Yamaha F225's- What to look for

I'm considering a pair of F225's to repower my Mako 253 with. The motors in question are 01'/02' that came off of a charter boat in Northern California and have approximately 2000hrs. One had a new power head by Yamaha at 1750 hrs. I believe they were part of a motor program and were maintained regularly by a dealer and were reportedly running great when Yamaha gave the charter a new set of 250's. These are about 5hrs away from me so I was considering paying a yamaha mechanic (I am familiar with his work & have confidence in his ability) in the area, but would rather inspect them myself. they're are not installed, but are on racks so I would have to connect a battery and don't think it would be pratical to run them. Here is what I was planning on doing:

1. Scan the computers with my laptop (will have to buy or borrow software) to see RPM ranges, hours etc...

2. Compression test and inspect plugs

3. Drain the lower units to inspect the fluid.

4. Check motor oil

5. Pull the lower unit and prop to inspect.

6. Check for waterleaking into exhaust (I don't know where or how to look for this)

The mechanic will charge about $400-$600 for this & I could buy the software and still save $ for my time if I go this route. I am very familiar with marine 2-strokes but have limited experience with 4-stroke outboards.

What else should I look for?

Would it be reasonable to expect another 1000 hours (probably 5 years for me) out of these?

How difficult are the powerheads to rebuild (Ive done 3 2-strokes & mulitple EFI car engines) should I have a failure?

Sorry for the long winded post :% but any help or further info on these would be greatly appreciated!

Re: Yamaha F225's- What to look for

F225 are 4 strokes
throw out the compression test and do a leak-down
the computer program u can get for under $400, it is the cable that cost a ton

and do the rest of Ur test and u should be fine

Re: Yamaha F225's- What to look for

JUSTINTIME said:

F225 are 4 strokes
throw out the compression test and do a leak-down
the computer program u can get for under $400, it is the cable that cost a ton

and do the rest of Ur test and u should be fine

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

There are a few places you can get the software kit (cables etc) for around $350... Boats.net sells the software for $69 but I have not gotten a quote on the cable yet from them.

Why would the compression test not work on a 4 stroke? Ive been doing them for years on 4 cycle motors and can't see whay it would'nt work on a 4-stroke OB. The problem with leakdown is that it doesn't test the full stroke of the cyl, just whatever postition the piston is in during the test (usually close to TDC), so scoring in the lower cyl may not show up. Maybe I'm just missing something with the OB 4-stroke.

Thanks!

Re: Yamaha F225's- What to look for

leak down will show u
-worn rings
-worn intake seats, valves
-worn exhaust seats, valves
-head gasket

compression will only show u compression, if u do not hold it at wot and take out all the spark plugs the reading will be way off

when rodbolt chimes in i think he will agree