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  1. #1
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    Angry I blew up my 96 200hp Yamaha Pro-V and could use some advice

    Hello fellow BBC'ers!

    First I'd like to say that I'm a long time lurker first time poster and want to thank everyone who's shared their knowledge here from which I've learned much.

    A little background on my story.

    2 years ago I bought a used 96 Skeeter 200zx with a Yamaha P200TLRU in excellent overall shape. For being a 23 year old motor it was very hard running. It had 105-110 compression in all the cylinders and went 65mph GPS at 6k rpms with a 25m prop on a fully loaded and fueled boat with 2 people. After buying it for $9k I sunk another $8k in upgrades and a lot of my time to get it just the way I wanted.

    At the beginning of this season I did a decarb to it. Afterwards I took it out to the lake got her up on plane and once I got it above 3500rpm it overheated. So I waited till the alarm went away and limped it back to the launch. My first thought was water pump so I pulled the lower and replaced every part of it with a complete kit. Took it back out and had the exact same experience. Did some research and decided to replace the pressure control valve and thermostats. Took it back out and again it overheated. That time I noticed something odd which was air with water blowing out of the tell tale port. I also noticed during this whole thing that I started to lose top end. I did a compression test prior to decabing and all was good. I decided to do another one and this time the middle cylinder on the port side was at 80psi.

    After doing some more tests, I came to the conclusion that it was a head gasket. I pulled the head and sure enough that's what it was. So I went about replacing the head gaskets and water cover gaskets. I was pretty surprised that when I took the heads off, there was no discernable ridge on the cylinders. The Inside of the motor was in amazing shape. I really couldn't believe it was 23 years old. So I got it put back together and put it on the muffs to test it. I noticed right away that it sounded and idled much better. I was stoked and couldn't wait to get it back out on the lake.

    The next Saturday I took it out and started to put it through it's paces. It got up on plane faster and actually got up to 66mph. I figured done deal! I'm back in action. At the end of the day I was on my way back to the launch running at 50mph 5k rpm. My usual cruising speed. After a few minutes I noticed a different pitched sound coming from the motor. I turned my head to try and listen closer as I started to reach for the throttle. Then all of the sudden I heard what sounded like bee bees being shaken in a can. By then I was backing off the throttle and the next thing I know the motor came to a dead stop. It all happened in a matter of seconds. I tried to turn the key, and as you can imagine, the motor wouldn't turn over. It was seized.

    I started trying to figure out what happened. I remember reading a thread here by Skeeterstew where he blew his Yamaha from around the same year due to detonation and thought I may have been a victim of the same fate. I started pulling the plugs knowing pretty much what to expect. I got to the bottom plug on the starboard side and noticed it was loose and felt a little rough unscrewing it. Sure enough it had aluminum embedded in it. Next I pulled the head to see what the damage looked like hoping for the best.

    I got it off and the piston was at the top of the cylinder and a bunch of pieces of aluminum were in the top of the head. I was still hopefull things may not be too bad. I pushed on the piston and it started to move down in the cylinder, and then I noticed it was actually rotated in the head. Now I began to worry. I ended up having to drill a hole in the piston and put a screw into it to use some vise grips to pull it out. My fears were then realized. The piston separated from the rod, the wrist pin still in the rod with all the bearings gone had wedged itself into the upper exhaust port and bent the rod. I'd found the reason for my seizure. All the lower intake ports were filled with chunks of aluminum and needle bearings. My spirits continued to decline as I witnessed more of the catastrophic failure my motor had experienced.

    Finally I pushed on the rod to dislodge the wrist pin. After getting it out I moved the bent rod and immediately noticed that the bearings were missing from it as well. More bad news. I shop vacced out as much of the bits and pieces as possible so I could take a closer inspection of the cylinder. There were deep scratches from the wrist pin. Certainly more than could be cleaned up by boring it .30 over. That's about where I stopped since I knew the crank journal was very likely chewed up and the cylinder would probably need to be resleaved. I knew at that point it was unlikely I could rebuild it myself and was feeling pretty darn distraught.

    TL;DR
    My next step was to start weighing my options. Based on my budget, I figured my choices would be to get a remanufactered power head, buy a used motor off eBay or elsewhere, or try to get mine rebuilt from a good marine engine machinist. I've also thought about taking all the goodies I put on the boat after buying it and just trying sell it for whatever I could get and start looking for a newer boat. The wife doesn't like that last idea to much considering how much I've already spent.


    So I'd like to ask the good folks here what you all think about the options I mentioned above and maybe ones I haven't thought of. I'd also be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on why this might have happened. I took plenty of pictures and can post them if needed.

    One thing I noticed was some scribe marks scratched into the block that looked like a P and a V just above some stamped numbers. It made me wonder if this had already been a remanufactured powerhead.

    Anyways, sorry for the novel. Part of it was just cathartic for me to share my story with people that can understand my pain.

    Garth.
    Last edited by Tiptonite; 10-09-2019 at 11:20 PM.

  2. Member
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    #2
    https://www.hydrotecmarine.com

    They would be my first call if everything else is solid. It's not like a lower unit couldn't go out the next year, but a new SHO would get pricey. I hear they are hard to come by right now?

  3. Member
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    #3
    I know your wife will not want to hear this but you have 24 year old boat with a blown engine. Take your goodies off of it and sell it as is for what you can get for it.

    Do not repower it with a new engine unless you expect to keep it another 20 years as you will not recoup the money spent on a new engine if you decide to sell or trade it.

    Ask me how I know.

  4. Member
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    #4
    No reason to rush at this time of the season. I'd hunt for a nice used motor for awhile and see what's available.

  5. Member
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    #5
    n2ratfishin - Thanks for the recommendation. I have read threads that mention Chris Carson as doing good work too. He and Hydrotec seem to be the most popular builders here. At least in what I've been reading recently.

    1Holeshot - I totally agree with you on getting a new motor. I think around $10k is the most I'd consider (prefer it to be less) spending on a used motor. My concern there is the horror stories I've read about buying used.

    WisconsinF - That's a good point. Although I fish mostly northern pike so I'm missing out on one of the best times of the year to catch the donkeys.

    I've also read some bad stories about buying remanufacturered powerheads (ones used in saltwater, old parts being used, etc.), but it's the cheapest of all the options. If I can even find one.

  6. Member DrewFlu33's Avatar
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    #6
    I'd rebuild that sucker. Probably not what's on your mind after it blew up, but those things are some of the most reliable outboards ever made. It's also going to be the most cost effective option for getting you back on the water, short of maybe finding a good deal on a similarly aged motor that you know nothing about.
    2011 Skeeter ZX225
    225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
    Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
    Console: HDS 16 Carbon
    Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360

  7. Member
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    #7
    Another thought.. You might want to look for a used motor. With the new 4-stroke motors people are selling their two stroke motors. You might find a deal on a used Optimax. I purchased a new Optimax pretty cheap and put on my 2004 boat. Yes I know if I sell my boat I would lose money but I am not interested in paying $40K - $60k and up for a newer boat. My old boat does what I need it to do and I catch plenty of fish out of it. Now I have a fairly reliable motor on it.

  8. Member
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    #8
    Makes me nervous. I've got a 2000 ox66 225 vmax and I'm planning doing a decarb this winter.


    Maybe I shouldn't

  9. Member
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    #9
    Upgrading to a SHO is my recommendation if at all possible. Plus, right now Yamaha is offering a 6 year warranty on them.

  10. Member
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    #10
    Quote Originally Posted by DrewFlu33 View Post
    I'd rebuild that sucker. Probably not what's on your mind after it blew up, but those things are some of the most reliable outboards ever made. It's also going to be the most cost effective option for getting you back on the water, short of maybe finding a good deal on a similarly aged motor that you know nothing about.
    After reading on several forums, that was the impression I got about this motor. It certainly ran well while it worked, and I like how simple it was to work on. Reminds me of my old days turning wrenches on motors that didn't have the emissions and millions of hoses everywhere. You just had to worry about carburetion and ignition.

  11. Member
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    #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Jumping Jimmy View Post
    Another thought.. You might want to look for a used motor. With the new 4-stroke motors people are selling their two stroke motors. You might find a deal on a used Optimax. I purchased a new Optimax pretty cheap and put on my 2004 boat. Yes I know if I sell my boat I would lose money but I am not interested in paying $40K - $60k and up for a newer boat. My old boat does what I need it to do and I catch plenty of fish out of it. Now I have a fairly reliable motor on it.
    This idea and rebuilding are currently the two choices I'm considering the most given my budget. However, some people have told me the 4-strokes are more reliable. Wouldn't it cost more to get a 4-stroke that performs as well as a 2-stroke?

  12. Member
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    #12
    Quote Originally Posted by OverTimeAgain View Post
    Makes me nervous. I've got a 2000 ox66 225 vmax and I'm planning doing a decarb this winter.


    Maybe I shouldn't
    No need to be nervous. Those things need to be decarbed to run right. Just make sure and follow the directions of whatever product you use. I use a combo of seafoam and Yamaha decarber. In fact, to much carbon can cause detonation which is a killer. I tend to believe that my problem stemmed from the multiple overheats from the original blown head gasket. It was probably to much on an older motor.

  13. Member
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    #13
    Quote Originally Posted by keoweeskeeter View Post
    Upgrading to a SHO is my recommendation if at all possible. Plus, right now Yamaha is offering a 6 year warranty on them.
    I'd love nothing more than to slap a new 250hp SHO on there, but there's just no way I could afford it, and the point 1Holeshot made above really rings true. If I were to spend that much, I might as well put it into a "newer" used boat. I did just see a 2010 250 SHO sell on ebay for $10,995 the other day. Only had ~280 hours on it, but some of it was in saltwater.

  14. Member
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    #14
    Call Hydro Tech in Nixa MO, they can rebuild it and make a rocket ship out of it!
    2001 ChampioN 206 Yamaha 225

  15. Member
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    #15
    Quote Originally Posted by milligjg View Post
    Call Hydro Tech in Nixa MO, they can rebuild it and make a rocket ship out of it!
    That's 2 for Hydro Tech, and having a rocket ship sounds good to me!

  16. Member
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    #16
    Thanks to everyone for all your great feedback!!!

  17. Moderator 21XDC's Avatar
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    #17
    HT did me right...

    Marks Props 317-398-9294, 1850 East 225 South, Shelbyville, Indiana 46176 propellerman59@gmail.com http://www.marksprops.com/index.html

  18. Member
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    #18
    I'd rebuild it and HT would be my first choice to do it. Sounds like you've got a nice rig you are happy with otherwise. I'm running a 1999 Triton with a 150 carb V-Max. If mine blew I'd more than likely have it rebuilt. They aren't so great on gas but they are easy to work on and don't have a bunch of computerized stuff that can wreak havoc.

  19. Member
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    #19
    2001 ChampioN 206 Yamaha 225

  20. Banned
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    #20
    Let ht rebuild it you will thousands ahead and very happy in the long run.

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