Hey all, sorry if this is buried in the forum somewhere but I’m desperate for knowledge.
I have a 2018 Outlaw XP with 186 hours of residential use on it. Maintenance has been done by me, but has been done correctly. It’s always run roughly at idle or lower RPM, but when the throttle is pushed up to half to full it’s always been great. I love the mower.
Yesterday I went to start it to pull it out of the garage, no problem at all. I then went to start it to mow and the starter and crank just “clunked” like it was trying to start but was being held back. After several tries it fired and made maybe 10 revolutions that sounded god awful then was “locked” again.
I pulled the plugs and the tip of the left side cylinder plug was completely destroyed by mechanical forces. I mean the electrode, the body, and the ceramic was smashed. I stuck a camera down there and in the plug hole there is clearly some broken metal. There is also a hole in the block near the plug hole.
Has anyone heard of issues with the Yamaha 825 MX EFI grenade’ing?
It happened over the weekend so I’ve not been able to reach any dealers or corporate reps. I emailed BB warranty department. The engine is clearly trashed.
Usually this is caused by a hydro lock
Fuel drains into the cylinder then when you try to crank the engine it can not because liquids do not compress
So
1) engine fails to crank
2) conrods bend or break
If this ever happens to you ( or any body else who reads this ) do not persist in cranking
Remover a spark plug & try to rotate the engine by hand.
Usually this is caused by a hydro lock
Fuel drains into the cylinder then when you try to crank the engine it can not because liquids do not compress
So
1) engine fails to crank
2) conrods bend or break
If this ever happens to you ( or any body else who reads this ) do not persist in cranking
Remover a spark plug & try to rotate the engine by hand.
I very badly want to start tearing it down to find the issue but I want to see what the dealio is with the warranty first. It’s only got 186 hours of time on it and it’s always had high quality synthetic oils used in it. If it isn’t covered that gonna wake a sleeping giant in me and start a huge smear campaign....lol.
Me too bro, me too. If I have to eat the cost it’ll likely run me around 1000 bucks at least for a “bottom end” or internal assembly. I can get through the labor myself, it’ll just take time. Thankfully I sold my Deere 655 to my dad and he’s right down the road so I can easily still mow.
I understand that “feces happens”, it’s just disappointing because I finally pulled the trigger on a really nice commercial machine and the engine craps the bed in under 200 hours. I should have gotten the Vanguard or Kawi.
