Considering 2002 Yamaha F200 With New Powerhead; Bad idea?

mudley

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Feb 17, 2006
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I'm looking at a Hurricane deck boat with a 2002 Yamaha F200 that recently had the powerhead replaced. The engine is claimed to have had low hours and erratic use before the powerhead failed (on a sea trial to sell the boat!). Yamaha replaced the powerhead under warrantee. I've read some older posts about a similar problem with a Yamaha 4-stroke. I'm trying to understand if this is a common problem in Yamahas of this vintage.
 

rodbolt

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Sep 1, 2003
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Re: Considering 2002 Yamaha F200 With New Powerhead; Bad idea?

nope<br /> usually its due to neglect cause its got no hours.<br /> I just went through this on a 99 200 2 stroke with 126 hours on the clock. died due to a bad pump impeller, wear plate and cup showed no wear at all the impeller just dryrotted and failed but even with the alarm sounding and the ign in speed reduction the man ran it till it locked up.<br /> was in no way a yamaha failure.<br /> the F200 and F225 actually have a very good track record if the maint is done on the fuel and cooling systems. way more critical than oil changes.<br />even more critical to boats that are unused for extended periods.<br />ya think a nascar driver would head off for a race with 18 month old gas? why should a high performance motor like the F200/225 do any better?<br /> biggest thing to find is why did that powerhead fail? was it a reciprocating failure or cylinder head failure?<br /> but overall they work well.
 

mudley

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Feb 17, 2006
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Re: Considering 2002 Yamaha F200 With New Powerhead; Bad idea?

rodbolt, thanks for the advice. I will inquire on the failure mode. I'm interested in the significance that you attach to one failure mode versus the other (i.e. reciprocating versus cylinder head). I would think that both would be addressed by a new powerhead, but perhaps a reciprocating failure might be indicative of some underlying issue in the lower unit.
 

rodbolt

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Sep 1, 2003
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20,066
Re: Considering 2002 Yamaha F200 With New Powerhead; Bad idea?

nope.<br /> it would be indicative of an oil system failure, overheat or fuel. burned valves are normally fuel, cracked heads are normally overheat and crank/rods/pistons are oil/overheat normally.<br /> the ECU will contain total hours of operation and its not ressttable. will show how much run time the ECU has total regardless of powerhead changes. if it has not been cleared it will also record alarm codes.
 
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