BEWARE of SBT MOTORS !!!<br /><br />I GOT BURNED
. Dont let it happen to you!<br /><br />I found out the hard way, after ordering and paying for an SBT motor that SBT in Fla has been consistently providing inferior products to their customers for years now. I am basing this accusation on my own personal experience and the feedback that I have received from Seadoo professionals since. There are quality re-builders out there but unfortunately SBT is not one of them. To make matters worse, SBT has no intention of taking care of the customer when their inferior product blows. <br /><br />My Story - <br /><br />I purchased a Seadoo 951 motor from SBT in June 2004. I had it shipped directly to the local Seadoo Dealership and installed by the dealership. At the time, the Service Manager warned me that they NEVER-EVER recommend using SBT motors because they had had so-ooooo many past problems with them. So - I left the Dealership, just praying that maybe I got lucky and received a decent motor - I wasnt so lucky.<br /><br />We took our kids out on the Seadoo 2 times in 2004. Being very careful, because it was in the break-in period. The Dealership had set all the carb settings accordingly. We did not take it back for the 10 hour service that summer because we never reached the 10 hours of useage.<br /><br />This summer we took it out the 1st of the summer and reached the 10 hour mark. So the next week I took the Seadoo to the dealership and had them do the 10 hour service. They did the service but noted on the work order that the motor was noisy. So, once again I left the Dealership concerned.<br /><br />We took the Seadoo out two more weekends and the 2nd weekend it seemed to be running kind of rough, so I took it back to the Dealership. I got a call from the Service Manager on my cell phone and he advised me that the motor was extremely noisy and it was due to bad crankshaft bearings. He also advised me he checked the records from when they 1st installed the motor and that the new motor had a total of only 16 hours on it and it was likely to blow at any time! Basically, the motor had lasted 3 trips to the lake!<br /><br />At this point I called the SBT warranty department, and was advised that I was out of luck - the motor was two months out of the 12 month warranty. I told the lady in the warranty department surely the owner of the company would make an exception since the motor only had 16 hours on it since it was installed. She said she didnt think it would make any difference. I insisted that I wanted to talk to the owner. She refused to give me the name of the owner of the company. (Big red flag right there). She told me that I could send an email to the warranty Dept and she would forward it. I sent her an email with all the above details as well as the following
.<br /><br /> I could not believe that we had barely used the Seadoo and now were stuck with a bad motor, with no support from SBT. I am hoping that you will reconsider and make an exception because all work was performed and documented by the local Seadoo Dealership and the fact that it was ridden very little and has only 16 hours on the motor.. The Seadoo dealership will be glad to fax all work orders and documentation to support this.<br /><br />I own a business myself. We sell and service electronic radio equipment. There are occasions when I make the decision to cover things that are out of warranty. I will make case by case judgments in cases like this - if the facts warrant a closer look. We make our decisions based on what is fair and right to the customer.<br /><br />Anyhow almost a month has passed with no response from the owner or anyone at all from SBT. I called the lady in the warranty dept after a week to make sure she had received my email and she advised me that she had and had forwarded it to the owner of the company. <br /><br />So after a month, it is obvious, the owner of SBT has no intentions of contacting me or standing behind his/her product. I guess they know the level of quality they are providing and just dont care. Based on their track record it sounds like all the motors that they ship out are rebuilt with inferior parts and are destined for early failure. <br /><br />I made a huge mistake by ordering a motor from this company. <br /><br />Dont make the same mistake!!!<br /><br />Steve <br />Buford Georgia
They replaced the engines no questions asked. If you dont use your skis much then you should fog the engines between use.<br />There is water sitting in them, if your in salt water even worse. If you dont do that you should start them once a week.<br />Sorry but Seadoos arent the best skis to own either, I had a few and I was constantly having to fix them. not so with my other skis.