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New Tohatsu 9.8 hp OB-dead in the water

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Cate
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199 Posts

Response Posted - 06/23/2006 : 14:47:15

UPDATE
The oil leak is confirmed by the service tech...defective gasket. This is a manufactured defect that is under warranty and will be repaired. I guess we just weren't lucky with the motor they pulled off the shelf and sent to us. The risk you take buying online.

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 06/23/2006 : 16:56:02

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Cate
 UPDATE
The oil leak is confirmed by the service tech...defective gasket. This is a manufactured defect that is under warranty and will be repaired. I guess we just weren't lucky with the motor they pulled off the shelf and sent to us. The risk you take buying online.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The risk you take buying anywhere. I wonder if you blew the gasket with the pressures caused by the over fill, it sounds like all things considered it is turning out well. Have a glass of wine and watch a pretty sunset.

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boatgt
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117 Posts

Response Posted - 06/23/2006 : 22:48:00

I have heard of people blowing gaskets in a motorcycle because of over filling the oil. So I’m sure you could do the same with an outboard. Just glad to hear you have finally found your leak and will be back out on the water soon!

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tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 06/25/2006 : 10:53:48

Glad to hear it was a simple matter

Frank's suggestion seems appropriate to me, I'll toast you on this end as well.

Val on Calista # 3936, Patchogue, N.Y.

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Cate
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Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 12:04:02

Update
The situation has gotten worse. The Tohatsu repair guy won't replace the gasket because it is too much work and they don't want to wait for warranty payment. The other repair facility is about 4 weeks out with repairs. Onlineoutboards offered to repair, but they are 3 weeks out and we would have to ship to TN. Looks like our sailing season has come to a screeching halt.
BTW-we did not overfill the oil and run the engine and blow a gasket. The leak was occuring since day one. Many of our neighbors at the marina commented on the oil slick we were creating in the first week. We did add oil after getting a dry dip stick reading, but when we saw the oil slick happen again we took it to the repair shop immediately. Our service guy would testify that the leak was from a gasket deep in the engine.

This has been a nightmare and we are very sad our sailing season is ended for now. If I could afford it, I'd just get another motor and sell the one we eventually get repaired.

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 13:59:19

Cate... Did you buy it with a Visa Card?????

Paul

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Cate
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199 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 14:01:33

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 Cate... Did you buy it with a Visa Card?????

Paul
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes.

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Cate
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Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 15:06:44

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Cate
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 Cate... Did you buy it with a Visa Card?????

Paul
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
No to belabor this sad thread, but Visa doesn't cover motors of any kind and Capitol One cannot submit a dispute if an item is under warranty. I am stuck trying to get this motor repaired under warranty by a willing Tohatsu service tech. Looks like the only one available is giving me a month or more before something can be done.

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 16:37:36

why don't you offer to pay the local tech and let them re-imburse you when the warranty payment comes in?

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 19:39:18

ding ding ding

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 20:45:38

I would suggest, a call to the US headquarters. It is a rare event that you got a bad NEW engine. I would think the factory would want to see the engine for quality assurance. Tohatsu USA should happily drop ship you a new engine. The issue of the repair guy not wanting the work is complete crap. That is what the warranty is for! I would argue that the whole powerhead needs a teardown and inspection because of the faulty gasket that was installed at the factory and should have been discovered during the tank test! I would explain the situation to the factory rep and give him the link to THIS post. The message is clear....Tohatsu WE ARE WATCHING!!!!!How are you going to make this right?????? There are many happy customers here but many more POTENTIAL customers.

Here are their #'S
972-323-6003

(Telephone hours are Mon - Fri
8AM - 5PM CST

Good luck, Tom.

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frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2006 : 22:02:05

Concur with Tom, get to the factory rep. and be sure and name names of the factory authorized mechanic that refused the work. He probably will not be a factory authorized repair guy for long. I also would be supprised if they don't drop ship you a new engine with a return authorization number. You may have to pay shipping for the old motor. Good luck and let us know what the factory guy says.

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Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 06/28/2006 : 03:02:38

Cate, I'm sorry that this lesson for all of us has come, literally, at your expense. It has convinced me when the time comes to buy a new outboard locally, from a dealer and a service department to whom I can return a troubled motor. I hope you're back out sailing soon.

Brooke

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 06/28/2006 : 06:27:03

My first thought was that this is the dilemma many of us face when we decide what to buy on-line/mail order and what we buy locally when it is basically a cost savings that is the deciding factor. There are some inherent risks and...well we all take it and then it is a question of statistically some of us are going to have to deal with a blip that needs additional customer service of some kind. There are some manufactuers that will not sell their motors thru the mail because they have some type of clause indicating the motor needs to be water tested at the point of sale to the consumer. At least that is what I believe was the case when I decided to buy my Honda motor. In your case, which is probably a 1 in 100 or 200, the oil leak probably would have been discovered during the water test and then you would have either have gotten another motor pulled out of the box or they would have fixed it right there and then.

But having said all that, it looks like they have other local service repair facilities that would handle the work but are just backed up with other work. So....guess something like this could potentially happen even if you bought the motor locally except that...it would seem the oil issue would have been spotted right away when they would have done a water test.

Sort of similar is the buying of PCs. In this case, I have had a number of Gateway PCs that were bought thru the years and were mail-order and I have had very good service from those PCs buying it this way with no initial issues and very good tech support and replacement warranty support after the PCs were a number of years old with some never having an issue. But the magazine reviews at the time indicated in comparing Gateway PCs to some other brands and the burn-in testing accomplished beforehand was that some other mfrs did the burn-in and Gateway left it to UPS and the consumer. LOL But the reviews indicated that since Gateway had very good consumer support it did not seem to be an issue since many consumers gave favorable reviews regarding their purchasing and later experience.

So....I guess we will all have to wait for an update from you to see how things play out. If you were just the unlucky duck out of hundreds that order motors to be shipped and had no problems at all or problems that could easily be taken care of timely by a local facility, then I guess the answer is to definitely consider buying motors mail-order. On the other hand...I am sure that this experience since you were bitten statistically with this dilemma and OOC for a month or so is having you rethink that mail-order decision.

A month from now, I would be curious as to how you would answer others inquiries as to the advice of whether to buy and support a local motor buy verses mail-ordering one. Anyway, hope they can resolve/expedite the fix and get you back in the water.

By the way, maybe your marina or the local guy can give you a loaner motor.

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Cate
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199 Posts

Response Posted - 06/28/2006 : 08:04:12

UPDATE
I just received and great email from Chris Collins at onlineoutboards. He is bending over backwards to make this right and has offered me several options. For the record, onlineoutboards.com is excelling with customer service here. Also we got in contact with Tohatsu USA in TX. A wonderful gentleman by the name of Allen is trying to help the service tech walk through the repair. Allen believes it might be something easy to repair if our tech can isolate the leak by spraying some stuff that shows where an oil leak is coming from. He said that once he knows exactly where it is leaking he can send the proper part and it should be repaired quickly. So we are getting some great support from both the dealer and Tohatsu now.

I think the service tech we are using now is not comfortable making this repair and I wish he would just say so. We are taking the motor to another authorized service tech and will connect them with Allen at Tohatsu.

FYI-Both Allen and Chris have been selling Tohatsu for close to 17 years. Allen said in the time he has been there there have been a total of 19 motors returned for various problems. When we explained the entire story he did not challenge us on our actions, but instead said the motors were made by humans and humans could make mistakes. I feel confident that either he or Chris will help us resolve this situation.

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 06/28/2006 : 09:18:50

This is great news ! Really interested in final outcome. Sounds like they are giving special individual attention to you and hopefully rectifies issue very soon.

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2006 : 00:15:52

An the verdict is????? I am glad to hear the factory is involved. It is too bad they do not want to do a CSI teardown to figure out what caused the defect. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you. I know how short the season is for most.

Tom.

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Cate
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199 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2006 : 18:16:33

This is the FINAL UPDATE
The new Tohatsu motor had a defective gasket at the base of the power head. The gasket was torn/ripped during factory assembly. Tohatsu sent a replacement gasket via UPS Ground ( I would have preferred FedEx) and the motor was repaired in 8 hours. The motor is now back on the boat, runs beautifully and NO oil leak of any kind. This defective motor put us out of commission for 3 weeks total. Some of our marina buddies were kind enough to offer lender motors that were hanging around, but we didn't want to take a chance with our bad luck and motors. Hopefully the goddess of the sea will bless our "new" new motor and we will have trouble free operation as we motor out into the big bay of Barnegat to SAIL!!!

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Captain Bill
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USA
148 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2006 : 19:45:59

Cate,

Glad everything worked out well for you and that your new motor is humming again. Enjoy the summer and happy sailing to you.

Captain Bill

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2006 : 21:29:47

I am glad you finally have something to show for your $2000. I am glad that Tohatsu stepped up and you found an nice dealer. I have just over 50 hours on mine and is seems to keep running better. Let us know if there are any other surprises.

Tom.

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DanM
Captain

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USA
256 Posts

Response Posted - 07/14/2006 : 09:17:38

Glad to hear the clouds have lifted for you. I "felt your pain", as our Merc died early last season and we replaced it with the 9.9 Nissan, after weeks of waiting for the death sentence from the service tech. We are happy with the Nissan's performance, although haven't mastered the tilt thing.

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