Yam F250 Service

[HOTSPOT]

Yes sir. No one touches his pricing and service.

[petrel]

Yes, Yes, I am just getting around to starting this project! The parts from Andy have been sitting next to the front door for two weeks.

Hopefully, just one more question. Andy at Shipyard recommended that I remove the lower engine covers and drain the engines instead of pumping the oil out. Has anyone else ever done that? Any things to look out for?

[Florida R227]

If you drain the oil out the lower drain plug and the oil is warm, prepare for the oil to jet out a long ways. I had my oil drain tray sitting under the engine and the oil completely missed it for the first couple of seconds (until I could move it) making a huge mess of my driveway. Also I've read that you need to be very careful screwing the plug back in to ensure that you don't cross-thread it. I think that goes for all the screws on these engines since they all screw into aluminum.

[petrel]

thanks for the warning!

[anchorout]

thanks for the warning!

And tilt the engine(s) up a little and turn them as if you were going to starboard. This will get a little more of the oil out.

Draining them instead of pumping gets more residual dregs out (should any be present).

[cracker]

I always pump out my oil then every other time at the end I undo the drain plug to get the last little bit out.

[petrel]

Ok, did what I could of the 200 hr service today. Thrust washers tied me up for a half an hour a piece.

Had all my stuff laid out along with the torque specs when I discovered that my torque wrench would not go below 25 ftlbs! So, I just winged it on everything but the props (the wrench worked for them) and the sparkplugs (I'll buy a smaller torque wrench for the plugs tomorrow.)

I could not remove the fuel filter bowls in the engine. Andy sent a wrench that looked like it was made for them, but it was too small. Could not open them with a big wrench on the nut at the bottom either!

Removing the lower unit side panels to drain the crankcase oil went smoothly. However, anyone who hasn't done it before, learn from my mistake. There are two little nuts slipped into the port lower unit cover which will fall out when you trim the motor up. My nine year old picked the first pair up out of a gravel driveway!

Getting those @#*! oil filters off was a real goat.....rope. Thank goodness for someone's suggestion of stuffing a diaper under the filter. The ziplock over the filter helped, but I ended up with more oil in the diaper. I believe if I ever had the pleasure of meeting the engineer responsible for that oil filter layout, I could get his pinhead stuffed in that hole!

Things I learned: Trimming the motor up and down while turned hard to port and starboard gets more oil out of the crankcase. The Blitz 15qt oil drain pans work great for catching the oil from the crankcase and the lower unit. Andy at shipyard takes very good care to be sure you have everything you need. A little Makers Mark makes the second oil filter come out a whole lot more easily than the first.

Still have the plugs, onboard filter, and waterpumps left. Thanks to all for the sage advice and expert guidance!

[Jup31]

Here is a good post from the FS Forum on doing your own F250 service.

http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/thread?id=763946

[delboatdr]

Being a Yamaha tech for twelve years now, it amazes me how many people are willing to take a gamble and not have their engines serviced by a highly trained professional. Not saying that the average boat owner is not capable of changing their oil, but 100hour service intervals are alot more than the fluid change. Tourque checks, timing belt and tensioner, compression test and how about running computer diagnostics to check for unseen issues. You can also rest assured that when a Yamaha outboard goes to the dealer for service, it's serial number gets run through their dealer system and automaticaly checks for recalls and updates. The amount of comments alone about sucking the oil through the dipstick hole are scary. Remeber that all the crud ends up in the bottom of your engine where your drain plug is. If you "suck" it out, you are leaving debris in your engine and might as well not have even changed the oil. You also only want to use Yamaha oil, biggest cause of power head failure on their four strokes I have seen is from the wrong oil being used. Marine oil has specific corrosion inhibitors that shelf and auto oil do not use. Youwill aslo find that if you have a problem later down the line and have dealer records, Yamaha will almost always step up to the plate, even if the warranty has expired.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not trying to discount do it yourself boaters. At upwards of close to 30k for some new outboards, saving yourself a hundred dollars is not worth it in the long run.

Just my two cents.