Identifying year of O/B
 

I recently purchased a 40 yamaha for my whaler but after a bit of research I can't seem to find out what year it is. The tag on the bracket reads as follows.
Top line reads - YAMAHA 40HMO
second line reads - 6HS S 187875
Also this engine is says AUTOLUBE on cowl, not "oil injected" Ive never seen that before either.
After some searches im told the last letter in model # is the year. In this case O. On the yamaha chart to identify the year, O doesn't exist. Any thoughts? Thanks

this
 

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/018729.html
this must be help

Then there's this, http://yamahaoutboards.com/owner-res...ar-elimination

From Here: http://boatinfo.no/lib/yamaha/manual...maha.html#/616
and from an Australian Yamaha dealer website:

Yamaha 40V HMO
"V" =3-cylinder, 698cc block, 2-stroke
"M"=Manual [pull rope] start w/o charging system (could be easily changed to electric start by adding starter, key-switch, magneto and flywheel. The wiring was already there)
"H"=Tiller handle, with handle-mounted gear shift,
"O"=533mm shaft length, (21 inch shaft)

This basic motor was sold in Asia beginning in 1980, the market expanded to include Australia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean in 1985, and sold in the US from 1997 to 2003, and then the model was discontinued in 2005.
The "Autolube" model came after the earlier "Precision Blend" model, first appearing in 1998.

Narrowing it down any further than that needs the information off the serial# plate on the left side of the transom clamp.

Thanks, yes none of the charts help sadly.
Fr. Frank, mine doesn't have the V in the #'s but it is a 3 cyl. According to dealer that O tells you what year, but O isn't on the yamaha charts?? And its a 15", with electric start and pull start, its a non tiller remote engine. After talking to the dealer and then Yamaha themselves it seems this engine is "non U.S" engine?? Kind of a strange situation

Yup bigshrimpin thats the chart, no O that designates the year. As my tag on the mounting bracket reads 40HMO. Yamaha head quarters in GA and a dealer here in NJ both looked at the same chart and had no answer. The guy at yamaha in GA even did a serial # search and that did not match either. Thanks, any other thoughts would be great.

maybe the O is a Q without the tail:)

I'm thinking Fr. Frank nailed it (as usual)

Its not a Q, already went through that with the dealer and yamaha…...