UGH - certified Yamaha shop just told me Starboard MR1 needs replaced - advice?

[Betik]

I know those MR1 engines are awesome, but i really cannot imagine you not noticing running on 6 pistons versus 8. It is just hard to conceive such thing.
at this point your situation is a statistical anomaly OR that dealer has to stop touching your boat.
Don’t tell them do any work. Buy a six pack of good beer and tow your boat to Columbus and let @mark_m take a look at it. Or if you want come to Dallas and I will look at it.

 

[Beachbummer]

The actions that need to be taken to verify this unlikely diagnosis are not complex at all. Likely simpler than IKEA furniture assembly. Heed the warnings, save your boat!

 

[Seno]

Well it sucks if its an engine but there are much cheaper options. Worst case scenario get an SBT engine. I have a new to me 2008 212X, and just had to replace an engine. $4,000 with gasket kit and about 6 hours of my labor. All of the local shops wanted 800-1200 to put everything back on the engine and re-install.... Good Luck

 

[netcourt]

Guys, I wanted to circle back on this topic. I'm the OP, even though I've logged in under a different account (forgot my username; started a new one thinking it was the old one....).

After pressing the service dealer on options outside of full replacement, they agreed to send my bad engine to a local machine shop to have the bad cylinder re-bored and then rebuilt. I just got the boat back from the entire process (machine shop, back to dealer - finish work, testing, etc.). It's been almost a year. Total repair bill was around $5K. We dropped the boat in our local lake last night praying that it indeed would fire up correctly - AND IT DID. Both engines now running on all four cylinders. All new spark plugs across the board. the Starboard engine now has a slightly larger 4th cylinder due to the boring/rebuild. After tooling around I opened her up - and Starboard easily reaches 10K rpms - the port gets to around 9500. Previously, we would max out around 7500K (running only 3 cylinders on each side). Extra power and speed were noticeable. Also noticeable was that the general purring/humming of the engines now; running smoother especially over 7K rpms. No Wake Mode now works (probably unrelated to the engine work, but very nice to be able to use that feature now).

All in all - it seems like we were fortunate and avoided the craziness of the original "solution" to simply replace the engine.

 

[buckbuck]

Check the throttle stop on the port engine. It is probably limiting your rpm.
Make sure the scupper has been changed. Congratulations on your success.

 

[Julian]

Guys, I wanted to circle back on this topic. I'm the OP, even though I've logged in under a different account (forgot my username; started a new one thinking it was the old one....).

After pressing the service dealer on options outside of full replacement, they agreed to send my bad engine to a local machine shop to have the bad cylinder re-bored and then rebuilt. I just got the boat back from the entire process (machine shop, back to dealer - finish work, testing, etc.). It's been almost a year. Total repair bill was around $5K. We dropped the boat in our local lake last night praying that it indeed would fire up correctly - AND IT DID. Both engines now running on all four cylinders. All new spark plugs across the board. the Starboard engine now has a slightly larger 4th cylinder due to the boring/rebuild. After tooling around I opened her up - and Starboard easily reaches 10K rpms - the port gets to around 9500. Previously, we would max out around 7500K (running only 3 cylinders on each side). Extra power and speed were noticeable. Also noticeable was that the general purring/humming of the engines now; running smoother especially over 7K rpms. No Wake Mode now works (probably unrelated to the engine work, but very nice to be able to use that feature now).

All in all - it seems like we were fortunate and avoided the craziness of the original "solution" to simply replace the engine.

I have merged your accounts into one (CKibler is no more).