Spring Servicing

[nvuocolo]

I purchased a 2023 AR250 last year I have about 20 hours on it. I live in Upstate NY and I had it serviced (oil change, filters, fuel treatment) and winterized by the Yamaha dealer I purchased it from. I planned to pick it up sooner than later while it's still shrinkwrapped so when the weather turns I can have the fishfinder installed. The marina asked if I wanted it serviced before I picked it up changing spark plugs and whatnot.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question it's the first boat I've owned, my first Yamaha, and my first time prepping for use after winter and I'm curious if the plugs need to be changed every spring regardless. Have no issue doing so if it's necessary but I've seen mixed opinions and I wondered if someone might be able to help. Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[David Martin]

Most dealer should have you ready to go. I would just get a can of silicon spray, and coat everything in the engine compartment, every nut bolt all wires.......ect........then ladders.....jet drives on the outside and cleanout plugs. Drop her in the water and go enjoy.

 

[Acard7]

I wouldn’t worry about it. I change mine every year only because I fog the cylinders before putting it away for the winter. When I take it out in the spring I run the boat to burn off the oil, and then change the plugs. If the boat ran well during the fogging oil burn off I will keep the old plugs for backups during the season. My boat is much older than yours though lol.

 

[jcb1977]

I purchased a 2023 AR250 last year I have about 20 hours on it. I live in Upstate NY and I had it serviced (oil change, filters, fuel treatment) and winterized by the Yamaha dealer I purchased it from. I planned to pick it up sooner than later while it's still shrinkwrapped so when the weather turns I can have the fishfinder installed. The marina asked if I wanted it serviced before I picked it up changing spark plugs and whatnot.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question it's the first boat I've owned, my first Yamaha, and my first time prepping for use after winter and I'm curious if the plugs need to be changed every spring regardless. Have no issue doing so if it's necessary but I've seen mixed opinions and I wondered if someone might be able to help. Thank you for any help you can provide.

I usually wait until the fogging oil has been burned off after the first few uses in Spring then change the spark plugs. some do this every year, others wait longer in between but it's relativley cheap and easy to do.

 

[biffdotorg]

I purchased a 2023 AR250 last year I have about 20 hours on it. I live in Upstate NY and I had it serviced (oil change, filters, fuel treatment) and winterized by the Yamaha dealer I purchased it from. I planned to pick it up sooner than later while it's still shrinkwrapped so when the weather turns I can have the fishfinder installed. The marina asked if I wanted it serviced before I picked it up changing spark plugs and whatnot.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question it's the first boat I've owned, my first Yamaha, and my first time prepping for use after winter and I'm curious if the plugs need to be changed every spring regardless. Have no issue doing so if it's necessary but I've seen mixed opinions and I wondered if someone might be able to help. Thank you for any help you can provide.

First thing I would do is have your dealer define what "winterized" was and "whatnot" is. As you mentioned oil/filter change and fuel treatment, That's all winterization is. Some top the batteries and grease wheel bearings and intermediate bearing in the jet pump.

And if they are asking about spring service, ask them what that entails, as they did it all last fall. If they have no answer, you need to find a new dealer, or at minimum, just stop using that dealer and do this yourself. There is no "summarization" and as others have said, you would never swap spark plugs if they fogged in the fall. You want that oil burned off, as it is about the only thing that would foul the plugs. It's also common to not fog four stroke motors as well.

This is not a two stroke motor, they hardly ever foul and you would usually see a loss in RPM's or performance before changing them. There is no need to change them. And anyone that says "piece of mind" has no idea what happens when a plug fails. It's not catastrophic, it's like a drop in RPM's as there are four per engine. You swap them at that time or at the recommended service interval.

 

[Coult45]

I purchased a 2023 AR250 last year I have about 20 hours on it. I live in Upstate NY and I had it serviced (oil change, filters, fuel treatment) and winterized by the Yamaha dealer I purchased it from. I planned to pick it up sooner than later while it's still shrinkwrapped so when the weather turns I can have the fishfinder installed. The marina asked if I wanted it serviced before I picked it up changing spark plugs and whatnot.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question it's the first boat I've owned, my first Yamaha, and my first time prepping for use after winter and I'm curious if the plugs need to be changed every spring regardless. Have no issue doing so if it's necessary but I've seen mixed opinions and I wondered if someone might be able to help. Thank you for any help you can provide.

These boats are really easy to work on. If you want to do any/all of the work yourself, this forum will help you every step of the way. If they didn't fog your engines, the only spring prep is probably taking off the wrap and spraying things down like David said above. If you want to see what a DIY fish finder install looks like, I'm in Baldwinsville and you can look at mine to get a feel for what's involved.