Yamaha F150 Harmonic Balancers Noisy-Repost-$$$$$$$$$$$

[jimintheair3]

Decided to repost, thought it was very important and might have been pastover from bickering the other day. I also have more info.

I posted
Just had my yearly oil change /service twin Yam F150 2004. The mechanic stated "the harmonic balancers are noisy (loud) should be replaced. Has anyone had this happen. The balancer gears are plastic and will wear and create some noise, but what is the life of this part.
Thanks Jim

1 reply

I found more info:
After talking with several Yamaha shops/mechanics, this is a problem. Their was no recall, but Yamaha acknowledged they had a bad batch of Hamonic Balancers (it mounts on the block and is driven by the crank to keep the motor from shaking itself to death).

Yamaha has decided to have any certified mechanic (after hearing a loud whine) to call them. They then get the go ahead to inspect the oil for debris/particles and to inspect the Hamonic Balancer/gears for wear. The shop then takes pictures and emails them to Yamaha and they decide whether they are going to change the block also (excessive wear/damage from particles).
They are doing this in or out of warranty. I don't know if this pertains to all models, but if you were to pay for this, it's around $1000 Bucks per motor !

This is not advertised by Yamaha (obvious reasons) and some shops, mine on the West Coast did not know (some know out here/ some don't).

Two days later (today) my Yamaha certified shop called and Yamaha is going to replace both balancers, parts and labor no charge. $2000 bucks.
Whew, it pays to check around, thank you Andy on the East Coast.
Andy Munao
Yamaha Outboard Sales, Parts and Service
1-800-213-3323 parts@shipyardisland.com
mailto:andyjr@shipyardisland.com
Hope this helps someone else.
Jim

 

[ocdansar]

I just got through pullin the power head on my 01 ox66 250 yamaha because the balancer fell off my brother is a certified yamaha tech and said he had never seen this before, put on a new balancer and nut and hopefuly no long term problems.

 

[JUST-IN-TIME]

yep
you can catch it with debris on the flywheel

well known problem

 

[bad150]

i have2005 f150 with a bad harmonic balancer only 103 hours on motor. OUT OF WARRENTY, CALLED YAMAHA WAS TOLD THE SAME,they assume no libality. last yahama for me. I THINK WE ALL SHOULD BUY MORE AMERICAN PRODUCTS,

 

[cgmiller]

Jim,

I bought a 23 Gulfstream last fall with a pair of 2004 F150's with 900 hours. When I had the boat yanked for the winter and sent her is for a total service, I was told that the counter balancers were worn and creating noise..coming from 2 strokes, they sounded fine to me and ran good....I was told that they had to be replaced to keep the engines from blowing up....cost me $2400 each engine...

 

[Gman25]

My fathers 05 F150's had to be done last year(2 years out of warrantee)..yamaha picked up the parts/labor at zero cost to him..

 

[cgmiller]

Wow..I guess I need a new Yamaha Dealer..they did not offer any assistance or guidance aside from asking me to authorize the repairs....

 

[jimintheair3]

I also have a friend that has F150's four strokes and Yamaha replaced the balancers at no charge. Two months later the same mechanics said one was noisey. Yamaha said, "we only replace them once, we don't warranty the motors for ever!" My friend said,"if you have a bad batch of Harmonic Balancers, why would you not replace this one?" Parts are under warrranty for one year !!! Yamaha, "when we replace the part it is only warrantied for 30 days !"
No more Yamaha for me !!!!
Jim

 

[Roarque]

I hope Yamaha Outboard Motor Products is reading this thread.

This could become a case study at MBA Schools across America called "How to Lose a Corporate Reputation for Reliability".

Wake Up Yamaha - this is a product defect issue that has been ongoing since model year 2004 and was only resolved in 2010 when Yamaha finally produced a part that won't disintegrate and cause a catastrophic failure of an engine. The harmonic balancers have a gear tooth clearance defect that can result in the synthetic gear shedding its teeth into the oil sump of the engine and eventually causing a build up of the particulate that will block the oil ports in the sump thereby robbing the engine of lubricating oil.

I call that a product defect that should be handled by a product recall - forget the warranty gobbley-gook and change out the bad parts. Your reputation is at stake here. It costs 5 times as much to gain a customer with excellent marketing than it does to keep a customer with excellent service.

 

[CKJR]

a litte off this topic but my 2004 yamaha f225 with a corroded through block behind the thermostat, the best i got from yamaha was $500 towards a new short block!! the rest on me. 1.5 years out of warranty-manufacturing defect?

 

[timberxx]

I have (knock on wood) good luck with my Yamaha outboards, but after the 225 issue, and now the 150, I am going to take a hard look at another brand for my next repower.

I want a company that will stand behind their product.

 

[ayacht]

I have not had an issue yet knock on wood but it seems like more then a bad batch with the number of years it is being reported. A bad batch would only affect a certain # of engines from a specific year. It gives me great pause about Yamaha and they should take note of the bad press. I have 2 years left on my warranty but after that I guess it is a crap shoot. What is the replacement cost before a failure?

 

[Doc Stressor]

Only the earlier years (2004 and 2005) had the old style harmonic balancers.

Yamaha replaced one for me in a 2004 F150 in 2009 at no cost to me. I think that they handled this issue very well. The F225 exhaust tube corrosion thing maybe not so well. But since the corrosion problem only seems to affect engines used in saltwater and mostly in warm climates, a total recall was probably not warranted.

 

[Roarque]

I have owned three Yamaha F150s. Each engine came from a different year of manufacture. All three engines have been diagnosed by a Yamaha certified technician as having defective harmonic balancers P/N 63 P 11500 00 00. I have been told that every engine built before 2007 has the same harmonic balancer as mine. After that time a new P/N 63 P 11500 03 00 was used and Yamaha hopes the problem has gone away. The early harmonic balancer assemblies had synthetic gears with tolerances that were too close for the gears to last for an extended period of time without going into failure.

Yamaha has told their dealer network to look for this problem. A sound like a loose v belt - a screech - that won't go away is a sure sign of the problem and Yamaha will replace the first part with the second part at no cost to the customer. The warranty is extended to 6 years beyond the standard warranty and no more than 1000 operating hours for this problem.

Yamaha has not notified customers directly - like a product recall would require. As a result, owners learn about this problem from competent dealers and from the Internet sources like 'the hull truth'. Recently, I have talked with customer service reps from three large Yamaha dealerships who told me they were not aware of this problem. Really.

For those customers who change their own oil and gear case lube and their own zincs and filters which includes people who could put 600 + hours on the engine before a dealer "sees" the engine, this problem could result in shavings from the synthetic gear teeth dropping into the main oil sump of the crankcase over a period of time. These shavings, along with the fine dust from the gears could clog the exit port from the oil sump and rob the engine of its lubrication. An engine might last an hour running like that before the engine block would seize.

While I applaud Yamaha for the extended warranty, I question their decision to keep the problem so quiet that many registered customers could end up miles offshore with an engine that stops suddenly and will not start again. I question customer service reps who don't know or won't tell about a serious problem like this.

On the West Coast we like to say that it's a long way to Hawaii if your engine fails.

Caveat Emptor

 

[rogerspoint]

Yamaha engine balancer: the problem persists. I have a 2004 F150 with now 87 hours. The original harmonic balancer was replaced in 2008 with about 56 hours ( I do really abuse my engines) under extended warranty. Now same problem and no warranty. Spoke with John associated with Ben Speciale the president of Yamaha Marine who acknowledges no responsibility and basically did not stand behind his product. Told me clearly this was my problem as it was now my engine (you cannot make this up) and a lapsed warranty. Even tried to push the issue off to Japan of all things as they were only the national distributor (running from their product) I argued the problem was identified under warranty but not fixed appropriately so it was still their problem. I think we may need to push for an outboard "lemon law."Admitted there was a problem but no recall and that they have now discounted the part from the original price of $750.00 to $330.00 because of the issue (which is not their problem). Interesting Yamaha is now standing behind its new Brand Image of Reliability and celebrating two F150's with 6800 hours each (even purchased one of them back).. I cited the discrepancy in messaging if not frank distortion of the truth reading these posts. You can read this for yuorself at http://www.yamahaoutboards.com/yamaha-a ... eliability


Very disturbing trend but you can write Ben Speciale the President at ben_speciale@yamaha-motor.com

 

[rogerspoint]

I have owned three Yamaha F150s. Each engine came from a different year of manufacture. All three engines have been diagnosed by a Yamaha certified technician as having defective harmonic balancers P/N 63 P 11500 00 00. I have been told that every engine built before 2007 has the same harmonic balancer as mine. After that time a new P/N 63 P 11500 03 00 was used and Yamaha hopes the problem has gone away. The early harmonic balancer assemblies had synthetic gears with tolerances that were too close for the gears to last for an extended period of time without going into failure.

Yamaha has told their dealer network to look for this problem. A sound like a loose v belt - a screech - that won't go away is a sure sign of the problem and Yamaha will replace the first part with the second part at no cost to the customer. The warranty is extended to 6 years beyond the standard warranty and no more than 1000 operating hours for this problem.

Yamaha has not notified customers directly - like a product recall would require. As a result, owners learn about this problem from competent dealers and from the Internet sources like 'the hull truth'. Recently, I have talked with customer service reps from three large Yamaha dealerships who told me they were not aware of this problem. Really.

For those customers who change their own oil and gear case lube and their own zincs and filters which includes people who could put 600 + hours on the engine before a dealer "sees" the engine, this problem could result in shavings from the synthetic gear teeth dropping into the main oil sump of the crankcase over a period of time. These shavings, along with the fine dust from the gears could clog the exit port from the oil sump and rob the engine of its lubrication. An engine might last an hour running like that before the engine block would seize.

While I applaud Yamaha for the extended warranty, I question their decision to keep the problem so quiet that many registered customers could end up miles offshore with an engine that stops suddenly and will not start again. I question customer service reps who don't know or won't tell about a serious problem like this.

On the West Coast we like to say that it's a long way to Hawaii if your engine fails.

Caveat Emptor

I really wish this had been my experience today at the highest levels of Yamaha there was no acknowledgement of the problem it is clearly mine. No extended warranty, not a no cost replacement (now for the second time) and you can have no confidence the first repair will work. But you can buy the next balancer for only $330.00 plus labor. Rogerspoint :roll:

 

[CKJR]

Yamaha also let me down with my 2004 f225. one block (570 hrs) had a corrosion hole from inside out just behind the thermostat. i flush every time & change all the zincs/anodes. The warranty ended 1.5 years ago. they gave me a token $500 for a new powerhead. I also had to replace the corroded exhausts which is common to the f225. All my pleading with the reps and above got me no where. They were doing me a favor with the $500. So yes i am not happy with the company & their public relations!!!!!