275 and aq131a noise and metal

[Carlos1787]

Hi all, I have a 1986 volvo penta 275 outdrive (sn PZNO 27136443D) paired to an aq 131a. toward the end of last season I noticed some noise coming from the outdrive. The noise was only noticeable when the engine was running in neutral. put it into gear, and the noise went away. I thought that it was the bearing in the bell housing, but I am not that lucky. I removed the drive and when I took the U-joint bellows off I was greeted with a bunch oil. Turns out that the input seal at the outdrive had gone bad. The oil level was on the low side but still showing on the stick and it sparkles. I can see some wear on one of the driven gear bearings in the upper unit. I am an Auto mechanic by trade, and thought that I would go ahead and try to repair this unit. after reading the procedure and realizing that I don't have all of the tools for the job I am left wondering what to do next.

Generally if some metal is seen in the oil should all of the bearings be replaced?

do I need to inspect the lower unit?

has anybody set up an upper unit with new bearings?

What other outdrives will fit?

My other thought is to simply change the input seal, flush the unit and run it till it breaks.

any thoughts?

 

[Don S]

Re: 275 and aq131a noise and metal

The oil level was on the low side but still showing on the stick and it sparkles.

That's not good, at that point your best bet is to find another drive. The gears are probably bad too. The gear hard facing is failing.

 

[Carlos1787]

Re: 275 and aq131a noise and metal

I went the next step and started dis-assembly, I found one bearing in the upper gear housing that had some wear. The gears in the upper look good, but I have not opened up the lower yet. I ran it 3 times with the noise there, and am hoping there is no other damage in the lower.

I did look into another drive, but everything I found was in the $800+ range. My local boat shop has a used one for $1000, complete unit. that's about 2 times what I am willing to spend right now.

I wanted to avoid taking the thing apart, until I found out what it was going to cost to just do a swap.

 

[captmello]

Re: 275 and aq131a noise and metal

Sorry to hear about your outdrive. Being a mechanic, you may have a better shot of fixing the outdrive, but there is a lot of fine tuning and shimming involved in these outdrives, nothing like working on a car, IMO. replacement parts alone will most likely put you over your 500 budget.

I agree with Don, you should shop for a complete outdrive. 2.15:1 ratio outdrives should be fairly common. 1000 seems a little high, but if they'll warrenty it for a summer, it may be worth while.

It comes down to, do you want to work on the boat, or use it? You'll be working on it no matter what, so pick your battles, so to speak.

There are manuals in the adults only section. Here:

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=2360521#post2360521

Use the 280 manual for your outdrive.

Good luck!!!

 

[Carlos1787]

Re: 275 and aq131a noise and metal

I checked out the lower and it looks great! I decided to replace 4 of the bearings in the upper and was shocked at what the dealer wanted for them. 2 at $270 each, one at $132 and one at $93. I took the bearings to my local auto parts supplier and ordered them by the bearing manufacturer part number and the price is much better, under $300 for all of them. I may squeak in at budget after all.

I do have the shop manual for this outdrive, and yes there is a lot of shimming involved, but for $500+ I am willing to spend some time on this.

I got lucky that I caught this in the very early stages of failure.

Now I have to wait for the parts...I won't see them til Tuesday...another weekend on land

 

[Carlos1787]

Re: 275 and aq131a noise and metal

up date: problem solved. I got it all together and have put about 20 hours of pulling tubes and skiers over the past few weeks. no more "designer oil" in the out drive!

 

[captmello]

Re: 275 and aq131a noise and metal

Thanks for the update Carlos.

Great to hear you got it fixed. DIYers, can still boat on a budget.

 

[Carlos1787]

Re: 275 and aq131a noise and metal

DIYers, can still boat on a budget.

Yes we Can!!

The salesman at the dealer was trying the enlighten me by telling me that "BOAT" stands for "Break Out Another Thousand".

I let him know that I still haven't reached the $1000 mark, that includes the purchase and repairs I have done on this boat over that Past year.

So now that it's all set, I'm looking for the next boat, something a bit bigger, say 18 or 19 foot.