250 SHO - Water in oil

[_DJ]

I pulled my boat out of heated garage storage, static flushed it, put engine in tote of water and ran to heat up oil before changing it. Ran for about 1 min, slug of water/oil mix came out of throttle body! Shut engine off, pulled plug and found ~4 gallons of water/oil mixture.

Had no problem last year before putting it away. Boat is at dealer right now waiting to get looked at.

I did a bunch of looking on the net trying to find similar symptoms but didn't find anything concrete. Wondering if anyone on here knows/cares to speculate what happened? Is there a history of this with model year? Etc... Just trying to gather intelligence to be prepared for when the actual diagnosis comes though from the dealer.

VF250LA mfg ~ 2012



250 SHO water in oil.jpg

[bgibson]

WOW!! I just had my 2014 VF250LA powerhead replaced because it was leaking crankcase oil from the block somewhere. They think the heads cracked causing the oil leak but not sure. I discovered the leak while the boat was in the garage over the winter. The puddle on the floor was the give away! Only 200 hours on engine, and Yamaha wanted the block to try to investigate what had happened. My warranty runs out May 24 2019 and I wasn't going to buy the YES (3 year warranty) but after that I went and got the YES extended warranty from SIM Yamaha. Andy at Sim's is the man. I saved $500 buying the YES warranty from him! I would be interested to know what they find out with your engine. I would think the head gasket at the least is blown. All that water would not be good for the internals of the engine!

[woppercatcher]

While on a fishing trip last week with my brother we were going to move to another location and when he started his 2011 SHO 200 it started smoking very badly. Shut the motor off and restarted a few minutes later and it smoked again. Third try no smoke or alarms. We made a few mile run back to the ramp, checked under the cowling and no oil or other visible signs of damage. Pulled the dip stick and noticed it had a white/grey color at least 6-8 inches up the dip stick. Like a white paint texture. So it seems water has gotten into his crankcase. He can't take his motor to the shop until 05/07 so will see what they find then. Note, his motor only has around 130 hours.

[H2Power]

My 2014 250 SHO cracked a port side head at 250 hours. Yamaha replaced long block and the story I got was there were some casting issues with heads.

Repair work was completed quickly. I have 200 hours on the new engine trouble free so far.

[bgibson]

My 2014 250 SHO cracked a port side head at 250 hours. Yamaha replaced long block and the story I got was there were some casting issues with heads.

Repair work was completed quickly. I have 200 hours on the new engine trouble free so far.

very INTERESTING! I had a 2014 like I mentioned above and they believed it was cracked heads. Mine was leaking crankcase oil from under the block. If it wasn't for the oil leak I would have never known there was a problem. Engine still run normal. I did get a new long block under warranty. What where your symptoms when your heads cracked? Technician wasn't sure about my heads being cracked but took an educated guess. Yamaha wanted it back so they could find out what happened. Mine had 200 hours when this happened.

[H2Power]

My failure occurred on a tx day of course. Hard 20 mile run over moderately rough water, fished all day moving around short distances with no issue. Returning on the 20 mile ride back to ramp, taking it easy at 50 mph and smooth water got a low oil pressure alarm. Shut down engine, restarted, no alarm, so continued. I had a good bag and as I recall was about 7 miles from ramp when I first got alarm. Alarm, restart and continue cycle repeated perhaps half a dozen times until back at ramp. Back at the ramp I pulled the dipstick and saw just a touch of oil on the tip of the dipstick.

When I dropped it at shop, they told me the engine was full of water and had a cracked head. A few weeks later I was back up and running. Catastrophic failure, but due to awesome Yamaha service it was only a minor issue for me. Now I have my fingers crossed that the replacement engine has reliable heads.

[friogatto]

Same problem 2016 250SHO at 130hrs, fired it up and cloud of white smoke.

No explanation of why, they just slapped a new powerhead on it.

[bgibson]

All I can say is wow! I am glad I just baught the Yamaha Extended Warranty (YES)!! I thought mine was an isolated incident. So much for Yamaha legendary reliability....

[woppercatcher]

I’ve had my 2018 200 smoke at startup twice. Didn’t smoke after the motor started or when I restarted. Been a while since it happened and the oil level hasn’t changed. A little over a year old and glad I have 5 more years of warranty

[BULLYFISH]

These motors are junk there reliability sucks

[chrisansilver]

These motors are junk there reliability sucks

Really, you need to look through other manufactures threads.
Do you own a Sho?
Do you have any ideal how many are on the water.
The last 3 I’ve owned have been bullet proof...

[friogatto]

These motors are junk there reliability sucks

I agree. The Merc with 380hrs made my boat much safer going 7mph slower. I also enjoyed wearing triple hearing protection, the double or triple oil burn rate, random shutdowns, being stranded multiple times, and finally melting pistons.

But hey, at least it never had this exact problem. That makes it sooooooo much better.

[Nick Ambro]

I have a 2014 250 SHO, 90 hours, just started smoking on startup and water in the oil. Changed thermostats still doing it. Assuming cracked block as well. Problem is my mechanic can’t find the crack and Yamaha needs some solid evidence before they’ll work with me. My warranty is up but the guy on the phone from Yamaha seemed pretty confident they could help me . I sure hope so or I’m screwed!

[CJ1]

I have a 2014 250 SHO, 90 hours, just started smoking on startup and water in the oil. Changed thermostats still doing it. Assuming cracked block as well. Problem is my mechanic can’t find the crack and Yamaha needs some solid evidence before they’ll work with me. My warranty is up but the guy on the phone from Yamaha seemed pretty confident they could help me . I sure hope so or I’m screwed!

This is where Yamaha has been way better that some other mfg. Covering stuff that is defective outside of warranty. if they know there is a issue they are usually good about taking care of it. CJ

[friogatto]

Run the drip test.

Drain oil from plug, let drip out over night.
Keep oil plug out, hook flush up and run water for 30 minutes or until water drips from the oil drain plug.

This is the test Yamaha had my dealer perform. Water started dripping out the oil drain after 15 minutes.

Not sure if that is enough proof for them or not.