Yamaha 150 balancing shaft issue bit me

[Olde School]

Sad to report that the motor on the new to me boat I bought in February has failed.
THE major reason for my decision to purchase THIS boat was the 2007 Yamaha 150 had only 240 hours.
A week ago the harmonic balancer went. It should be repair worthy but that will take weeks and close to $5K.
I have been lucky and found another much newer Yamaha 150 but with much higher hours, and had it installed.
The plan is to resell the high hour unit when my low hour unit is repaired.

I will typically research the crap out of any significant purchase, but didn't this time, instead just trusting that Yamaha mostly made good motors, and this model had been around virtually unchanged for many years. NOW when I research it, the balancing shaft is quite an issue.

No real point to this post, other than to whine to a bunch of peers who will feel my pain ;-)
Boating is not for the financially challenged!

 

[Rayvon]

I bought a new harmonic balancer and changed it out myself.Pretty straight forward ,I'm not a mechanic.I believe it cost me about $700 a couple of years ago.

 

[pescador]

Just proves that low hours can mean nothing. And high hours might not be a problem. I’m convinced motor condition is a formula of age of motor almost exclusively. Low hours means Dick. Im feelin your pain, my 700 hour F225 Yam blowed up real good on the west coast on a trip 4 years ago. It had been maintained meticulously by a dealer from day one. Had the exhaust issue fixed and all. Really screwed things up for one of my trips.

 

[ship happens]

I do belive that the balancer is about a 700 dollar part. Not that big of a deal to change







Spare engines are also nice to have. I try and roll with one on the shelf and one on the boat for that downtime if things happen. Everything breaks at some point

 

[profisher]

Sounds like a shop is making more than good profit in labour to do this job if he was quoted $5k and the part is $700.00. Unless more damage occured by the failure.

 

[noluck]

Sounds like a shop is making more than good profit in labour to do this job if he was quoted $5k and the part is $700.00. Unless more damage occured by the failure.

the only thing is to go down to the sump and clean out the gear material, but that is not a big job

 

[Rayvon]

I bought the balancer out of the US and it was about $700 all in 3 years ago.Locally it was $900+ and taxes.I used Seawings for shipping agent.I did mine before it went,it is less than an hours work to change out.

 

[Coyote Spooner]

Not to derail this thread about the Yamaha 150. But it seem like Yamaha has lots of inherent issues with their motors these days. They used to be the gold standard for outboards. How are Suzuki’s and Merc these days?

 

[JohnS]

Not to derail this thread about the Yamaha 150. But it seem like Yamaha has lots of inherent issues with their motors these days. They used to be the gold standard for outboards. How are Suzuki’s and Merc these days?

Lol that's definitely not true.. all motors have some issues.. ask most marine mechanics and they'll tell you the Yamaha 150 is probably the most reliable engine ever made

 

[scott craven]

Not to derail this thread about the Yamaha 150. But it seem like Yamaha has lots of inherent issues with their motors these days. They used to be the gold standard for outboards. How are Suzuki’s and Merc these days?

Seems they had 2 major problems, the 150hp with the balancer
and the 225/250 with the exhaust issue.
Other than that, most people seem pretty happy with their Yamaha's.

 

[Rayvon]

If the engine failed it would be because the fibrous material from the balancer wear plugged the oil channels and the engine would overheat/starve for oil,so it could be an expensive fix for sure.Best to change them out before that happens,great motors otherwise.Yamaha should have had a recall on them and the corrosion exhaust problem too.I've owned a few of the 150 and 225 Yamaha's with no problems for years when maintained.

 

[Coyote Spooner]

Seems they had 2 major problems, the 150hp with the balancer
and the 225/250 with the exhaust issue.
Other than that, most people seem pretty happy with their Yamaha's.

I seem to recall the older 300-350 had a flywheel that would grenade and take the whole power head with it.
My 2 year old T25C, had a new cylinder head after year 1. Dealer wouldn’t tell me why. He said Yamaha was tight lipped as to why. Kinda like they knew there was a problem they were aware of? I’ve always been. Yamaha guy, but considering other manufacturers in the future. Just want to know if Suzuki and Merc have issues these days? Merc seems to be on the cutting edge of advancements in outboards.

 

[pescador]

I seem to recall the older 300-350 had a flywheel that would grenade and take the whole power head with it.
My 2 year old T25C, had a new cylinder head after year 1. Dealer wouldn’t tell me why. He said Yamaha was tight lipped as to why. Kinda like they knew there was a problem they were aware of? I’ve always been. Yamaha guy, but considering other manufacturers in the future. Just want to know if Suzuki and Merc have issues these days? Merc seems to be on the cutting edge of advancements in outboards.

350's, not 300's from what i've heard. I think they are different blocks.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Not to derail this thread about the Yamaha 150. But it seem like Yamaha has lots of inherent issues with their motors these days. They used to be the gold standard for outboards. How are Suzuki’s and Merc these days?

When Yamaha started to be sold here everybody thought they were perfect. It just takes time in the market for problems to start. I really do not think they are any better or any worse than the other brands.

 

[ship happens]

Lol that's definitely not true.. all motors have some issues.. ask most marine mechanics and they'll tell you the Yamaha 150 is probably the most reliable engine ever made

 

[profisher]

There are lots of Yami 150's out there with many more hours on them then I would believe...4000 plus. You just have to treat the balancer like a timing belt on most cars, change it when it is recommended to do so...especially on inference engines...or risk major repairs and downtime.

 

[Olde School]

Not to derail this thread about the Yamaha 150. But it seem like Yamaha has lots of inherent issues with their motors these days. They used to be the gold standard for outboards. How are Suzuki’s and Merc these days?

I came soooooooooo close to pulling the pin on a Merc 150. SOHC and almost 3000cc. Can't argue that.

 

[TinnyTime]

Sad to report that the motor on the new to me boat I bought in February has failed.
THE major reason for my decision to purchase THIS boat was the 2007 Yamaha 150 had only 240 hours.
A week ago the harmonic balancer went. It should be repair worthy but that will take weeks and close to $5K.
I have been lucky and found another much newer Yamaha 150 but with much higher hours, and had it installed.
The plan is to resell the high hour unit when my low hour unit is repaired.

I will typically research the crap out of any significant purchase, but didn't this time, instead just trusting that Yamaha mostly made good motors, and this model had been around virtually unchanged for many years. NOW when I research it, the balancing shaft is quite an issue.

No real point to this post, other than to whine to a bunch of peers who will feel my pain ;-)
Boating is not for the financially challenged!

Was your harmonic balancer making the terrible whining noise before it failed ?

I also have an 05 F150......
it's had the harmonic balancer replaced at some point in its life...
but I don't think it was replaced with the very latest revision of the part (based on the stamp marks), ... and the deicsion to replace it again is weighing on me.

 

[TinnyTime]

Hey, I'm still really wondering, ....
was your harmonic balancer making a bunch of noise before failure ? it's usually a high pitched whine

 

[Olde School]

Hey, I'm still really wondering, ....
was your harmonic balancer making a bunch of noise before failure ? it's usually a high pitched whine

Motor was new to me so I didn't notice any unusual noise.