Bearing noise 200 hp v-max

[red314]

Not to sure on what to look at first. Today when I was out fishing the motor started to make a weird noise when in gear trolling so I was thinking the lower unit was eating a bearing which seemed to growl when i hit the throttle. I took the motor out of gear and it seemed to stop and idled great. So than I placed it in gear and continued to troll then the power head had a squeak noise like a belt slip but the belt is clogged. When I got home I took the idle pulley off and it seemed to be ok than I looked at the fuel injection gear pulley and it seemed a little rough so I took the pulley off and the housing under it that holds the bearing and the bearing had no play so what i felt must have been the can shaft rubbing. I am at a loss for what else to look at.

Motor is a 2006 200hp v-max with around 300 hrs

[Rich Z]

Remove the prop and see if the thrust washer is good. It will chew up the gear housing if its bad and possibly bend the prop shaft.

[red314]

I will look at the washer tonight. In the boat now and it seems like it is under the hood and when I took the tension pully off yesterday the bearing had no slop but the bearing itself when spun by hand sounded sloppy like no lube. It is going to get replaced and I will see if it helps. Now that pully has a spring for tension but it was locked down is that right or should the bolt be loose so it can float like a normal belt tensioner.

[red314]

Well went to change the lower unit oil and found low to none what the heck. Have no idea where it went. It is now filled and no leaks but I did get shavings out the top hole which I'm guessing is not good. Going to run it and see if I get a oil trail behind the boat.

[Charlie206]

That is an enigma known only to Yamaha motors to the best of my knowledge. The lube disappears and is not replaced by water. Someone here had a theory that a vortex is created by the prop which is strong enough to pull the oil out past the prop shaft seals at high speed. I don't know if that is the case but I do know that the lube will disappear out of my HPDI and so you have to check the fluid level fairly often.
If you got shavings, you might have a bad problem.

[red314]

Ya I am sure it is not good. Maybe we should post a big bold post on top of forum that this happens because I had no idea till now and my motor is at 308 hours. Would a seal need replacing because it has not done it in the past and those of us experiencing this it it after so many run hours? Or maybe a certain pitch prop causing it to get sucked out. I've never seen a drop on the ground or sheen behind the boat

[billnorman1]

I think you got trouble. If I'm not mistaken there are some Yammies with a grease fitting looking dealie behind the prop to force the bearing cover off. This is a S.W.A.G. but if yours is so equipped, check this area.

[Charlie206]

Me neither, but I've gotten as little as a half quart out of it when draining it for an oil change. A friend of mine blew the l/u on his 200 HPDI and it was empty with no water in it. That was really when I began to pay attention. I check mine more often now, annually isn't good enough. I don't know factually what causes this, but I suspect poor seals that somehow let oil out but stop water from entering. I've never seen this problem on any other outboard, and I've worked on lots of them.

[Charlie206]

I think you got trouble. If I'm not mistaken there are some Yammies with a grease fitting looking dealie behind the prop to force the bearing cover off. This is a S.W.A.G. but if yours is so equipped, check this area.

The grease fitting is to keep the bearing carrier lubed against the housing. It shouldn't have anything to do with this, unless it is gone, and even then I doubt it would cause this.

[red314]

Well I will keep an eye on it. The lower unit was dry no water like you stated it is strange. More than likely it will be taken apart this winter to see what is going on. From you post I'm wondering if it is getting pressurized and blowing the oil threw the seal and not letting in water. Is their a breather tube I need to look at?

[H Dupre]

I have had this same problem about two months ago, I decided to do some routine maintance on my 300 HPDI, change the filters and the lower unit oil,when I removed the screws there was only only a few drops that came out. There was no indication that there was a problem, but I was thinking about putting oil back in the lower unit and running it, but starting thinking what would happen if it would lock up while running. I dropped the lower unit and disassembled it and found the gears were in good shape, but when I pulled the drive shaft out the thrust bearing on the drive shaft was in pieces. The drive shaft itself was tore up where the bearing runs on that surface. I am pretty sure if you are hearing noises that is where it is coming from. Think about it when the oil level goes down a little bit over time it will not get enough oil to that bearing that is above your gears. The drive shaft has grooves in it so oil can work its way up to the thrust bearing on the drive shaft. I am not telling you what to do, but a least right now it is not completely destroyed. I am not sure where the oil goes, but I learned a big lesson on checking the lower unit more often.

[Charlie206]

There is no way to pressurize the l/u, and No breather tube. I personally believe the vortex theory, but have no way to prove it. There may be a technical bulletin on bad seals, I don't know, but the Yamaha techs on here have been completely silent on this issue.

[pro860]

We had this same thing happen on a friends motor a couple of weekends ago. Upon removal of the prop and thrust washer we found very small diameter fishing line between the prop shaft and the seal....there went the oil and the upper bearing in his lower unit. The prop isn't going to produce a vortex to suck the oil out....even if it did create a vortex like effect, the thrust washer would protect it from the seal. I pull my prop off once a month and check for debris / fishing line in the seal. I have yet to loose a drop of oil unless there was a reason for it, like a bad seal or fishing line.

[Charlie206]

I hear you, but I personally inspected my friends l/u, no line and no sign of any seal damage so I pressure tested to 13 lb and it passed. Yet it was empty with no water. Damaged seals allow water in and don't pass pressure tests. Mine gets low on oil with no line, no water, no sign of seal damage. It is a head scratcher. Numerous folks on here have noticed this. And I've never seen this on any other brand, which really peaks my interest. I don't have the answer, I just know there is something funky going on.

[BuzzB8]

I change it in the late fall/early winter, but come May I always add a little to top it off. I never get out of it what should be in there. I've noticed it since the first lube change in late 2003.

[red314]

Well just pulled the lower unit off and all I can say is what a mess. This is going to be expensive!!!!

[red314]

Well what is cheaper to buy parts or a new lower unit

[H Dupre]

Depends how many parts are damaged, if it was like mine it was the drive shaft, bearing on drive shaft, and seals to replace along with changing the water pump since I had it down. It would have cost me around $800.00 fixing it myself, which I was going to do, but i checked on Yamaha Parts on this web site and at time there was someone selling a brand new lower unit for $1500.00 which I could not pass up. Usually a used lower unit goes for that amount and new in the $3500.00 range. If your gears and upper shaft are tore up, it would not be worth fixing. You can look on boats.net and look at a skematic on the lower unit and check out the prices on the parts, they are not cheap, plus you better have someone that knows how to shim the bearings when you put it back together. There is not to many things on these bigger engines that are cheap to fix, hope you luck.

[red314]

I will find out on Tuesday if it is cheaper to get a oem rebuild or to get mine rebuilt. From where I have it tore down the bearing under the needle bearing on the upper shaft is shot and a shim or 2 gone along with the needle bearing holder. So the only shop in my area that would consider looking at it will let me know which is cheaper. Since I do not have tools to shim it proper they will get the work.

[red314]

The shop I brought the lower unit to just said it needs: bearings, seals, bearing carrier, drive shaft and a prop shaft which is bent.


On a good note the shell and gears are ok