Local Grady White Dealer will not work on my Outboard

[Toothpick 10]

When I bought my 2002 GW Islander a few years ago from a broker, I thought that I was lucky to have a GW dealer less than 10 miles from my house and marina. However, this doesn't seem to be the case. I emailed them the other day and asked them if they could clean and test the fuel injectors on my original Yamaha 250 hp OX66 and give the motor an overall tune-up. The motor had been idling a little rougher than usual lately. I thought that this service request would be a good way to build a relationship with this dealer.

The email response that I received back from the dealer was quite surprising and seems to be a bit of an odd business practice. They said: "With the exception of existing customers, we do not service motors older than 10 years." Is this typical for other Grady White dealers?

I cannot imagine any Ford, GM, Honda, or other automobile dealer ever refusing to work on your car if you did not buy if from them and it was over 10 years old. I did respond to their email by saying that I expect to either repower my existing boat or purchase a larger Grady White in the next few years and I would not be visiting their dealership for either of these items. I included one of the owners in my email but did not receive a response.

I'm curious if others have ever had a similar experience.

 

[Fishtales]

Not sure, but that sux. You'd think dealers would want to develop relationships hoping to get future business. Seems like that dealer is living large off his existing customer base or worse confusing a transaction with a relationship. I'd send GW a note via their customer service and move on to a local mechanic. I'd go down and talk to a mechanic directly on the QT and see if they want side work.

 

[Doc Stressor]

Maybe it's a New England thing. I bought my first Grady in 1975 from a dealer in New York. I kept it in Niantic Connecticut, which had a Grady dealer right on the river. They told me they would only service boats and engines for their own customers. They softened that policy a year later when the economy went south during one of the oil crises.

But more recently in Florida, since the boating scene has gone nuts during Covid, many dealers are too busy to service any boats except for their own customers.

I can understand the hesitancy of servicing older motors. Parts are getting really hard to find these days causing delays that customers blame on the dealer.

There must be independent outboard mechanics in your area. Those guys are more flexible and will cost you less than having your motor serviced at a dealership.

 

[family affair]

When times are good, a dealer can be selective. When times are bad, they will bend over backwardsnfor every dollar.
Yes, I have heard and experienced the same issue and I understand the position of the dealer. Most 10+ year old outboards can be a disaster. For the minority who take good care of their engines, we get lumped together with the masses.
There are plenty of good, reputable independent mechanics that will take on work. My local West Marine has 2 fantastic mobile guys who are great to deal with. Ask around.

 

[PointedRose]

Agree with others. It’s a consequence of a lot of demand at the beginning of the season, and probably a skilled labor shortage at the dealer. You can probably do the service yourself, learn a bit about your engine in the process.

 

[Ky Grady]

Agree with the others on this. I was in the industry a few years back and we wouldn't work on the older stuff either. It's like opening a can of worms on a older motor. Go to fix one thing, two other things break due to age, while accessing the original problem. An independent guy will possibly work on older stuff, but again, parts availability may be an issue for him as well on old stuff. Good luck. Maybe learn to work on it yourself. I pulled my own injectors off and sent them out to be cleaned. Check all filters, fresh plugs, clean fuel, may help your running issues.

 

[Legend]

A bit further of a drive but GW dealer Bayside Marine in Duxbury works on the older motors. Yamaha and Hondas are serviced.

 

[Toothpick 10]

Agree with the others on this. I was in the industry a few years back and we wouldn't work on the older stuff either. It's like opening a can of worms on a older motor. Go to fix one thing, two other things break due to age, while accessing the original problem. An independent guy will possibly work on older stuff, but again, parts availability may be an issue for him as well on old stuff. Good luck. Maybe learn to work on it yourself. I pulled my own injectors off and sent them out to be cleaned. Check all filters, fresh plugs, clean fuel, may help your running issues.

It's not like we are talking about a 1964 Johnson here. It's a 19 year old Yamaha, and there are still plenty of parts available. I have done all of my own work on this motor so far including: thermostats, spark plugs, low pressure fuel pumps, VST filter, internal anodes, O2 sensor, and cartridge fuel filter. I'm somewhat more apprehensive about working on the injectors since they also deliver lubrication. If one of them is replaced incorrectly, it seems that you could permanently damage the motor.

It just seems like an odd business practice to me. It's not like I'm asking them to work on a 1984 Sea Ray with a Mercury Tower of Power bolted onto it. Someone with an older Grady is probably going to be looking for a newer one soon. Relationships usually matter in business. I guess business must be great in the boating industry now and they can afford to pick and choose.

 

[Weso]

There probably a plug in and diagnose shop. They can only read check engine lights.

 

[MA208]

I probably know who you’re talking about. Had them service my previous Grady while under warranty until I found better and cheaper. If you can trailer you’re at a big advantage. Let me know if you need some names.

 

[NHAngler]

OP, if you are referring to the dealer in Middleton, you should reconsider ever going there. They screwed up my nephews yamaha outboard and left him literally dead in the water. Beyond the new parts milking of over 5k and 3 months they took to fix, they did not tighten down one of the new carbs they installed and fried a cylinder. On his post fix trial this happened and I saw the loose carb with one bolt hanging and another in the cowling. Everyone makes mistakes but they took zero responsibility for it. I felt bad as I told hi to go there but will never do business with them again.

Maybe this is why they don’t service older outboards anymore. They are too incompetent to tighten down carb bolts? Sorry for airing the laundry but they don’t deserve to be a part of the GW family. Have heard from other GW owners in the area of bad experiences there too.

Go north to port harbor marine or down to duxbury. They are both reliable dealers and don’t think they set limits on age.

 

[blindmullet]

I wouldn't want a plug and play dealer mechanic touching my motor. Find a local mobile marine mechanic.

 

[Salmondogs]

It's not like we are talking about a 1964 Johnson here. It's a 19 year old Yamaha, and there are still plenty of parts available. I have done all of my own work on this motor so far including: thermostats, spark plugs, low pressure fuel pumps, VST filter, internal anodes, O2 sensor, and cartridge fuel filter. I'm somewhat more apprehensive about working on the injectors since they also deliver lubrication. If one of them is replaced incorrectly, it seems that you could permanently damage the motor.

It just seems like an odd business practice to me. It's not like I'm asking them to work on a 1984 Sea Ray with a Mercury Tower of Power bolted onto it. Someone with an older Grady is probably going to be looking for a newer one soon. Relationships usually matter in business. I guess business must be great in the boating industry now and they can afford to pick and choose.

19 years is a very long time in the marine industry, and I can all but guarantee that Yamaha doesn't provide factory training support for the HPDI let alone the OX66. So there's a good chance they may not have any technicians that have any training or experience working on those engines.


This practice is becoming fairly common nowadays. Once an engine gets around that 10 year mark a lot of shops will charge an extra rate/higher price or not work on them all together due to nightmare situations like Ky Grady mentioned. At the shop I work at we are VERY leery of working on anything Optimax, let alone the older 2 stroke EFI's (we're a merc shop/dealer) as we have had some really bad situations where the customer has come in for something simple and ended up getting nickel and dimed to death as the repair progressed. The customer inevitably gets frustrated and sometimes its just not worth the hassle or the bad word of mouth. It's not their fault or ours it's just what happens sometimes when mechanical things in a marine environment get old. My advise would be to ask around for a knowledgeable independent guy that has a good reputation, or find another dealer that will work on them and make sure they have knowledgeable techs that are comfortable with them.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I'm sure busy dealers have more than enough to do with their new owner/warranty customers. I don't blame them for prioritizing and at least they didn't tell you yes and string you along and overcharge you. As mentoned, their guys are servicing and installing 4 strokes now. You are better off with an old timer or doing it yourself to keep cost down.
Would you take a 20 year old car to a dealer for service? I don't take my new car there unless its a warranty problem

If you've done VST filters you should not be afraid to pull the injectors and send them out. I did it, it was easy. loosened the fuel rail and they pop out. I used fuelinjectorman.com see thread OX66 -fuel injector man
Someone here said you can buy refurbished outright on eBay

 

[efx]

I think techs in the marine industry today are not trained to repair motors. They are only trained in basic maintenance. If the motor goes down for a reason, they are trained to sell
you a new one. Major repairs are the 20th century model of business. That being said my 2001 f115, my 2008 f115 and my 2019 f150s will be with me for a very long time. I’ll keep braking them down until I learn what each part does.

take those injectors of and send them to an injector shop or get a private guy and do a rebuild to replace gaskets, etc.

 

[PointedRose]

I think techs in the marine industry today are not trained to repair motors. They are only trained in basic maintenance. If the motor goes down for a reason, they are trained to sell
you a new one. Major repairs are the 20th century model of business. That being said my 2001 f115, my 2008 f115 and my 2019 f150s will be with me for a very long time. I’ll keep braking them down until I learn what each part does.

take those injectors of and send them to an injector shop or get a private guy and do a rebuild to replace gaskets, etc.

Great point on the mechanic training/experience. Every time I think maybe I’d hire someone for a minor thing, I think to myself, is the person actually working on it going to be smarter than me? Possibly. Will they care as much about my boat as I would? No. Would I learn through the process of messing around with it? Definitely.

don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the value of having a good relationship with a boat mechanic, but my loyal mechanic is in MA and I now live in CA and have a limited network, and an old boat… when I reached out to the Volvo Penta dealer who installed the engine in 2002, I also got no call back. Same with trailer servicers. Learning by doing for now until I can upgrade at some point.

 

[enfish]

My first thought was that was a (polite?) way of saying they don't have the capabilities of servicing older motors. Unlike the auto-makers you named, Grady-White is not manufacturing the motors they put on their boats, so getting Yamaha certification (and any other motor certification) is separate from being a Grady-White dealer. I don't know what the requirements are for being a GW dealer, so maybe it's required?

I've never taken my boat to get its motor serviced at the dealer from where it was bought. I've always taken it to the Yamaha shop a couple miles down the road.... Never had any issues with getting service, and my motor is older than yours...

 

[ScottyCee]

Someone here said you can buy refurbished outright on eBay

Yes, you can but now there are new ones for ~$5-6/cylinder. I have about 65 hours on mine with zero troubles. Related to FI that is.

ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/174576468854

Yamaha: https://www.partsvu.com/injector-as...0cun3hmOY4fodczwcWAKdfiiEGMx9T7hoC_s4QAvD_BwE

 

[kirk a]

Was talking to a slip neighbor and there is another aspect to it beyond supply and demand. Any new mechanic who is being trained, say at one of the schools, is not being trained on 2 stroke engines. The neighbor works at a shop, and mentioned a school in FL who did not teach winterization. A relatively large chunk of business in New England, but not needed in FL, obviously. Found it interesting.

 

[Parthery]

Guess I'm lucky....my local shop with a Yamaha master tech will happily work on my motor, and gets it fixed right the first time.

They have, however, stopped working on older OMC motors, (they were a Johnson dealer for many years) but that's because parts availability has become a big issue.