I have a 2015 200HP VMAX SHO, and was told at time of purchase the initial service was due at 10 hours and every 100 there after. When I took it back to the dealer for the break in service I was told it needs to be serviced every 50 hours, which I have had done since 2015. Am I being fed a line of bull are is this actual fact. I put in a lot of time on the water and 50 hours comes around PDQ not to mention the hit on my pocket book.

The book on mine says 10 hours first, and then every 100 hours, so that�s acceptable I guess. I change mine every six months which ends up about 40-60 hours, I feel 100 hours is too long. I personally know a few guides that fish six days a week that do the 50 hour interval as well, and end up having 3000+ trouble free hours for the most part. They use Mobil 1 10W-30 from the parts store. I still use the Yamaha oil, they sell it here in town, it is convenient for me to go get, and two oil changes a year is not going to break me.

I am in the car service business and the better you take care of anything mechanical the longer it will last and less break downs. The owners manual always paints a rosey picture as to how little maintenance the car or boat needs.

Thank you for your input. A little extra spent now equals a lot saved in the long run. I service my truck more often than the dealer recommends so why not my boat motor.

Change your initial oil at 10-20 hours once you are sure it's broken in. Every year change your oil in both the foot and the crankcase. Change both your engine mounted fuel filter and your 10 micron. Grease the he'll out of your engine points. Every other year change your impeller and grease the whole drive shaft with the special yamaha wr2 grease. Use the synthetic 5w30 yamaha lube and the hd gear lube, dont let the dealer tell you something different. Run min 89 octane preferably 93 gas. If you are going to let it sit fill the tank up and add a little bit of stable. Do those things and your sho will last at least 15 years.

curious as to why grease the "whole drive shaft" ??

Curious why you would run 93 octane

There is something called the yamaha squeal that these motors develop sometimes. The after a long run the drive shaft heats and swells up slightly. It starts rubbing and making a squealing noise that will drive you crazy. If you liberally apply the wr2 grease it solves it.

If you are running less than 89 octane you run the risk of preignition and having the motor pull timing. 89 octane is the [censored] gas at the pump though. 89 is used the least and sits the longest at the station. It will soak up the most water and be the oldest gas at the station. On the 200 you are only getting 20 percent throttle opening so you peak cylinder pressure will be lower and you will be less likely to have it pull timing. I would still want the octane if it was my engine.

Another question for those doing their own maintenance. My SHO gets an engine alarm at every 100 hours indicating it is due service which has to be reset by the technician when he services the engine. How can an individual update the computer without taking it to a dealer? I am wanting to do my own service but cant figure out how to get around this issue.

That's not an engine alarm its just your command link gauge reminder. I can be reset
press MODE for 4 seconds and activate CUSTOM mode. Press SET to get to MAINTENANCE screen... while the numbers (e.g., 102h) are blinking, press MODE & SET for 1 second. This part is tricky and it took me several tries to get it right... if it senses you press MODE before SET it goes to a different page .. if you press SET before MODE it cancels the whole operation. Not a real human friendly interface but it does work.

Thank you for all the helpful information Sir.

Drive shaft?

What octane does yamaha recommend?

On my 115 VMAX SHO 4 stroke Yamaha recommends 87 minimum octane for inland use.

Using higher than recommended octane will cause detonation and cause the engine retard the timing to correct the issue.

If outboards are equipped to correct the timing like automobiles do?