DIY Maintenance while under warranty??? 2014 Super Air Nautique 210

[Austin179]

I purchased my 2014 SAN 210 new back in July.
I returned it to my selling dealer for the 20 hr full service and a few warranty items and had the worst experience ever.
I am not here to dog the dealer because we all have our days and I am sure they have many satisfied customers.
I have put another 30 hrs on the boat since then and plan to do another full service soon before the season starts.
I am very tempted to do the service myself because I really don't want to deal with the same thing I did before, not to mention it is a 3 hr drive to the dealer!
I did all of the maintenance on my 2000 Sport nautique and feel comfortable doing it, BUT I am concerned that if I have any future warranty issues with the motor, trans, ect. I wont have the needed documentation regarding maintenance. I actually spoke to a PCM rep and he said it was no big deal to do it myself, but my dealer said I better not.
I am looking for any advise from those of you that have always done your own maintenance and later had warranty work done.
thanks in advance!

[scottb7]

If I was 3 hours away I would do it all myself. I was always told by mfgr's over the years that if you keep your receipts for filters, and oil they won't (and legally can't) give you a hard time. There just is no law that requires a dealer to do the work.

[GCSuper]

I agree with Scott. Legally, they can't make you use a dealer for service. Having said that, the more documentation you have on your own service, the better.

[nyryan2001]

Austin, IF...... what your saying is 100% accurate, you should tell your dealer if they plan to do business here in the U.S. For any length of time, they should become familiar with the Moss Magnuson Act. Legislates vendors from requiring warranty work to be done by them.

Now, if he is just warning you of the potential liabilities of a DIY maintenance fail... That's not this ^^^.

[Austin179]

Austin, IF...... what your saying is 100% accurate, you should tell your dealer if they plan to do business here in the U.S. For any length of time, they should become familiar with the Moss Magnuson Act. Legislates vendors from requiring warranty work to be done by them.

Now, if he is just warning you of the potential liabilities of a DIY maintenance fail... That's not this ^^^.

Just to clarify, I was not told that I could not do it myself. They made it sound like if anything ever happened, I was going to have to prove that all maintenance was done on time and correctly. They just said if anything ever happened and they had done all of the maintenance there would be no questions, but the exact opposite if I did it myself.

[xrichard]

FWIW, I do all minor maintenance myself as it saves me both time and money. My dealer is fantastic and only 30 minutes away, but it's still quicker for me to change the oil, tranny fluid, and impeller in my garage than hitch up and drop off--then have to go get the boat when it's finished. Anything beyond routine maintenance is done by my dealer. PCM has never questioned maintenance even when replacing a motor that was using large amounts of oil.

I keep a very detailed log of all driveline maintenance I do as well as service performed by the dealer--date, hour, parts used, and any relevant notes including oil used between changes, any vibration or drivability issues I notice, etc., but PCM has never asked to see it. It could be my situation is easier than most because I have a great relationship with my dealer. He's very familiar with my boats and knows I'm anal about the maintenance and condition of them--so it's possible this helps. I really don't know.

[Austin179]

FWIW, I do all minor maintenance myself as it saves me both time and money. My dealer is fantastic and only 30 minutes away, but it's still quicker for me to change the oil, tranny fluid, and impeller in my garage than hitch up and drop off--then have to go get the boat when it's finished. Anything beyond routine maintenance is done by my dealer. PCM has never questioned maintenance even when replacing a motor that was using large amounts of oil.

I keep a very detailed log of all driveline maintenance I do as well as service performed by the dealer--date, hour, parts used, and any relevant notes including oil used between changes, any vibration or drivability issues I notice, etc., but PCM has never asked to see it. It could be my situation is easier than most because I have a great relationship with my dealer. He's very familiar with my boats and knows I'm anal about the maintenance and condition of them--so it's possible this helps. I really don't know.

This is good to know. I do belive your relationship with the dealer helps. I am new to my dealer as this is my first new boat and all of my others were out of warranty.
How you handle your maintenance is the same approach that I am wanting to take.

[swatguy]

Yup just keep your receipts and a detailed log.

Things like fluid changes, filter changes, and greasings are all easy once you get it down. Those will not void any type of warranty. However start cranking on bolts, removing prop shafts, re- aligning things that's where you start to get in trouble.

[JoeA]

Time to have a serious talk with you dealer. That relationship is VERY important. They have to understand...you bought a new boat from them, you are three hours away, you can do the basic work, and lastly tactics saying the warranty will not be covered is just BS. Be nice but be firm.

[Austin179]

Well, I had a talk with the service manager yesterday and he acted like he did not remember the problems with my previous visit.
I asked him again about doing my own maintenance and got the same reply, "if something happens, you better be able to prove you were up on all the maintenance" and "they will not question anything if we do it, because it will be documented correctly by a dealer".
Anyways, I asked him to give me a price for the annual service and he came back with "between $600-$700".
I thought this was pretty high as it included:
oil / filter change
trans fluid replacement
both fuel filters
impeller
overall inspection and computer check
no belt, no plugs
I priced all of the parts on nautiqueparts.com and came up with a total of $160 plus the oil of my choice.
So I am basically paying $400-$500 in labor, is that normal?
I guess it could take 4 hrs, and maybe the shop rate is $125 per hr?
I could see that type of labor rate for repairs where you need a very skilled mechanic, but I can do this stuff myself and I an far from a mechanic.
Would I be out of line if I let them do it but ask for a discount?
The main reason I am thinking about letting them do it is because my boat will be there soon for a warranty radio replacement.

[JoeA]

This is a tough one. I say try doing it yourself one time and ask yourself if the time that it took to do EVERYTHNG was worth more than $400-500.

[nyryan2001]

Oil and tranny fluids are super simple. Imoelloer a little harder.

The high pressure fuel filter... Not for the average guy to DIY.

Buy yourself a Pela 6000, do both fluids yourself and get your hours in. The. You can do a mid summer oil change also. Do the fuel filters, immpellor and the rest in the fall. My 2 cents.

[Austin179]

Oil and tranny fluids are super simple. Imoelloer a little harder.

The high pressure fuel filter... Not for the average guy to DIY.

Buy yourself a Pela 6000, do both fluids yourself and get your hours in. The. You can do a mid summer oil change also. Do the fuel filters, immpellor and the rest in the fall. My 2 cents.

Thanks for the advice, I have been known to be OCD when it comes to maintenance. I agree that doing everything again with only 50 hrs is overkill. When I replaced fluids, filters, and impellers on my last nautique they came out looking the same as when they went in. I always said I was going to stretch it out a bit, but I never did. Lol

[xrichard]

If you do the tranny yourself (PCM recommends the dealer do it), make sure you use a copper tube to pull the fluid out. If you use a plastic one, you run the risk of hanging it up in the tranny and the only fix is to remove and disassemble. I have a TRAC Oil Extractor (link below) for the tranny and a Moeller pump for the oil. On the TRAC, it's easy to measure the exact amount of tranny fluid removed so the same amount can be put back in.

On the oil pump, I put a fitting that matches the fitting on the hose from the oil pan. To suck out the oil, I screw the tube from the Moeller to the hose coming from the oil pan and pump it up. I then change the filter and do the tranny fluid and do other maintenance while the extractor removes all the motor oil.

Impellers are easy, too...loosen the serpentine belt at the tensioner and undo 3 bolts. The bolts are held in place with o-rings and the impeller typically slides right out. Better to do that annually even if it looks good in order to reduce the risk of one breaking apart. BTW, I'd do the the impeller in the spring or right after any prolonged period of little or no use. No sense having a brand new impeller sitting in one position all winter as the blades can get bent over and damaged over time.

For most, the FCC should be done by the dealer. It's not technically difficult (e.g. drain the FCC, undo the strap holding the canister, r&r the filter), but there's the potential for screwing it up.

[jonsquatch]

The 2 things that are listed as dealer items are both simple to do but I suppose there is room for error. I use a a harbor freight air operated oil extractor and it was easy to modify to take ice maker line so I have a long smooth, rigid, yet flexible probe that comes in handy for the transmission (I had previously set it up to extract oil from the bottom of the dipstick tube). If its the owners responsibility to regularly check the transmission fluid I can see no rational reason to not also extract a bit of oil and replace it. Its not any harder than the oil change other than in my boat you need to pull the oil filter to have good access to the trans plug, and you need a proper funnel to fill the trans.

I can see why they wouldn't recommend that the owner open a possible source of explosive vapors that lives in an enclosed engine compartment. If you have the slightest bit of common sense and can perform basic maintenance tasks at a level at which you are willing to undertake them on a 100k+ piece of machinery then it shouldn't be a problem. This can be backed up by the number of people on this and other discussion boards who have done and continue to do their own. Don't dump gasoline into the bilge, don't have any open flames or potential ignition sources nearby, dispose of the gasoline properly (I don't seem to have any water in mine so I dump both in my gas can I use for garden equipment) make sure the o-rings are installed properly, use a thread sealant rated for fuel on the drain plug (I use Permatex 56521) and check for leaks.

If you aren't able or comfortable doing these things then don't, but if you already did them on your old boat like many of us, then keep good records and have at it. For me (I also live 3 hrs away from my dealer, one way) the value of my time actually dictates doing it myself, as it doesn't take anywhere near as long as it does to drive to the dealer and back to do the work. I also don't have to leave the boat for a week and have 2 Saturdays cut short (one off the water early for drop off and the other on the water late waiting for the shop to open for pickup, which in the summer means I might not get on the water at all) or take a day off of work just to get the boat serviced. If I had to wait for time to get the boat in then I would end up stretching my services.