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I recently became the new owner of a 2003 Yamaha LX210 jet boat. The previous owner purchased it new a little over one year ago (August '03). I bought it from the original owner in late September 2004. The boat was rarley used (less than 50 hours) and is in perfect condition.
Unfortunatley, I did not have a chance to use the boat this year - living in New England, our boating season ends in September.
A few weeks ago, I wanted to properly prepare the boat for winter storage. I topped off the fuel and oil tanks, added stabilizer to the fuel, and was getting ready to fog the engines and shut off the fuel supply.
I started with the starboard engine. I removed the access ports to inject the fogging oil, connected up the cooling water supply (water off), and started the engine. The after the engine started, I set the throttle to about half and went to turn on the water supply. With the engine running for a bit getting up to temperature, I noticed that warm water was exiting the through-hull port, and I was getting ready to fog the engine. That's when it happened.
All of the sudden the engine stopped. I quickly went to shut off the water. When I tried starting it again, it was difficult starting (hard turning over). Eventually it started, ran a bit, made some loud noises and stalled again. Again, I tried starting it. It was very difficult starting. It kick over a couple times and then stopped. With all quiet, I heard the some unsettling sounds of metal debris bouncing around in the engine compartment.
When I looked closer, there were chunks of cast metal (aluminium ?) littered on the floor of the engine compartment. The spark plug closest to me (in the cockpit) was blown right out of the head.
I knew this was not a good thing. I called my local Yamaha dealer, and he said to bring it in to have a look. I brought the boat up and he couldn't believe what he saw.
The boat is just out of it's one year warranty. I'm waiting to get an estimate to get the boat fixed. The dealer has determined that the oil pump failed and that the engine was operating a fast RPMs at the time of seisure. Yamaha has offered to pay for a new crankshaft (around $900). I'm told to rebuild the motor parts and labor would run upwards of $10K. To have them put in a new Yamaha 'longblock' would cost around $4K.
I would like to explore other options - especially if Yamaha can't help out any more than they offered. I'm considering a rebuilt engine. I consider myself fairly mechanically inclined. Is this something I can do myself ? My two concerns are engine alignment (shims, etc ...) and carburetor adjustment.
Anyone that can offer any assitance would be greatly appreciated.
(Sorry for the length of this post, but I felt it was important to get out all the info to get back quality repsonses)
Thanks much,
Tom Kelly
Unfortunatley, I did not have a chance to use the boat this year - living in New England, our boating season ends in September.
A few weeks ago, I wanted to properly prepare the boat for winter storage. I topped off the fuel and oil tanks, added stabilizer to the fuel, and was getting ready to fog the engines and shut off the fuel supply.
I started with the starboard engine. I removed the access ports to inject the fogging oil, connected up the cooling water supply (water off), and started the engine. The after the engine started, I set the throttle to about half and went to turn on the water supply. With the engine running for a bit getting up to temperature, I noticed that warm water was exiting the through-hull port, and I was getting ready to fog the engine. That's when it happened.
All of the sudden the engine stopped. I quickly went to shut off the water. When I tried starting it again, it was difficult starting (hard turning over). Eventually it started, ran a bit, made some loud noises and stalled again. Again, I tried starting it. It was very difficult starting. It kick over a couple times and then stopped. With all quiet, I heard the some unsettling sounds of metal debris bouncing around in the engine compartment.
When I looked closer, there were chunks of cast metal (aluminium ?) littered on the floor of the engine compartment. The spark plug closest to me (in the cockpit) was blown right out of the head.
I knew this was not a good thing. I called my local Yamaha dealer, and he said to bring it in to have a look. I brought the boat up and he couldn't believe what he saw.
The boat is just out of it's one year warranty. I'm waiting to get an estimate to get the boat fixed. The dealer has determined that the oil pump failed and that the engine was operating a fast RPMs at the time of seisure. Yamaha has offered to pay for a new crankshaft (around $900). I'm told to rebuild the motor parts and labor would run upwards of $10K. To have them put in a new Yamaha 'longblock' would cost around $4K.
I would like to explore other options - especially if Yamaha can't help out any more than they offered. I'm considering a rebuilt engine. I consider myself fairly mechanically inclined. Is this something I can do myself ? My two concerns are engine alignment (shims, etc ...) and carburetor adjustment.
Anyone that can offer any assitance would be greatly appreciated.
(Sorry for the length of this post, but I felt it was important to get out all the info to get back quality repsonses)
Thanks much,
Tom Kelly
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