Anyone have a 330 with the 300 HPDI's? What has been your experience good or bad with these motors? Considering buying a pre owned 330 and it seems that the F250 boats are selling faster at higher prices while the opposite is true on the 300 HPDI boats. Some really great deals on 2 stroke boats out there but I don't want to save some money at the risk of having engine problems.
300 HPDI's on 330 Express
- Thread starter BottomLineNJ
- Start date
Capt Bill
GreatGrady Captain
The 250 and 300 hpdi have had a lot of major problems, and it is an engine that I would avoid. The 200 hpdi have proven to be reliable. There are tons of infor on the 250/300's, so do a google search, and you'll find out a lot.
When i had bought my 330, ihad the option of getting one with 300 hpdi. I asked the dealer if there is a big difference on the performance and he said yes, but he never pushed me to buy the 300 over the 250. I also knew about the problems they had, so i didn't even test drive the boat and bought the one with the 250's. She was an '07 and a great great boat she was, but i really like center consoles.
hpdi
i had that exact boat. it was great, fast, light and caught fish. the engines were replaced at 265HR by Yamaha, blew both power heads. used too much oil, but not too bad on fuel. in my opinion 250 HP is minimum for that boat. before i bought mine i spoke with a guy whom had the old 250's 66 and he said he needed every once of HP. just get the extended warranties!
i had that exact boat. it was great, fast, light and caught fish. the engines were replaced at 265HR by Yamaha, blew both power heads. used too much oil, but not too bad on fuel. in my opinion 250 HP is minimum for that boat. before i bought mine i spoke with a guy whom had the old 250's 66 and he said he needed every once of HP. just get the extended warranties!
If I could swing the cash difference I would go 4 stroke. The 3.1L Yamahas are a gamble. The 2.6L (200 & 150) are rock solid. I have heard horror storries, but a coworker of mine has a 250 with zero problems. Just depends on how "lucky" you feel.
I'm the one that bought black pearls old boat. Still have the 300 hpdi's on it. I've never had a problem with them. I think yamaha was able to figure out the problems but a little to late for anybody to want to buy one. If you have a choice I would go with the four stroke.
It's a shame the 250/300 HPDI problems, Yamaha's flag ship motor for several years.
I think they upgraded to second generation DI - improved on the design but limit it to the FW motor market, so called VMAX HPDI motors.
If they offered secoind genmeration in SW version, at least today people looking for 300 Yamaha ponnies would have a viable motor to buy, reminds me of similar issue with 200 HP range.
I think they upgraded to second generation DI - improved on the design but limit it to the FW motor market, so called VMAX HPDI motors.
If they offered secoind genmeration in SW version, at least today people looking for 300 Yamaha ponnies would have a viable motor to buy, reminds me of similar issue with 200 HP range.
Spoke to several Yamaha tech's and all said the major problems with the 300's was improper break-in and salt water intrusion. The salt water came in from transom mounted fish boxes or motors being too low on the transom. Also they have a tendency of loading up when trolled for ling periods of time. None of the tech's said to stay away from the motor if it checks out, ie compression test, computer dump and if it comes up to mid 5,000's rpm.
Anyone with real world experience care to comment????
Anyone with real world experience care to comment????
BottomLineNJ said:
Never heard of that. How water would go into the engine from the fishboxes?
All 25" motors sit at the same height on the transom, i don't understand that either. From what i heard from technicians was that the problem was the design of the motor and that's it. After some updates were done on the motor it was O.K, but i would not get one anyway.
Apparently the "kit" was to address the saltwater intrusion problem. Also, the motor mounting plates are adjustable and for some reason, the 300's sat lower in the water. I know the Verado's on the BW 305 Conquest sit a notch or two too low from the factory. Anyway, I agree, best to stay away unless you can steal one. Although, I must say, the 2 I have been on in the past couple of days sure ran nice with the 300's.
RUN RUN RUN away as fast as you can.....
I had a 2004 330 with the 300's, WORST Yamahas I owned ever. Dealer did at least 3 retro fits, constantly replacing fouled plugs, all sorts of issues, finally tore things apart and rebuilt broken cylinders, pistons, you name it. And I heard the new owner still had problems afterwards.
I had a couple of boats with 150 2 strokes, 250 Salt Water Series motors, reasonable, not great but reasonable. But the 300 HPDI's in my opinion are some of the top motors to avoid. Yamaha may have fixed them but not while I owned them, so IMHO, they are to be avoided.
I absolutely love the Yamaha 4 strokes, they are bullet proof IMHO, go there, no where else....
I had a 2004 330 with the 300's, WORST Yamahas I owned ever. Dealer did at least 3 retro fits, constantly replacing fouled plugs, all sorts of issues, finally tore things apart and rebuilt broken cylinders, pistons, you name it. And I heard the new owner still had problems afterwards.
I had a couple of boats with 150 2 strokes, 250 Salt Water Series motors, reasonable, not great but reasonable. But the 300 HPDI's in my opinion are some of the top motors to avoid. Yamaha may have fixed them but not while I owned them, so IMHO, they are to be avoided.
I absolutely love the Yamaha 4 strokes, they are bullet proof IMHO, go there, no where else....
Why do I have a feeling you will be getting such a discount in market price vs. the four stroke same boat model, that you can take the difference and repower with new power upon purchase, any stroke engine of your choice, with a 5 yr warranty.
Then instead of having no warranty old 4 strokes to contend with when they crap out, you start with new power under warranty.
New Power on old boat = new boat.
Nothing to run from, look for opportunities others pass up.
Then instead of having no warranty old 4 strokes to contend with when they crap out, you start with new power under warranty.
New Power on old boat = new boat.
Nothing to run from, look for opportunities others pass up.
BobP, that's my line of thinking. I could buy a 4 yr old 4 stroke boat and live with out of warranty engines or buy a 2 stroke boat for $40k less, sell the 300 HPDI's for $5,000 for the pair, re-power with brand new 250- 4 strokes for $35,000 and still be ahead of the game by having brand new fly-by-wire 250's with full warranties. There are a lot of boats at my dock with the HPDI's and you could count on one hand those that have had "major" problems. I may just buy the boat and run with the HPDI's and see what happens. They have warranties to 2011. I'll feel smarter with the $40k saved in my pocket, unless of course they crap out during an overnight in the Lindenkohl!
Bottom Line, you are the first in many an encounter who has a similar perspective on a situation as I do, with so many contrasting opinons stated.
A rare occassion indeed, made my day.
I'll go futher to say any 4-5 yrs old Grady that has been driven long and hard is a poor buy if remaining motor life and servicability of any stroke design is questionable, since the repowering cost will bring the final tally up to a brand new factory fresh boat, motors, and full warranties vs. zerio warranty.
Good reason to dump then at the 5 yr mark.
However, buyer beware.
A rare occassion indeed, made my day.
I'll go futher to say any 4-5 yrs old Grady that has been driven long and hard is a poor buy if remaining motor life and servicability of any stroke design is questionable, since the repowering cost will bring the final tally up to a brand new factory fresh boat, motors, and full warranties vs. zerio warranty.
Good reason to dump then at the 5 yr mark.
However, buyer beware.
I had the 225s and repowered with the 250s. Besides out of the hole no real difference in performance. The 250s burn a bit more fuel.
I do know a guy with the 300s on his boat and he has not had any problems. Maybe he is just lucky.
I do know a guy with the 300s on his boat and he has not had any problems. Maybe he is just lucky.
Murphy, once a reputation is estbalished, it's a tough nut to crack.
Yamaha redesigned the HPDIs to second generation for the fresh water market, but abandoned the saltwater market to 4 strokes only, that was their plan from day 1 for SW market.
The fW marketplace is also a tough nut for 4 strokes since added 100 plus pounds means a lot on a fw bass boat.
I'm sure Yamaha did you right, but many owners had problems from the onset, only with the big blockers, zero problems on the small block 150/175/200s.
Yamaha redesigned the HPDIs to second generation for the fresh water market, but abandoned the saltwater market to 4 strokes only, that was their plan from day 1 for SW market.
The fW marketplace is also a tough nut for 4 strokes since added 100 plus pounds means a lot on a fw bass boat.
I'm sure Yamaha did you right, but many owners had problems from the onset, only with the big blockers, zero problems on the small block 150/175/200s.