HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

[LEAKITIKI]

:facepalm:I have a Volvo SX-M 1.43 drive. Total hours 168. After purchase and placing about 35 - 40 hours on boat I was concerned with a grumbling sound from the drive when in gear. In the intrest of being proactive I took it into the the shop to diagnose noise and service outdrive. They replaced BPR water seals (3), BPR bearing assy. and Volvo bellow kit. They also state that they serviced drive. $560.00 later I picked up boat for weekend. Shift lever seemed tighter than before but otherwise noise was gone. After 8 hours run time put boat away. Returned next weekend. Boat ran fine for 6 hours. Turned boat for for break in the shade and could not get to shift into netural. After 50 mile tow back to storage I checked the dip stick at top of drive, nothing. Drained unit and got a quart of clean clear water with no oil residue. Never notice any type of oil slick when in the water. What do you all think ?? Many thanks.

 

[Don S]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

I would guess the drive had gear lube in it to start with, no way would it have made the first 8 hour trip if there wasn't any, let alone the second 6 hour run.
I forgot to put oil in a customers drive years ago. It only lasted about 30 minutes and was on a 3.0L

 

[LEAKITIKI]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

Could the seals that were replaced gone bad or been installed incorrectly.

 

[Don S]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

I would have to look at them to tell, anything is possible. What does BPR stand for.

 

[LEAKITIKI]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

Thats what my invoice says. But the seals are part # 3852560. Bearing is #3853807 and bellow kit 3841481. My concern is that gear oil level was not a problem prior to service. When I return the boat I dont want to hear that is not the repair shops fault and Im the one paying for the repair. We were able to get the boat back into netural and shift it but that upper shift linkage is very,very tight. Also just prior to the shifter locking up I had come up on some large boat wakes, I backed off the gas, went thru wakes and then accelerated. The boat RPMs spun up as if it were in neutral and then hard shifted into gear. This happend twice and then it was locked up. I do have a dual shifter on this boat so in theory that should not happen as I did not shift out of foward

 

[Don S]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

My concern is that gear oil level was not a problem prior to service. When I return the boat I dont want to hear that is not the repair shops fault and Im the one paying for the repair.

Not sure what you want to hear for an answer, except maybe that it's the dealers fault, but I nor anyone else can say that without actually looking at it and finding the problem. it may not be the dealers fault, and then again, maybe he did something wrong. But if you don't take it back and have him look at it, you never will know.

 

[LEAKITIKI]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

I was thinking of having another mech. look at it first as a cya. One other thing I wanted to say. When I was checking things over prior to draining unit I had a faint smell of gear oil. I checked and rubbed around for the source. Gave the prop area a hard look as that seal would let the oil out fast, nothing. Next morning I came over with a pan to drain the unit. When I trimed the unit down some water came out as it does from the inlets on the side of the lower. I wiped that out of the pan so as to have nothing in the pan when I pulled the fill plug. That is were the smell of gear oil is coming from...Does that help tell us were the failure was at?

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

If you just had the work done, I would take it back to the shop first.

They may fix whatever the issue you is and you have nothing to worry about.

 

[LEAKITIKI]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

Any ideas on how the gear oil could get into the water inlets? Im not saying I dont like the shop I took the boat to but as a retired HVAC service manager I know that you dont always get a straight or truthfull answer from a technician when there is a call back. I just dont want to pay for a cover up. My understanding is that the shift assy. in that drive can cost $3000 plus the damage to other gears.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

You are correct. Drive work is NOT cheap.
However, if you do not take it the shop before doing ANY work on it, I would think you are voiding any claim you may have the shop was at fault for the failure.
They can simply say you did the damage when working on it.

Why not drop it off to them and at least see what they say about it????
I'm sure they could diagnose the issue quickly and inform you if they are covering it or not.
If NOT, then you can inspect things further to determine if the failure was something the shop did (or didn't do) and go from there.

Just my thoughts.....

 

[LEAKITIKI]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

One of the mech. is from another shop and did the drain down with me. The thought was to have a third party pull the drive, inspect it, pressure test unit and put back on the boat. I would be ther during this. If I take it back, I drop it off and wait tell Im told what they found.

 

[freelancer]

Re: HELP. Two mechanics say they have not heard of this one.

Right now it's an A and B conversation...You and the shop.

When you add C to the equation (at least at this point), your allowing some one else's wrench to muddy the waters.

If it was me, I would take it back to the shop that did the work and keep the other mechanic in the know.