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

[Ramblin Wreck]

So far the only issue I have had with the FX Cruiser seat is it rubs the inside of my calf raw. If I go on a long ride and do not where some type of leg sleeve, I will literally be bleeding by the end of the day. Love the seat, but can't stand the seam.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Yes the seat is very wide however I don't get any rash from it, just wait the seam in the back of your drivers position will start to separate slowly so at first you don't worry about it since it really only shows a little then it rips open and grows pretty rapidly.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Ok so I made a trip to the dealer to personally check on my engine progress, I was told it would be ready tomorrow, It is now in the 8th week and I sure hope it gets finished soon but I won't hold my breath.

 

[haknslash]

Hopefully it'll be ready for you.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

They said they had several more come in in the last few weeks he said they will probably keep them busy in the winter if people keep riding all year like I do I am just glad the other one held up while this one is being fixed. Maybe it's a regional thing I still suspect they received a bad batch of chains made on Monday in China, I had over 650 hours on my 2010 supercharged S H O and the chain never caused any issues.

 

[Spooling]

I visited my dealer last week to enquire about the timing chain problem. They just had their first and only failure come in on an SX190. Yamaha was sending out a new block and was covering the repair.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I finally picked mine up today week 8 I sure hope this solved the problem but now I need to wait for the other one to hatch I guess

 

[RoughRider]

So I was next to dealer today and stopped in to check on my boat. Been 10 days since they diagnosed the timing belt. It sat for 13 days before that but decided that I could complain but wouldn't do me any good.
All parts are on order, but two concerns.
1. Engine block is shipped, via freighter, from Japan. No eta
2. Cylinder head is on backorder, no eta

Did confirm that they will replace with 2016 Timing chain. Picture of broken chain showed a pretty heavy chain but bad link. Mechanic said all warranty repairs are getting updated chain.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

my place told me they had one there for 4 months waiting for parts, I will try to get out tomorrow and start breaking mine IN!

 

[Evil Sports]

Was at my dealer today they said they have only seen a couple and didnt believe it was a wide spread issue compared to how many 1.8s are out there

 

[JEvanoff]

Was at my dealer today they said they have only seen a couple and didn't believe it was a wide spread issue compared to how many 1.8s are out there

If I got that answer from the dealer here in Denver it would mean at least 10 or more...

 

[Evil Sports]

what do you mean buy that? My dealer services boats from all over the New England states. Now I know we dont have the longest seasons here but they do see boats from NY CT RI and MA

 

[Gym]

Just a hunch here but I believe this is one of those "dirty little secrets" where it certainly doesn't merit a recall but is significant enough that Yamaha is paying to resolve it if you fight and have a good dealer willing to go to bat for you. Yamaha DOES know the scope of this issue whether it's a bad batch of chains or bad engineering. They would be wise to offer FREE oil changes to those of you who have boats in the affected categories so that they can proactively inspect/change those chains. This would be much cheaper and less time consuming than replacing a blown engine piece by piece keeping the owner out of the water for a month, or in the case of @Cobra Jet Steering LLC's 2 months.

I am currently involved with the development of a revolutionary waste remediation device intended for use in the medical & aviation industries. We received a shipment of pressure seals that were later found to be defective after equipment was delivered to customer sites. This left us with quite a red face and was quickly & quietly resolved so as not to damage the brand. These actions are taken all the time and, if handled correctly, don't upset the customer base. In my 6 years of being involved with the Yamaha brand I have seen at least two safety issues that could have been addressed much better. The plastic scupper valve and the #3 oil cooler bolt. The timing chain could be the third issue but only Yamaha knows the depth of that issue and they ain't talking. It's a shame we continue to be test dummies for large manufacturers. Hats off to this forum for being a data collection and resolution point for Yamaha.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I am sure there is a lot of info at Yamaha ,I honestly think it was a bad batch of chains looking at how this is developing , I have owned 4 of these engines, so far only one broke . I said "SO FAR" . A lot of people will be upset with this but take a look at the push button clean out plug also, they had a standard answer if one blew " YOU" installed it wrong , they did not deal with this dangerous issue for a long time, those were made for 16 years. Some of us who were around these plugs blowing out violently with the hatch blasting open and the plug launching up in the air returning to earth nearly taking a passengers head off and disabling the boat. LOTS of those stories were posted back on the other web page. So it is just the way they do business . The fish rots from the head down and honor is not in the equation only the bottom line. So let the buyer beware and yes it is good for consumers to have access to reality from web pages like this one and others as long as the corporate people don't get too cozy with the people in charge of the sites and persuade them to curb the flow of information. On some occasions I have seen that happen on this web page I myself have even been told what to say or not to say but this flow of information must be honest and uncensored or there is no reason to believe a word that is said on any web page and it becomes just another tool for the corporate TOOLS.

 

[Evil Sports]

Since I have not had this issue its not as driving for me and I view potential failure rates a bit differently. I will leave it at that

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Ok so I took my new engine out for several hours today to work on the break in. First I must say I forgot how much fuel these engines use before the rings get seated .
I burned 6 gal an hour went through 24 gal, by the end of the day I noticed the top speed coming up a bit, the engine sounds good and it starts easily, I will go back out tomorrow and put more time on it. I should have 10 hours on it sometime Sunday. I am glad that the ski is finally back in the water. I do not see any obvious external difference between the new one and the original one.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I now have 8 hours on the engine I noticed it is more responsive and feels more like the other engine but it still needs to break in fully and it still eats 6 gallons of fuel an hour.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

I now have 8 hours on the engine I noticed it is more responsive and feels more like the other engine but it still needs to break in fully and it still eats 6 gallons of fuel an hour.

Does your other ski get better? If I'm running 40 or so for a long period of time, Im 100% certain mine will burn at least 6 gph.

 

[JEvanoff]

what do you mean buy that? My dealer services boats from all over the New England states. Now I know we dont have the longest seasons here but they do see boats from NY CT RI and MA

What I mean by that is I have witnessed dealers downplaying issues like this to protect the reputation of the product they sell. In some situations it is worse than they let on.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Does your other ski get better? If I'm running 40 or so for a long period of time, Im 100% certain mine will burn at least 6 gph.

Well normally I run between 35 and 40 it just feels like the smooth spot, I use my Jeff cruise control so my wrists don't get as aggravated and this holds a very steady speed.
I also watch the clock on the ski and as soon as the first spot drops on the fuel gauge I fill the tank , it's an old habit of always wanting a full tank incase I decide to go somewhere and I don't want to worry about fuel so if I see lots of waves to jump or I get wild and start driving like crazy since that burns up a lot more fuel or the wind kicks up white caps and that also uses more fuel. In any event the first notch on the fuel gauge usually takes 5 gal or slightly less to get it back to the top where I can see the fuel in the fill spout.
This new one is taking all 6 gallons and then it looks like it could take a bit more however I can't run with the throttle stop since I am varying the speed and rpm constantly during break in, to add to this we are experiencing a large amount of weeds in the Tampa bay area so this is also a fuel consumption problem, I notice over the years that when my weed guard has weeds on it my constant Jeff cruise control speed will drop 2 or 3 mph as the throttle position is constant therefore it is using more fuel to travel the same distance so I have to do the reverse move or get under the ski in real bad situations to remove the weeds.
Lately we have weeds that sure look like very long pine needles and they just may be Australian pine tree needles for that matter, but they are everywhere and they float in big clumps, my weed guard keeps them from the pump but they definitely do slow the ski and reduce it's efficiency.