SBT Motors

I bought a 787 engine in July 2008 which was installed by a certified Seadoo mechanic. I took it out for the first time and then engine lasted 15 minutes. The engine seized. Shipped it back to SBT and they replaced it. Engine #2 arrived. It had the wrong PTO on it. After a lot of phone calls and emails with pictures I shipped engine # 2 back on the condition that if I was wrong and it had the right PTO I would have to pickup all of the costs. Guess what I was right! Engine # 3 arrived in October 2008 and was installed by my mechanic and winiterized right away. Summer of 2009 I spend 10 hours just breaking in the engine. Summer of 2010 I got 2 hours on the engine and it blew up in the middle of a lake. The mechanic told me the engine was scrap and the fault was that SBT put cheap parts inside the engine. I called SBT but of cousrse they told me that it was out of warranty and I was I was SOL, but they would sell me another engine.

You can buy good rebuilt engines but SBT engine is not one of them. Beware if you do

Re: Beware of SBT Motors !!!

Re: Beware of SBT Motors !!!

Johnm63, please read the rules before posting. We welcome you to iboats and hope you become a longstanding contributor here, but we ask that you not post to threads that are inactive for 90 days or more unless you are the original poster. If you have a question, or something to add, please start a new thread. Thank you.

I started it for you.

Re: SBT Motors

We've install quite a few SBT engines and never had a problem. Usually the cause of a engine failure is due to a fuel related problem. You said you spent 10 hours on it in 2009 and it blew up after 2 hours in 2010. If a engine was going to fail it will happen within the first couple of hours. Was the carbs rebuilt when the engine was installed or did the mechanic just throw them back on? I wonder why you waited so long to post your complaint.

Re: SBT Motors

I bought a SBT engine for my Kawasaki STX1200 5 years ago. My original engine died from ingesting the contents of a fire extinguisher that came loose and discharged in the interior of the ski. The SBT replacement engine ran great and we had no problems with it until 2 years later, my wifes son beached it and packed the jet pump with mud, then went off for another ride and overheated it badly. By that time it was out of warranty and there were no hard feelings with SBT.....it was a dumb kid that ruined it. I agree with Capt Ken that failures are usually caused by a fuel related condition, such as too lean, or by a lack of lubrication.

Dont put yet another engine in that thing unless you make sure the fuel, lube, and cooling are all in good condition or you risk yet another rebuild.

Re: SBT Motors

ive heard good and bads with the sbt motor i personally bought one that had a sbt motor in it made a ton of noise tore it down found pistons good shape 89 mm and bore 90 mm the shops in my area will not use them just becasue they have had so many issues with them if im doing a rebuild on a motor i do it myself take the pistons with cylinders to the shop for the bore and do it that way if you google sbt motors they do have a lot of bad reviews so to me i stay away yea they are low cost engines but goes to get what you paid for