sods law and stitched up all in one day!!

[ozzie]

While trawling through the internet boat ads looking for S28s and T29s I came across an advert for a Drago Sorocos wanted. Couldnt believe it!! my boat is a Drago Fiesta 600- not much difference. I e mailed the said prospective purchaser and we entered into online communications with numerous pictures to boot. By luck he was travelling from Hampshire to Cornwall yesterday and we arranged for him to see her on home berth in Torquay. They seemed quite taken with her, but not necessarily ready to slap some cash in my hand, but keen to see how she handled. Being a lovely day with flat calm sea I duly offered to take them out in the bay for a spin whilst singing the praises of the 100hp Yamaha stuck on the back. A slow motor out, told them to hang on, opened the throttle and she started to cough and splutter!! never ever done that before I remarked. Tried again and up she popped onto the plane picked up speed then lost all power - just like turning the engine off-then picked up to where she was. Not comfortable and certainly not what prospective buyer was expecting, so back to the berth with apologies and the reassuring sentence of not a problem, engine is still under the 5 year warranty. Here comes the stitched up bit.. When the engine was due for its first service in Torquay I contacted one of the local engineer/chandlery/brokerages. My engine needs servicing BUT its still under warranty. Can you do the work or must it be a Yamaha agent. No sir, we can do it no problems providing we use genuine parts.Two years on the trot, serviced but not entirely happy with service, but no warranty issues until now..After yesterday went to another company only to be told that the warranty was now invalid because it wasnt serviced by a Yamaha agent, and I wasnt the only one to fall foul of their sales patter. Really annoyed now- possibly lost a potential buyer, might have to fork out to pay for work which may otherwise have been under warranty and couldny use the boat this weekend with the glorious sunshine and flat calm sea. Final insult was wife made me come home early and do hard graft in the garden!!

 

[BlueSkyNick]

That sounds like a case of dirty fuel - shouldn't be too expensive to fix and probably not covered by warranty anyway.

 

[volvopaul]

That sounds like a case of dirty fuel - shouldn't be too expensive to fix and probably not covered by warranty anyway.

Yes sounds like dirty fuel. If it makes you feel any better no matter how much warranty you have or have not no manufacturer is gong to over your engine, labour or parts as the result of damage from dirty fuel or what sounds like water in the fuel. Rest assured if that's the case and had you had dealer service from day one there would be no warranty.

I remember a mate who filled his range rover up with petrol instead of diesel, the biggest mistake he made was to call land rover assist for help after he had done it, what they did was to log the incident agains his chassis and vehicle reg number.
About a year later one of the injectors let go wrecking his engine, the dealer collected it and repaired it, when he went to collect it he was handed a bill for a few thousand pounds, he said its in warranty its only 18 months old!!, errr no it isn't sir, see on the """ of """ you called us for help telling us you had filled the tank with petrol, now that damages a Diesel engines fuel pump and injectors sorry but you will have to pay. A long battle began and in the end his finance company steeped in and covered the costs. Lucky man.

 

[colhel]

Yes sounds like dirty fuel. If it makes you feel any better no matter how much warranty you have or have not no manufacturer is gong to over your engine, labour or parts as the result of damage from dirty fuel or what sounds like water in the fuel. Rest assured if that's the case and had you had dealer service from day one there would be no warranty.

A few years ago Trading Standards (or similar) got involved with cars being serviced by npn-dealers and having the warranty invalidated. IIRC a manufacturers warranty would still be valid providing the work was carried out by bona-fide business ie VAT registered or such like. Does this not apply to marine engines?

 

[ozzie]

A few years ago Trading Standards (or similar) got involved with cars being serviced by npn-dealers and having the warranty invalidated. IIRC a manufacturers warranty would still be valid providing the work was carried out by bona-fide business ie VAT registered or such like. Does this not apply to marine engines?

Apparently not according to the engineer I spoke to. He said its the same as Mercury-the agent has to log the details onto their system for it to be valid. Not had to make a claim so not sure if he is correct. My thought was fuel. There is an extra fuel filter with water drain off before the engine filter. I did drain it after the problem but was unable to go back out to try it again, did rev the engine out of gear to 4200revs with no problems, but that was not under load. I do use fuel set each time I fill up, and no water in fuel warning showed up on the dash as has happened previously