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

[swatski]

So how many 1.8 non-supercharged have been affected here? I can think of 3.
5,000 members plus whoever else is watching and would likely chime in if they had a problem like that.

Probably similar number of 1.8 boats have been totaled in various accidents?

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[swatski]

I still think a bigger deal is made about this then it really is. There has to be close to 1000 1.8l engines registered on the forum when you consider many boats have two of them. Right now I think I have seen 3-4 1.8l engines on here have the issue which makes it less then half a percent issue. Don't get me wrong for those it's happened to its terrible and I sure hope Yamaha took care of most if not all of them.

@robert843 beat me to this point, I couldn't agree more. And yes, two engines per boat.

Anyway - what marine engines have better track record?

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[Bill D]

I had a MazdaSpeed 6 right after I graduated college. It was a speedy little turbocharged 4 cyl AWD car. 2 months after the warranty ran out, with about 40k miles on it, it broke the timing chain and totaled the engine. Took about $5k to get a new motor shipped in from Japan.

I learned an important lesson. Sh!t happens and you can't predict everything. Drive it like you stole it... and save up 5k for a "new motor emergency fund."

 

[Matt J]

Awesome!!! I have a 6/15 build date motor on my 16 boat.... I have 4 yrs of YES, so at least I have that for peace of mind.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Here is something that I thought I would NEVER have to say, honestly I follow a very strict procedure with my skies , first I starting them before placing them in the water as this is easier on the starter since the pump is not in the water creating drag on it. Then I do a warm up period of idling and gradually increasing my rpms to get on plane but never going faster than that until the engine has had time to warm up, then I increase the speed a bit. Everyone knows they can not even think about riding my skies before I warm them up.
And I never rev the engines on the trailer at the end of the day I only let them idle for maybe 60 seconds . Plus I change the oil and filter every 50 hours. So I figured people who do not follow that procedure would be the ones to have timing chain break.
I put 650 hours on my supercharged 1800 engine with no issues, I had 250 in my 2013 1800 when it was totaled on the interstate, and I have 350 hours on both of my 2014 1800 engines.
So today I had the cruise control set at 35 mph as I crossed a 2 mile stretch of flats that are about 6 feet of water when my engine just shut off abruptly, no warning , I thought I must have hit the lanyard and unhooked it or something but when I looked it was still connected, when I hit the start button the starter was cranking really fast and the engine had zero compression . I was a mile from a channel so I had to use a small paddle to work my way back to the beach. I have no doubt that the timing chain failed. Thankfully I was not out in the gulf of Mexico as I had been earlier.
Everyone here has heard me praise the 1800 engine year after year now I am honestly afraid to trust it, I had zero warning not a clue that there was any problem, all I can say is this really sucks, fortunately it's under warranty and I plan on dropping it off on Monday But I ride alone often and paddling the ski back across the flats for an hour fortunately with the wind at my back was a rude awakening. I was nearly back to my beach when a very nice man with his family stopped to tow me the remainder of the way . So all I can say is if you only have one engine be careful about the chain issue if your boat is within the years that were having that problem. I own 2 of them so now I have to be worried about the other one failing.

 

[0627Devildog]

Perhaps we should see how many are charged vs NA. I can see the stress that a jetski could put on it with air born moves but our boats dont suck air that often. Well at least mine doesn't

I was thinking the same thing. . . . Unless there are bunch of wave jumpers getting air out there.

If so, videos please. . .

 

[haknslash]

Awesome!!! I have a 6/15 build date motor on my 16 boat.... I have 4 yrs of YES, so at least I have that for peace of mind.

Does anyone know if the valve cover gasket is reusable or a rubber compound? If so you could be the one who helps verify the changeover date for the new hardware.

 

[Matt J]

Does anyone know if the valve cover gasket is reusable or a rubber compound? If so you could be the one who helps verify the changeover date for the new hardware.

Man I would love to help, but not really into wrenching on a brand new boat with less then an hour on it....

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

Here is something that I thought I would NEVER have to say, honestly I follow a very strict procedure with my skies , first I starting them before placing them in the water as this is easier on the starter since the pump is not in the water creating drag on it. Then I do a warm up period of idling and gradually increasing my rpms to get on plane but never going faster than that until the engine has had time to warm up, then I increase the speed a bit. Everyone knows they can not even think about riding my skies before I warm them up.
And I never rev the engines on the trailer at the end of the day I only let them idle for maybe 60 seconds . Plus I change the oil and filter every 50 hours. So I figured people who do not follow that procedure would be the ones to have timing chain break.
I put 650 hours on my supercharged 1800 engine with no issues, I had 250 in my 2013 1800 when it was totaled on the interstate, and I have 350 hours on both of my 2014 1800 engines.
So today I had the cruise control set at 35 mph as I crossed a 2 mile stretch of flats that are about 6 feet of water when my engine just shut off abruptly, no warning , I thought I must have hit the lanyard and unhooked it or something but when I looked it was still connected, when I hit the start button the starter was cranking really fast and the engine had zero compression . I was a mile from a channel so I had to use a small paddle to work my way back to the beach. I have no doubt that the timing chain failed. Thankfully I was not out in the gulf of Mexico as I had been earlier.
Everyone here has heard me praise the 1800 engine year after year now I am honestly afraid to trust it, I had zero warning not a clue that there was any problem, all I can say is this really sucks, fortunately it's under warranty and I plan on dropping it off on Monday But I ride alone often and paddling the ski back across the flats for an hour fortunately with the wind at my back was a rude awakening. I was nearly back to my beach when a very nice man with his family stopped to tow me the remainder of the way . So all I can say is if you only have one engine be careful about the chain issue if your boat is within the years that were having that problem. I own 2 of them so now I have to be worried about the other one failing.

Supercharged?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

NOT SUPERCHARGED that was the real concern.

 

[swatski]

Here is something that I thought I would NEVER have to say, honestly I follow a very strict procedure with my skies , first I starting them before placing them in the water as this is easier on the starter since the pump is not in the water creating drag on it. Then I do a warm up period of idling and gradually increasing my rpms to get on plane but never going faster than that until the engine has had time to warm up, then I increase the speed a bit. Everyone knows they can not even think about riding my skies before I warm them up.
And I never rev the engines on the trailer at the end of the day I only let them idle for maybe 60 seconds . Plus I change the oil and filter every 50 hours. So I figured people who do not follow that procedure would be the ones to have timing chain break.
I put 650 hours on my supercharged 1800 engine with no issues, I had 250 in my 2013 1800 when it was totaled on the interstate, and I have 350 hours on both of my 2014 1800 engines.
So today I had the cruise control set at 35 mph as I crossed a 2 mile stretch of flats that are about 6 feet of water when my engine just shut off abruptly, no warning , I thought I must have hit the lanyard and unhooked it or something but when I looked it was still connected, when I hit the start button the starter was cranking really fast and the engine had zero compression . I was a mile from a channel so I had to use a small paddle to work my way back to the beach. I have no doubt that the timing chain failed. Thankfully I was not out in the gulf of Mexico as I had been earlier.
Everyone here has heard me praise the 1800 engine year after year now I am honestly afraid to trust it, I had zero warning not a clue that there was any problem, all I can say is this really sucks, fortunately it's under warranty and I plan on dropping it off on Monday But I ride alone often and paddling the ski back across the flats for an hour fortunately with the wind at my back was a rude awakening. I was nearly back to my beach when a very nice man with his family stopped to tow me the remainder of the way . So all I can say is if you only have one engine be careful about the chain issue if your boat is within the years that were having that problem. I own 2 of them so now I have to be worried about the other one failing.

Holy SHIT.

 

[Evil Sports]

Might have to rethink my post..... Ummm No

 

[Craig]

Been considering saling our boat anyway and transitioning to a dedicated wake boat....might just be the last season we own a Yamaha. Our is a '15 but motors manufactured early '15. I can tell you this would give me great pause in considering the trip to Bimini (or similar) in one of the affected year model boats.

 

[robert843]

Been considering saling our boat anyway and transitioning to a dedicated wake boat....might just be the last season we own a Yamaha. Our is a '15 but motors manufactured early '15. I can tell you this would give me great pause in considering the trip to Bimini (or similar) in one of the affected year model boats.

No pause on this end life to short to sweat the less the 1/2 percent issues on anything. We took a 15 for over 700 miles of off shore riding in a week with out a second thought when we went to the Exumas in the Bahamas and we were aware of this possible issue back then.

 

[Evil Sports]

Your personal timing chain could fail at any time, is that stopping you from going about your day

 

[McMark]

Your personal timing chain could fail at any time, is that stopping you from going about your day

This should be everyone's mantra.

 

[ar240owner]

Man , the big question ? Do we worry about it or just keep enjoying and hope it dosent happen ?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Dropped off the ski at the dealer today, they informed me that I was the third victim of a failed timing chain within about a week and they could not understand why this problem is not a recall. I appreciated his candor. So now let the boater beware.

 

[haknslash]

IMO it should be a recall. I know Yamaha doesn't want to eat all the huge financial cost associated with such a recall but they really should do what's right. I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a class action lawsuit file just from the SVHO guys, let alone the handful of boat guys who have had it happen to them.

 

[robert843]

Dropped off the ski at the dealer today, they informed me that I was the third victim of a failed timing chain within about a week and they could not understand why this problem is not a recall. I appreciated his candor. So now let the boater beware.

Hopefully they are replacing it with the 2016 upgraded parts.