Propane outboard buyer beware

[thyer]

I purchased a 5hp outboard for my inflatable boat from Lehr Outboard and wanted to warn others of the poor quality and customer service. It's a propane fueled motor which has so far proven to be waste of time and money and do not want others to go through the same situation I have. I've only used the motor 5 times (less than the break in period total hours) and so far I have experience oil leakage, difficulty starting, stalling at 40-50% throttle, poor customer service, delays in parts shipping, poor communication from support and service and the overall dismal quality of the motor.

After contacting them about the issues they ended up sending me (for me to replace because there aren't any service shops) a drain plug with proper sized gasket to stop oil leakage, a new fuel line assembly and a plastic grommet for where the flexible fuel line goes through the fuel canister cradle. The service contact took my address while on the phone with me and said the parts would be shipped. A week later an email comes in asking me for my address again and then a full week later a shipping notification comes in that it finally shipped. I expressed my dissatisfaction with the delays yet they still shipped the parts by slowest method available. When the parts arrive I find that they didn't send me the plastic grommet. I stress that this part is needed because the fuel hose goes through a sharp metal hole that over time will wear through the fuel line. I contact the service person and tell him that part did not get delivered and to tell him that upon disassembling the motor for the fuel line replacement that I find several broken parts. These parts were broken from manufacturing. I send him pictures and he says that he will be shipping the parts. A few weeks go by and no parts arrive but I receive a phone call saying that he has a message about some parts that I may need. I remind you that I spoke to this individual as well as emailing him several times with pictures of the parts. The motor has now been in my basement for the entire summer.

I've also asked in email to the company and to the service tech about cold weather performance with propane tank freezing. Now I realize this isn't a motor issue but I figure that a company that sells propane motors may have some knowledge about how to mitigate cold weather tank freeze ups. It's been two months and I haven't received an answer.

Save your money and avoid this company

[Capt. Debbie]

Perhaps yours is just a lemon? If it was that bad on all units the internet should be plastered with complaints?

Seems that motor does nothing well except provide reasons to spend more money?

[thyer]

When I purchased the motor it was still relatively new to the market but there are reports of similar issues coming out. If it were a lemon then I would expect customer service to be all over trying to correct the situation. The customer service is where I have an issue. It's one thing for companies to manufacture lower quality items but it's another to not back them and get the situation corrected in an expeditious manner.

[Capt. Debbie]

Go to corporate. I've actually written to the President of the company and gotten great results in similar stuff.

Nothing nasty. Just fact laden failures in machine and Lehr support.

Originally Posted by thyer

When I purchased the motor it was still relatively new to the market but there are reports of similar issues coming out. If it were a lemon then I would expect customer service to be all over trying to correct the situation. The customer service is where I have an issue. It's one thing for companies to manufacture lower quality items but it's another to not back them and get the situation corrected in an expeditious manner.

[briansnat]

The only thing I know about propane motors was a guy who I met on Round Valley last year. He was watching me spend 10 minutes trying to get my 2 cycle started and bragged about his propane motor. He claimed it starts first try every time. He apparently was a fan. Perhaps it was the brand of motor he had. I know little about them.

But it sounds like the customer service you are receiving from the mfr. of you motor is unacceptable. I agree that you should write the higher ups in the company and if you have a Facebook and/or Twitter account make your complaints known there. If your motor is available on Amazon, Cabelas, BPS, etc. write a scathing review. Many product manufactures these days monitor social media because they know it can have an effect on their reputation and address those complaints quickly.