welterracer
TY 4 Stroke God
MUSKIE said:
Warrenty will cover them.. but you will have to wait for the parts.. as they are on back order
MCApex44
TY 4 Stroke Guru
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2006
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- 973
- Location
- Western New York, Chautauqua County
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2014 Viper RTX SE (sold)
The dealer told me the donuts (i am not sure about the Y-pipes) are covered on warranty for 2.5 years from the sleds purchase date. The reason why hy said that is because my brother bought a used Apex and is making sure he gets it in for repair before the 2.5 years. Where this 2.5 year number came from I have no idea. He said he specifically talked to the dealers Yamaha rep and had to PULL information out of him about this issue. They (yamaha) are WELL aware of the problem.
The cold shoulder Yamaha pulls is ridiculous...have they NOT heard of the internet? People talk!
The cold shoulder Yamaha pulls is ridiculous...have they NOT heard of the internet? People talk!
iceback
Pro
When you hear a leak, replace the donuts, most of you don't ride that much each week, not that hard to replace, order from your local dealer or if they can't supply use the net to find a dealer that has some. I can tell you if you let it go, you will buy y-pipes, dealer cost is stupid for pipes, find a shop or dealer that installs turbos and see if they have some take offs, I had great luck with Outlaw in OR, Dustin set me up, far cheaper than new cost. 8200 miles Apex MTn
sledheadgeorge
TY 4 Stroke God
welterracer
TY 4 Stroke God
MCApex44 said:
Right there is the problem between a good dealer and a crooked one who doesnt really want to work..
My dealer will fight for me and get me my parts..
Iceback is right. Replace the donuts as soon as you hear any noise and you will save the damage to the Y-pipes. I had broken Y-pipes on a 2005 RX-1 in 2006, when it was out of warrenty, and Yamaha covered them. Now I have a 2006 Apex RTX, and a 2007 Rage GT. Both are going to get new donuts this summer, even though I don,t hear any noise yet. With these Yamaha's I think before each season you should change the two left side bearings on the drive train, the exhaust donuts, all the bushings in the steering front end and in the rear suspension, and the two ouside idler wheels on the back axle. Easier to replace them in the summer.
My dounts went out around 4800 miles. The next weekend my riding buddys went out we are within 100 miles on sleds. Sounds like if you keep up on the dounts the y- pipe stays together. Once a year put in a set of dounts.
680
680
kviper
VIP Member
I would not replace the donuts if they are not leaking, If it is not leaking by 1,500 mi that means that you have a good tight seal, They will not burn out if they are tight. Most of the donut issue's come from donut's that have been replaced and not sealed up tight enough after reusing the stretched original clamp's. My original gonuts were good but the pipe was broke, Not caused by bad donut's. Now one donut is leaking because it was never drawn up as tight as it should have been when my dealer replaced it the first time. Pipe is still good after about 1,000 mi of leaking. I have talked with a friend at Yamaha about this in depth and he says the same thing, Don't fix it if it is not broke. If the pipe crack's it is because it just failed. When clamping these back together make sure the pipe is tight to the donut's and make sure the clamp does not botom out on the sleeve before good clamping. May be a good idea to get new clamp's or grind some of the sleeve off to get good squeeze with the original clamp's. The pipe breaking seems to be more prevalent among more agressive rider's. (More stress/Vibe's/Flexing) This is my opinion based on my experience and what i have learned from Yamaha and there experience with this problem. This is where a good dealer will make you or break you as far as what Yamaha will help you with. Ask your self this question, If you have a two stroke with 6 or 10 thousand mi on it and the exhaust cracked would you expect the company to buy you a new one. I am not sure what Yamaha will stand behind but at some point they will have to cut the string's. Good luck to all. kviper
ZR800EFI
Expert
kviper said:
My F7 blew a hole in the pipe the 2nd year at around 3600 miles I think it was, and Cat covered it, and it wasn't backordered even though many others were having the problem.
I probably have a few good weeks of riding...some of my best runs of the year are towards the end of March. Sucks my sled is in the shop with a backordered part...hopefully it gets sorted out, but I'm not holding my breath from what others are saying on here. I could have taken it apart myself and tried to fix it up to finish the season, but I really have a problem fixing/paying for something that's under warranty, and is a known problem. I was gonna just ride it, but the backfiring was getting annoying. And, since I didn't ride it much once the backfiring started (<200 miles), I was hoping it was only the donuts which the dealer had in stock.
Did I mention we got close to another foot of snow yesterday...and possibly more coming tomorrow/Saturday...
ZR800EFI
Expert
LANEO...I PM'D you...thanks.
berge75
Expert
Well said, kviper,however I would at least check the clamps every 3-4000mi.
bufalobob
Newbie
NEWS FLASH: YAMAHA HAS BACK ORDER ON " Y " PIPES FOR APEX UNTIL END OF JULY. THIS KEEPS BEING PUSHED FORWARD DAILY!!
yamaha retail for both " Y " pipes & donuts is $654.18 & still titaniom ( may break again ).
bender retail for both " Y " & donuts is $499. & made from stainless ( won't ever break ).
bob
yamaha retail for both " Y " pipes & donuts is $654.18 & still titaniom ( may break again ).
bender retail for both " Y " & donuts is $499. & made from stainless ( won't ever break ).
bob
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
kviper said:
I dissagree with several of your comments.
Saying that these will not fail if they have a good seat at first is simply wrong. We are seeing a 100% exhaust donut failure rate on every single Apex that I ride with, including my own. None of these leaked when new. Also, every single Apex owner that I have met while on the trail, with over 6000 miles on their sleds has already had their exhaust donuts replaced. Many have also had their y-pipes replaced and most seem to be going through their first set at around 4000 miles.
I also can assure you that mine did not leak at all either when my sled was new, nor did the first replacement set leak at all when they were installed (nor after the first 1000 miles). My second set, or more likely a pipe crack, has started to leak now that I'm getting close to 10,000km (6000 miles).
Also, every single time we've headed out on a long saddle bag trip (long being at least 2500 km), we've absolutely always ended up with at least one Apex getting leaky exhaust donuts while on the trip. The only ones that have never leaked while on a long trip are ones that were just changed before we left. Based on this, I'd say replacing the donuts and making sure they are well sealed up prior to a long trip or prior the a season makes a lot of sense - especially when you consider that the pipes can and do get damaged if you keep running the sled with leaky donuts. On top of that, if you look at a set of donuts after about 4000 miles you will see that even if they are not leaking yet, they are loosing some of the filler material and starting to get fragile. Changing them before they fail will help keep the expensive pipes from wearing due to "rattling" clamps and pipes.
I guarantee I will be replacing my donuts on a regular basis to minimize the wear and tear on the y-pipes. For anyone without a warranty this makes even more sense to do.
As far as comparing this to a 2-stroke I can tell you this: Not a single REV or REV-XP in our riding group has ever had a cracked exhaust component and some of these have had upwards of 10-15,000 miles on them by the time they were traded in. With the REVs, the manifold bolts loosen off and fall out, but all that is needed is a couple of new bolts (aftermarket locking bolts preferred) and a new gasket and they are good to go. Skidoo does cover these parts too. With some of the older Polaris and Cat 2-strokes we used to see ball and socket flanges in the pipes wearing through, but I haven't seen that for a while now (at least not causing any problems).
These y-pipes simply should not be cracking the way they are and Yamaha should be (and has been) replacing the parts under warranty.
ReX
TY 4 Stroke God
bufalobob said:
Maybe, if we are lucky, Yamaha is pushing the date back so they can redesign the pipes and donuts.
Personally I don't care if durable pipes added 4+ lbs to my sled - as long as they stop failing.
kviper
VIP Member
ReX, As i said that is my opinion based on the six Apex's that i ride with regularly. Before you take the clamp's apart just push on them and see if you can turn the clamp's, If not they are tight and probably good to go. In our group all of the original exhaust lasted the longest and some have not had a problem yet so why is that? I think geting the clamp's tight in the way they need to be is critical as to how long they last I know Yamaha is looking in to a repair (weld new end's on) so they are not telling us to stuff it. It takes a lot of time to R&D this type of stuff. Your friend's have been luckey with there Cat's and Doo's. One friend with Doo's had ring's gone just after warranty, He was on his own. Doo had this problem for several year's. Another friend with two F Cat's had neck's on the gas tank's gone and Cat was out of tank's because of the wide spread problem not to mention the rest of the problem's they had. He had one of the tank's fixed and Cat told him his complete warranty on that sled was void, He now has an Apex and loves it. In my case the exhaust has been leaking for about 1,000 mi now. I had time the other day so i took it apart to see what was going on. One clamp was loose and the donut was loose as well so i did what i could to snug it up and i will ride it till the end of the season. They know there is a problem and i know they are working on it. These kind of thing's happen to all MFG'S and from my experiences Yamaha has been very good about standing behind there product's. Take it for what it is worth. Even with the exhaust leak this is by far the best most fun sled i have owned or ridden and i will buy a nother one if they don't come out with somthing i like better. kviper