Are newer Yamaha's DIY friendly?

[shaneburris74]

I hear good things about Yamaha motors but my local boat repair/shade tree type guy said that it is hard to work on them without the special test equipment that diagnoses/reads the engine codes. Whatever engine I get I would prefer to get the shop manual and be able to do maintenance on it myself.
Is this true about Yamaha's? If it is true are they any more complicated than a newer Johnson/Mercury? Is this just new motor technology thing or a Yammie thing.

Thanks guys. Any info about Yamaha reputation would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Are newer Yamaha's DIY friendly?

All of the newer outboards are tough to work on. They're like the new cars. All electronics and so on. I could work on my cars from the 70s and 80s. Once they went to all the electronics, I can do oil changes and stuff like that. Otherwise, forget it.

In fact, a lot of the big new outboards have what are basically automobile engines in them. They seem to cost about as much as a car, too. Feh!

 

[shaneburris74]

Re: Are newer Yamaha's DIY friendly?

I figured as much. Seems everything is getting complicated. When I get one I guess I'll buy a shop manual and charge into it and see what happens. I won't attempt anything I'm not comfortable with so we'll see how far I get.