So i took a buddy out on my Bay boat today when he said it sounded like the balancer assy was going bad.
There is a slight “sqeeking” sound at idle, but goes away after warm up. Thought it was the motor working chit out from sitting a couple weeks. Not the belt.
You can barely here the slight noise unless you are listening for it, but it runs great.
There are no certified yamaha guys anywhere near my house, closest is probably Chris V.
Buddy said that Yamaha is covering all the balancer issues on the 04 F-150’s even if they are out of Warranty.
Are these known issues with these motors, and will they still be covered?
I’ll just take it to a local shop if not, but if they are, off to C-town i come.
Thanks for your help as usual
guess i should also add the motor has almost 800 hours on it.
thanks
23’ Contender F225
20’ pro-line bay Yamaha F150
Take it to a shop soon!!!
I just got mine back from Hanckel. I took mine in to get the balancer changed out, but mine had already came apart.
It actually ran fine the last trip out, but the original balancer (made with plastic parts) had went to pieces. They had to tear the motor down completely. Yamaha was awesome and covered over $3,000 worth of parts and labor! 
Luckily, the oil strainer caught all the debris.
I had that whining sound also. When I changed out my water pump, I lubed up the drive shaft bushing real good (as usual) thinking that the noise was coming from that, wrong. Good luck! Hopefully, yours hasn’t came apart yet and you can get it changed out quickly!
EDIT: I would like to add that the folks at Hanckel were great, kept me posted, and had my boat back to me in a short amount of time!!
“Miss Amanda”
-KeyWest
-Bluewater 2020CC
-Yammy F-150God is GOOD!! ALL the time!!
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
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Kinda good news.
What year was your motor? They covered it while out of Warranty? I tried to call the shop, but they are closed today.
Thanks for the info.
23’ Contender F225
20’ pro-line bay Yamaha F150
Thanks for the “heads up”-taking mine to Seel’s for a check-been making the sort of noise you describe-mine’s an '05 motor.
Sea Hunt 2002
Yamaha 150
Mine is a 2005. Mine was supposed to be under warranty still, but I got messed over by the dealership that sold me the boat. They are no longer in business. Get your '04 motor in there soon. They said that they would probably cover the replacement to at least 3 years after the warranty runs out…
“Miss Amanda”
-KeyWest
-Bluewater 2020CC
-Yammy F-150God is GOOD!! ALL the time!!
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
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AWSOME!
Thanks for the help.
Try to get it somewhere this week.
23’ Contender F225
20’ pro-line bay Yamaha F150
often, on the f150, its the drive shaft bushing
Lynn, I have had parts for your cowling forever.
glad hankle took good care of you.
good folks over there
I’m now at www.teamcharlestonmarine.com
Taking mine to Tailwalker this week… You guys kinda freaked me out.
31’ Fountain twin 100 hp Honda’s.
USAF-Thanks for alerting me to the balance assembly problem!
Took my boat to Seel’s; they had a look at the engine and determined the balancer was on the verge of coming apart! It will be replaced with the “new and, I hope, improved”, version.
My engine had 440hrs on it when ass’y replaced.
I can’t thank you enough. You likely saved me from a very unpleasant experience.
Seel’s told me that balance failure can cause substantial damage to the engine. Engine will continue to run; but eventually the scrap from the broken gears will clog the oil pump.
Sea Hunt 2002
Yamaha 150
Ended up getting both mine changed out… Boat Doc said they were both about shot (600 hours)
31’ Fountain twin 100 hp Honda’s.
From my conversation with Seel’s, I gather Yammy dealers check your motor when you bring it in to be serviced. If the balancer is deemed bad they replace it. Since I do routine servicing myself, I had no idea of the problem until I read USAF’s post.
As far as I know, there has been no recall or dealer notification to 150 owners.
So, if you guys do your own servicing, you may wish to take your motor to the dealer.
Sea Hunt 2002
Yamaha 150
Just took mine in for service and brought up the balancer. Glad I did cause it was going bad. Fortunately I had seen the warnings on here. I’m missing a weekend on the water but its been bad weather anyway. Just glad it didn’t really screw something up.
Thanks for the heads up.
Key West Sportsman 186
Yamaha 150 4 Stroke
So after the orignal diagnosis was mine had bad Balancer assy… they then came back and said they were both already replaced in 08, so must be the prop shaft needs greased. They greased both shafts and said one motor was still making a slight whinning noise. They called Yamaha and they said they would pay for new Balancer assy on both motors again. Now i am just waiting for the parts to come in.
That is pretty awsome that Yamaha will still do some warranty work on 6yr old motors… i am impressed
210 Sea Pro
twin 200 Merc Black Maxes
Yamaha has been excellent, to say the least, with all their support over the years on my motor. That is enough for me to want to stay with Yammy power in the future if/when I get a new boat or repower…
BTW, mine had always ran like a top with great fuel economy also…
“Miss Amanda”
-KeyWest
-Bluewater 2020CC
-Yammy F-150God is GOOD!! ALL the time!!
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
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