2018 Yamaha F250 questions

[BarkleySounder]

Hello,

I am looking for opinions on a used 2018 Yamaha F250 that has 2400 hours.

1200 hours were between 1-3000 rpm and 1246 hours were between 3-5000rpm as per the readout.

Engine has been dealer serviced and is up to date.

Question is, how much life can be expected to get out of one of these, and if there's any reason not to purchase it. Asking 7500 without controls.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Sea lyin’]

You’ll hear everything from it’s worn out to it’s barely broken in. I just had a 2014 90hp motor scanned at Kelowna Yamaha and the tech there told me the new fuel injected 4 strokes are good for 7500+. He’s seen more than one at 10,000. I don’t know why he’d want to mislead me so I believe him. Mine scanned out at 3300 hours and I’ll hold on to it before I let it go for less than $4k.

 

[Oceanmaster]

I think it would depend on which version of f250. If it’s a 3.3 litre there should be lots of life left, I have had several 3.3 f225’s go well over 5000 hours and still going strong. I would be leery of the 4.2 litre.

 

[BarkleySounder]

Thanks for the Input. I believe it's a 4.2L. What would cause you to be leery of one?

 

[Oceanmaster]

Thanks for the Input. I believe it's a 4.2L. What would cause you to be leery of one?

The guide fleet in Port Renfrew has had an abnormally high failure rate of the 4.2 thrust bearing issues.
Unlike the 3.3 which has steel cylinder liners the 4.2 has a high tec plasma coating that can’t be bored or honed so basically the block can’t be rebuil.

 

[pescador]

I’ve got a 2019 F250 4.2. Runs great, never an issue. I had a F 250 3.3 and it rusted out from the inside. I think with outboards it’s a function of age and hours. Young motor high hours probably not an issue. Old motor with low hours is probably riskier.

 

[Pineapple Express]

Yeah, like @pescador and other posters above have mentioned outboards have two parallel lifespans:

1. operating hours
2. corrosion life

I've worked in a marine industry for years, and one of our boats had a Yamaha F80 (carb) that had over 7,000hrs on it. But we were running it for 6-8-10 hours a day, every day of the week. A recreational boater will never get those kind of hours, and that's when corrosion takes over and kills the motor. Some engines (like the Yamaha 3.3L V6, and maybe the older Honda V6s) have design flaws that make the corrosion situation worse.

Sounds to me like the Yamaha 4.2L that you're looking at has been run as commercially. As long as the maintenance checks out I wouldn't be too scared of the hours. I believe it was early in the 4.2L run (like around 2009-2010) that they were having thrust bearing issues.

 

[dance a jig]

I’ve got a 2019 F250 4.2. Runs great, never an issue. I had a F 250 3.3 and it rusted out from the inside. I think with outboards it’s a function of age and hours. Young motor high hours probably not an issue. Old motor with low hours is probably riskier.

I also have a 4.2 liter F250 but mine is a 2018, and formerly had a 3.3 liter F250 of 2006 build. Both great motors, yet the 4.2 has way more torque. My hours are much lower on my 2018, but i would request to see all maintenance records to ensure requisite maintenance was done in addition to the regular changes of oil, filter, lower unit, but the 500 hour changes like internal engine zincs, VST filter, spark plugs, etc. Service paperwork can be an interesting read as to issues mechanics had to fix in addition to regular service. If you provide the serial number, Yamaha will tell you about when put into service and any warranty issues. I thought the hour range readout can show more definition than ___ hours between 3,000 and 5,000 but something like ___ hours between 3000 & 3500, ___ hours between 3600 & 4000, ___ hours between 4100 and 4500, and ___ hours between 4600 and 5000. This motor should have been propped to top out between 5500 and 6000 ish, otherwise you can damage an engine with lugging issues, which raised the question...."how many hours above 5000 RPM". As for engine hour potential, I thinks it is clear these newer generation 4-stokes have lifespans 3-5 times 2-strokes, but.....we just don't know. Binnicle control and ignition doesn't cost squat, yet command links can be spendy. I assume you will get wiring harness. I would be interested to know the "why they are selling" answer, and see if my BS meter sounds??

I believe a regularly run motor with high hours, with really good service intervals, with service done by pros can mitigate the high hours if you get a good discount in price. It sounds like the price is 25 cents on the dollar, so.... it really cant go much cheaper for something only 3 years old. You know the risks for buying used, but this could perhaps serve you well. If you sell the boat with this high hour motor, a new buyer would also raise well founded questions. Good luck. DAJ