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

[njmr2fan]

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[Brad Meeuwse]

hahaha! well this is my first boat! my wife grew up on boats and she said, "you better get a boat for us this summer!" UM, YES MAAM! so i got one. we will see how much we use it. got some moorage on lake washington for the summer so i think we will get lots of play time. but hopefully its a good boat! i did lots of research on them before i payed out the $$$ . the design and layout of the boat is just what we wanted to have (in our theoretical minds). oldest boy is 6... two other younger boys. in any case, they have a blast with it just sitting in the hangar. lol i didn't know much about the TC before i bought it though. there wasn't much out there until i "happened upon" the post here on the forum...after i bought it. doh.... such is life

 

[swatski]

hahaha! well this is my first boat! my wife grew up on boats and she said, "you better get a boat for us this summer!" UM, YES MAAM! so i got one. we will see how much we use it. got some moorage on lake washington for the summer so i think we will get lots of play time. but hopefully its a good boat! i did lots of research on them before i payed out the $$$ . the design and layout of the boat is just what we wanted to have (in our theoretical minds). oldest boy is 6... two other younger boys. in any case, they have a blast with it just sitting in the hangar. lol i didn't know much about the TC before i bought it though. there wasn't much out there until i "happened upon" the post here on the forum...after i bought it. doh.... such is life

No worries, you have got an absolutely great boat for the family!!!

I wish I picked a 242 E when I was buying, the towers and biminis are awesome and proven basically trouble free, and the E-throttles are proving problem free as well for the most part - those are two huge assets, on top of better vinyl. Not much you can do about the engines, but the TC chain failures are really rare.

In my opinion, TC failure in a N/A boat is not a maintenance issue. I see it more as similar to, say, an accident of being rear-ended in the car. Can it happen? yes. Do you want drive around worrying about it? Probably not a good idea.
The odds of those two events are similar - well, in my (somewhat informed) opinion.

Importantly, TC failures have been covered by Yamaha in and out of warranty no questions asked.

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[Dana Tissue]

What year has Yamaha covered for TC repairs? I’m now two summers down and two sets of timing chains replaced on my 2010 242 Limited. First set failed at 170 hours and repaired by the dealer we purchased from at a cost of $6,000 for both motors. That repair lasted 5 freaking hours before it failed too. Come to find out that the wrong chains and sprockets were installed the first time which caused valves to be damaged running out of sync. That repair bill by second Yamaha dealer was $9,000 to repair with new chains, sprockets, valves, on both engines. When I called customer relations at Yamaha they couldn’t help because both Dealers are independently owned. Just got my boat back this week from the Dealer after them having it for the winter to fix. Not sure how or what I can do for assistance in getting money back.

 

[MattFX4]

@Dana Tissue geez. Not sure but there have been two failures reported in last two weeks on Facebook. One was a 2014 and dealer wouldn’t cover his. Not sure how high he escalated it with Yamaha. He purchased a used engine and replaced himself. The other was a 2015 I believe and dealer is covering repair but said it was going to be a $20k repair which sounds way too high.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I doubt you have anything to be concerned with, I believe the timing chain issues were handled by 2015 , I had a 2014 blow one at around 350 hours my other 2014 engine has very close to 600 hours and no problem .
I will say once again never rev up the engine when the boat is out of the water It is a 4 stroke engine with 5 valves per cylinder and it only takes one small issue to destroy something.
I have learned to just let the engine idle for 15 or 20 seconds to get excess water out of the water box .
I also suggest you pre start your 4 stroke engines out of the water each time you are launching for the day.
Simply start it, run a couple of seconds and shut it off.
This will help your starter last longer as there is no load on the pump when the boat is on the trailer or lift. remember the starter is turning the engine and the pump at the same time as they are directly connected all the time. Therefore the engines start easier and the starter does less work on the initial start up.
And if there is an issue you find that out before you put it in the water.

 

[haknslash]

Timing chain was revised in 2016+

IMO revving the engines out of the water doesn't hurt anything. It's listed in the owners manual as a procedure IIRC. However what can snap a chain is getting airborne, hitting limiter, then pump reloads upon hitting water again = greater stress. That's how it seemed to happen for some guys on greenhulk. Of course these boats don't often get airborne on the lakes like a PWC and some boat guys have had theirs snap under normal conditions. I don't think there is a definitive root cause, just speculation, but IMO giving a few revs (not revving to the moon but rather 2-4K RPM) to get some of the water out is not one of them.

 

[njmr2fan]

I have a 2014 and I boat scared all the time.

 

[Neutron]

I have a 15 svho ski and i am not scared, if it fails it fails. My warranty is good till 2021. And yamaha seems to be covering non warranty motors as well from what i have been seeing

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I know the feeling. I have one with 600 hours that has not blown yet and one that did. you will know when it goes because when you try to start it.. your engine will sound like a blender and then backfire.

 

[njmr2fan]

And on the day my boat becomes a backfiring blender I shall cry...

 

[LukePrinsloo]

I've scanned through the thread, does anyone know if there is a sound with an impeding failure? I have a 2011 with 204 hours on it. bought about 4 hours ago. During the test float I did not notice it but the next time I took the boat out I noticed a vibration (felt it in the boat as well). Per @Bruce I pulled the jet pump and started the motor. The vibration/sound is much louder and clangs. I had thought it was the intermediate bearing but Bruce mentioned that he thought it could be the timing chain. it sounds like marbles in a thick metal can towards the back of the motor (towards the transom.)
I'll be posting a full thread tonight but thought I'd look up the timing chain.

My concern is that it also kind of sounds like a miss. Nothing in the oil when I changed it this weekend (and the spark plugs looked the same for both motors). No error's on the cluster. I have ordered a YDS module but it's still on it's way.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Timing chain is up in the front of the engine not the back you can pull your valve cover and view the chain, honestly when my chain hatched it gave NO warning It just shut off so fast I honestly thought my lanyard switch fell out. The engine was running just as nice as could be and quit instantly.

 

[Robconn]

boats. If you look them up online like this one on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-cam-...ash=item236df23e6b:g:OxgAAOSwRgJXiOb1&vxp=mtr) it lists every single 1.8 L engine boat and PWC. This makes me think they all use the same timid chain.

Here are some interesting reads even though they are primarily SVHO related it may apply to our boat engine issues:
This is the thread I was reading where I stumbled upon the chains made and the kit http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=242672
Kit to fix the timing chain issue http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=242325
How to inspect your timing chain

[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately I am reading a growing number of posts about timing chain failures. For those that have had them, how has Yamaha handled it? Has anyone had to repair an out of warranty engine? Did Yamaha pay for the repair?

@joel, @JEvanoff, @Yamaha242lsdallas, @Nashvegas, @tuan, What was your experience?

I

Unfortunately I am reading a growing number of posts about timing chain failures. For those that have had them, how has Yamaha handled it? Has anyone had to repair an out of warranty engine? Did Yamaha pay for the repair?

@joel, @JEvanoff, @Yamaha242lsdallas, @Nashvegas, @tuan, What was your experience?

I have had a timing chain failure on Mother’s Day. It it still in the shop. My boat is a 2016 ar192.Every week I am told “next week”, I have called Yamaha with my concerns. The person I spoke with read the warranty back to me and offered nothing else. So basically as far as Yamaha is concerned the engine will be rebuilt not replaced. After valve and cylinder damage, I don’t have confidence that it will ever be as reliable. I’m sure resale will less as a result. I have lost confidence in Yamaha. Will my warranty be extended? Will they, at the very least, warranty the timing chain beyond the existing warranty? I will keep you posted. I have had other non engine warranty issues with Yamaha. Last season, The dash above the instrument cluster started to bubble. The same person at Yamaha called it a blemish and would not replace it. I countered and claimed it was a defect in material. I submitted my claim twice and both times they denied it. In addition I had paid over 3k for a summer slip. Half the summer gone and no boat.

 

[swatski]

I have had a timing chain failure on Mother’s Day. It it still in the shop. My boat is a 2016 ar192.Every week I am told “next week”, I have called Yamaha with my concerns. The person I spoke with read the warranty back to me and offered nothing else. So basically as far as Yamaha is concerned the engine will be rebuilt not replaced. After valve and cylinder damage, I don’t have confidence that it will ever be as reliable. I’m sure resale will less as a result. I have lost confidence in Yamaha. Will my warranty be extended? Will they, at the very least, warranty the timing chain beyond the existing warranty? I will keep you posted. I have had other non engine warranty issues with Yamaha. Last season, The dash above the instrument cluster started to bubble. The same person at Yamaha called it a blemish and would not replace it. I countered and claimed it was a defect in material. I submitted my claim twice and both times they denied it. In addition I had paid over 3k for a summer slip. Half the summer gone and no boat.

That sucks! Sorry to hear.
Can you tell us what is the production date of your 1.8 SHO engine? (month/year)

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[Robconn]

I am not sure exactly, I purchased it July of 2016

 

[Robconn]

The engine has 50 hours

 

[Neutron]

As far as extending your warranty, i believe by law if it is at the dealet for an extended period of time, thay have to extend the warranty that same amount of time

 

[Robconn]

That good to know just don’t want to be left without any recourse should it occur again. If it’s not a recall issue it should be a service bulletin at the Service centers.

 

[Gym]

Most states have strong consumer protection laws. You may want to look in to them, consult with an attorney or contact your attorney's general office to find out what your rights are. In Massachusetts a product must perform for a "reasonable period of time" regardless of the expressed warranty. Many manufacturers determine a componet is not performing up to expectations so they quietly change it out without notifying dealers or customers. The dealers usually know this.