I apologize in advance for the length of this, but not sure what to cut, & I'm too furious to think straight
.<br /><br />I have a 1989 Seaswirl with a 4.3L OMC Cobra. In June 2003 I took it to the only repair shop on our lake (owned by a neighbor) to have the engine tuned and the outdrive serviced. It had 416 original hours on it at the time. After the boat was done I drove it home approx. 4 or 5 miles.<br /><br />The next day I drove it approx. 1 mile to a friends house. When I left to return home the outdrive started screaming (an extremely loud whining noise, kind of like a jet airplane). It was 11:30 pm so I limped home and called the repair shop the next day to report what had happened. <br /><br />The mechanic and the shop manager came out, listened to the drive, and checked the gear oil. It didnt register on the fill stick so they checked the drain plug to see if there was any oil in the unit (there was). They added a full tube (10 oz) of gear oil they had brought with them, along with what was left of a partial tube (approx ¾ full) I had in the boat house. When I checked the level the next day it was still low so I got some more oil and added maybe an additional 8 oz. All in all, it required a total of an additional 25 oz. or so to bring it up to full capacity (2 quarts).<br /><br />When the shop manager and mechanic checked the low fluid level they discussed whether the unit had been filled from the bottom (drain plug) or from the top of the drive (where the measuring stick is). The mechanic stated that he had refilled the oil from the bottom drain plug. Neither was aware that OMC Cobra outdrives have a specific fill plug several inches above the drain plug.<br /><br />When I ran the boat after refilling the outdrive oil I noticed a whining noise coming from the outdrive that hadnt been there before. This was much more subdued than when it first happened but still definitely noticeable to me. I called the shop owner to mention my concern and he came out to listen to the drive. He said he didnt think there was anything abnormal about the sound (but he hadnt heard the drive before the incident so he really didnt have a specific baseline for comparison, either). <br /><br />A neighbor who was very familiar with the boat did note the change in sound the first time he rode in it after this happened. He hadnt heard about the incident with the low outdrive gear oil but independently commented on the change in the boats sound. He thought the boat sounded kind of turbocharged after the tune up, but when I shifted the boat in & out of gear it was clear that the extra noise he noted was coming from the outdrive.<br /><br />Shifting became progressively harder as I ran the boat sparingly for the rest of the summer (approx. 17 hours).<br /><br />This spring I was still concerned about the outdrive so I took the boat to a shop with a reputation for OMC expertise about an hour and a half away to have them pull & service the drive. The manager called me back and told me that the gears and bearings were shot and would need to be replaced. I asked him if the damage was consistent with what might happen if the drive had been run significantly low on oil, and he replied that it was, or that someone had hit something with the prop (which I know didnt happen).<br /><br />Reasonably certain the damage had been caused by the shop who had left the oil level low, I explained the situation to the owner and made the following suggestion: that I would pay for parts (gears & bearings) at their cost if they would do the labor for free. They told me to bring the boat back and I did.<br /><br />Over two months later they told me the boat was finally done and sent me an invoice that was $150 more than the other place would have fixed it for. Turns out instead of replacing the gears & bearings, they put in a completely rebuilt upper drive plus they charged me for half the labor besides.<br /><br />In the meantime, I found this following tidbit Stuart Hastings (the apparent guru of OMC Cobra drives) posted online based on a discussion he had with the OMC service tech people:<br /> When filling the Cobra with gear lube, use the middle fill plug, as shown in the Owners' Manual. Do not fill through the (bottom) drain plug! If you fill from the wrong port, you will probably trap a big bubble of air inside the vertical drive, and that bubble will eventually rise to the top. When it does, the upper gearcase gears will run dry, and self-destruct. As they say in the computer biz, "RTFM." <br /><br />I called OMC and the tech guy verified the above statement. Now instead of being reasonably sure the first shop had caused the damage Im about as close to 100% sure as you can be. Im furious that my gesture to split the cost to fix the boat was so badly manipulated. The shop owner claims that the damage wasnt due to the low gear oil, but that something else just happened to go wrong with the drive exactly at the same time they left the gear oil low. He sited the age of the boat (15 years) ignoring the fact that it only had 415 original hours on it. The shop owner also sited the following reasons he thought the damage wasnt due to the low gear oil: <br />1. He said the gears werent blackened and that there was no burnt smell in the outdrive (of course the gear oil had been drained by the other shop a couple of months before the original shop ever opened it up).<br />2. He said the timing wasnt consistent for this type of damage (I drove it 5 miles, let it sit over night, and drove it another mile before the outdrive started screaming).<br />3. He said the boat wasnt driven long enough for the damage to have resulted from low gear oil.<br />4. No gear teeth were completely missing.<br /><br />The shop owner told me that the gears were just very worn at the ends, but I saw them and they were extremely torn up on the edges. As a matter of fact the new shop manager who showed me the damaged unit stated that he thought some bearings had gone and torn up the gear set (but that, again, it wasnt due to the incident with the low gear oil).<br /><br />Anyone with significant OMC experience have any thoughts on this situation or suggestions as to where I can go from here? Again, apologies on the length and thanks for allowing me to vent.
