Are you talking about replacing both with new? I would do both just for the peace of mind, you take this boat out a good distance.

If so can you sell the one running one off to offset some of the cost?

Also how about those guys/gals with 5 of those 500hp outboards on the back!

This. For offshore work, I want two reliable units.

Yes both engines will be replaced. And the old ones are worth something. And yes if I didn’t go out so far I would just be replacing the damaged one with a used one.

Still waiting for a couple of quotes. And trying to do some research to help with deciding which brand to go with.

My uneducated $0.02 is that I would use the Toyota Camry approach. What do you see day in/day out everywhere you turn?

I’m guessing it would be Yamaha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just went through the same exact thing with mine. Took water in my two lower cylinders on my port side Yamaha 200s. Motors are mid 90 2 strokes. Was super pissed because of how good they ran.

Just replaced them with a set of used 2006 200HPDI Yamahas. Scored a real good deal on them. Low hours, seemed to be well maintained. I just rigged one this weekend, hopefully get the other on tomorrow.

.

Honest question, if the engine in question was roached after only 575 hours, how can we assume that the new ones will have 3 to 4 times the service life?

Maintenance.

It's a crap shoot how the engines were maintained by prior owners..

I grew up around boats, and learned from my father (lifelong Boater) how critical regular maintenance is.

Though I'm currently boatless.. My last boat was a 21' Grady C/C with a Yamaha 200HP two stroke.

Aftermost uses when I got back to the dock, I'd tilt the engine up fit the clamshells, and fresh water flush the cooling system..

Every off season I would:

Change the plugs,
Change the impeller
Change the gear oil in the lower case.

Fog the engine before storage..

Full tank with Stabil.. so no condensate in the fuel..

So many boats are used hard and put away wet.

This, maybe the previous owner didn’t bother to flush the engines after use, or change the anodes when they needed. Or maybe the head would have corroded anyway, but it took 17 years. The engines were not used a lot prior to my purchase, but I bought the boat from a guy from west palm beach that lived on Flagler and the boat was kept on a lift.

I’ve put 80 hours on the engines this year, so I imagine I’ll put 100-150 hours a year on the new engines. And believe me ill be flushing the engines after every use, I do now. And keeping up with the maintenance. I pretty much do everything now except changing the impellers, kind of hard to pull the lower units while it’s on a lift. But I’m going to look into that.

600hrs is pretty low, sort of the equivalent of 36000miles on a motorcycle engine. Was the $15k rebuild price for the entire unit or just engine? How did water get in the cylinder?

My understanding is the heads can corrode and cause a pin hole leak. Or maybe the gasket just failed. Hard to know without tearing into it, and that cost money.

Rebuild is just for the power head.

My 200HP Merc blew up because there was water in the gas.
It happens.

I have been pondering the same. 2016 Yamaha 115 on a lift.

Any idea how much a lower unit weighs?

What is your cruise RPM? I have 2 friends that strongly suggest I keep it under 4300 RPM for longevity. Perhaps PO kept the revs up?

Have you considered having the failed motor tore down to see what the problem was? may give you some insight into what could be done to the remaining motor to shore it up while rebuilding the failed one.

EDIT: My buddy has two offshore fishing boats and he hates his I/O one because the motor compartment takes up so much room in the fishing deck area.

I believe you need to be in the highest RPM's for the health of a motor. Prop selection with dictate WOT RPM's. Outboards do not like to be lugged.

Maybe 30-40# 50 at most.. they're easy enough to move and maneuver when separated from the powerhead..

On the Yamaha, there are 7 bolts that bolt the unit to the powerhead. 6 are obvious, one is accessible after you remove the anode..

If your boat is in a lift it would be easy enough to get a dinghy and drop it into the dinghy then get the unit ashore and swap the impeller..

An hour job at most.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4v2Bh_0CL3g" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I can't see doing this in a dinghy. Getting it off maybe. Putting it back in it can be a real bear. You push up. Dinghy goes down.

It goes back pretty easily... or use bolts to draw them together..

Ive pulled a lower off. with the motor tilted up with the boat in my dock. Not really hard to do. Think the lower is around 50lbs.

.

What were you doing when the engine failed? Steady cruse at 4000rpm or did you happen to go from wide open to idle quickly?