never got a call from dealer I had to make all calls and drive 3 hours away to find out what is going on they said 2 weeks I called back Wednesday 01/18/2017 boats ready just need to test drive it before I pick it up.

That's awful.. even though they are covering this.

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[Bill D]

Sorry for your experience @Ricky Edgeworth. It's really amazing to me how little concern dealers have for their customers and even for their own reputation. Hopefully your other motor has no issues.

 

[merlinjet]

Has anyone without the extended warranty had a TC problem and managed to get Yamaha to fix it? Seems to me this is a known design flaw they should be addressing regardless of warranty status.

 

[MrMoose]

That's a really good question @merlinjet

 

[d_coyne1984]

Does anyone on here have any legal experience? I'm wondering if there is grounds for a class action lawsuit? Considering the potential dangers of loosing control at high speed involved, the way it seems like Yamaha is trying to cover it up, the number of cases of failure, the cost involved with failure, and the time it takes them to get things fixed, I would think there would be. If this happens to me I don't know what I will do. I can't afford a $5k new engine so I guess at that point I would just let the bank take it as sucky as that is. I think Sychrony is kind of a shady bank anyway though.

 

[swatski]

Has anyone without the extended warranty had a TC problem and managed to get Yamaha to fix it? Seems to me this is a known design flaw they should be addressing regardless of warranty status.

Yes, there is a number of reports of Yamaha replacing or fixing 1.8l engines out of warranty when destroyed due to TC failure.
Obviously I can't speak for them, but I am convinced they would replace the engine(s) if failed due to TC, with/out warranty, based on what I have heard.
I could be a fool...

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[dougg]

Update to my post from last August. 2014 212x timing chain failure. We decided to take the boat to the dealer to have it inspected so we could see if Yamaha would cover the repair. We waited the winter due to job uncertainty amongst other things. I keep it inside for the winter, something the dealer couldn't guarantee. Regardless, the boat is at the dealer. It took them a week after I dropped it off to let me know how much it would cost to fix. I don't have extended warranty but I'm hoping Yamaha would cover the repair considering this is a known issue. The dealer said they would fight for me...Today, I received the estimate for the repair. In 3-4 weeks I can have my boat ready to go for the small sum of just under $12,000 CDN. The email response I received was no more than, Hey, you can get your boat back in 3-4 weeks if you give us the go ahead. No mention of a warranty claim or even a failed attempt at a claim. Just here is the price to fix it. I've asked for clarification but haven't heard anything yet. I'll update as I find out more.

 

[Neutron]

Definitely keep us updated.
A 3 year old boat should be covered by Yamaha regardless of warranty status.
I hope they cover it or at the least most of the bill