New Motor. No gear case oil.

[Joe23]

Do small Yamaha motors come filled with gear case oil from the factory?

This is a 2-stroke 8hp, made in France, bought in Florida last winter and run for less than 10 hours.

I just got the motor out of storage to put back on the boat and checking the gear case oil, found it empty. All that came out was a few drips of black water, no sign of any oil. Doesn't even feel oily. Both plugs removed and the ends of the plugs were quite dry, no oil film at all.

No sign of any leakage around the prop shaft or anywhere else and the motor is still like new.

The PDI sheet shows the level was checked and the dealer says it must have had a prop strike and the oil has run out. I'm taking it back in Monday to see what they'll do. I suspect there was never any oil in there and that the black color is from the seals which have probably burned.

What do you think the dealer ought to do? The motor is still under warranty.

[robert graham]

If the oil leaked out during the 10 hours the motor was running in the river, then it's a pretty good bet there would be some water in the lower unit. If the lower unit is dry then it probably never had any oil in it. Now if you can convince the factory that the motor came with no oil in the lower unit and if there is in fact damage to the gears and bearings, then maybe they would help pay to rebuild lower unit. Lot of "if's" and "maybe's". You can contact Yamaha customer service and the very least they could do is inspect your lower end for damage. If the bearings and gears were in fact run dry, then I can't imagine no damage done, but maybe somehow there was just enough lubricant on the parts to operate. If all fails with the Yamaha folks, then maybe just fill the lower unit with oil and run it and hope for the best. Maybe you get real lucky! I hope so!

[dorf]

I've got the same engine that had the same problem(sort of) but caught it before any problems developed.

Gear case seal Part Number 93210-49046 was pinched during assembly and slid out from where it was supposed to be.

Yamaha Outboard Parts 2006 and Later 2-stroke 8MSH 6N0-1023676 LOWER CASING DRIVE 1 Diagram (Item #24)

It was visible after I noticed oil leaking into the water while moored.

So..... It is very evident that the case was not pressure checked during assembly.

Dealer replaced seal( and pressure check while I watched). There was some water in housing but repeated fills and re-fills all is OK now.

Seems like your warranty should cover the replacement /repair.

[Joe23]

Thanks for the replies. I took it back this morning and the dealer is as mystified as I am but they said they'd look after it under warranty. The mechanic said he thought the bearings were damaged when he turned the propshaft, should turn much easier, he said.

dorf, I also remember seeing oil in the water when the boat was moored, but I put it down to the 25:1 run-in oil ratio.

Even if some oil did run out, when the motor was tilted, most of it would stay in the housing. Anyway, the absence of any milky residue at all leads me to believe that there was never any oil in there in the first place. Besides, there was no leaked oil around the propshaft seal or in the prop and the original assembly grease was still intact on the shaft.

Well, good for Yamaha to fix it. I have always liked their products and anyone can make a mistake.