www.iFourWinns.com

I bought a new H210 last year, and we traded it in for a new H220 this year. I had a 5.0L Volvo in last years boat, and have a 5.7L Volvo in this years boat. With both boats, I have had a strange clicking, clanking noise arise from the outdrive after about 15 hours of use. It is definitely coming from the outdrive, and it sounds like some of the moving gears are popping against each other, specifically when in idle. It runs fine, and has no problems shifting in and out of gear, but it is annoying nonetheless. Has anybody else had this occur, or have any ideas about what it is? Could it just be part of the break-in process and the thin oil used to break it in? Any ideas?

Most likely not a break-in issue. Same dealer on both boats? My guess is, the gimbal bearings never got greased before delivery, and the sound just gets covered up by engine noise when above idle.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Mine's dead quiet... but I know they do lube it as part of the service - I watched!!

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Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

Yeah, same dealer on both boats. So is this something to be concerned about? I thought the gimbal bearings are sealed now?

If it's the newer design of SX/ DPS drive , the Gimbal Bearings are "Lubed for life" ( however long that is!).

I do get a faint "jangling" noise that comes and goes, it's not coming from the engine so it must be the outdrive, it's bever got any worse in over 100 hours of use.

Graham

I know the u-joints have been sealed for a few years now; I was not aware that the new gimbal bearings are sealed.

Other than that, it's hard to imagine that you could get two different new boats that would both be so out of alignment that they make noise, but I guess stranger things have happened. I'd get it in to the dealer and ask them to check the alignment as well as anything else they can do to get to the bottom of it. It shouldn't be making that noise at all.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Update: When I took the boat in for winterizing and the 20 hour break-in service, I asked them to check it. They took the outdrive off and checked everything out, but found nothing out of the ordinary. It had a little bit of metal shavings from the break-in period in the outdrive mineral oil, but everything checked out. No unusual or out of the ordinary wear on it. They said they called Volvo Penta about it, and they told them that a little bit of noise, such as the jangling coming from mine, is usual and expected once the outdrive gets broken in and loosens up. Said the noise comes from the design of the volvo penta outdrive having moving gears located in the superior part of the outdrive and when no pressure is being exerted on them, as would be when it is in neutral, they can tend to make audible noise. They told them to put the recommended synthetic oil in it and it should resolve a lot of the noise. I obviously haven't had it back out, so I hope it takes care of it. Thoughts?

I don't buy that at all, my 21 year old OMC Cobra makes no noise at all!
There was someone on trailerboats.com who had a similar issue and he put up a vid of it with sound and it sounded bad to me, I bet the gears in the upper gear housing were not shimmed right. I would put the syn oil in it and then see if it quiets down, but still I can say my old drive has never made noises like that. For sure a new Volvo should be set up right and quiet!

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I hear you LouC, but I have had two Volvo Penta outdrives do the exact same thing now. Just seems kind of odd to me that I just happened to have purchased two outdrives with the exact same problem, don't you? Could it have had anything to do with the way they were broke in maybe?

I have to agree with Lou.

Maybe VP is trying not to spend any time or money on you because they have so many defective paint claims right now .

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Did some investigating of my own and the jangling noise is coming from the pinion gear on the drive shaft. When it is in neutral, it is making the very quaint jangling noise on the two moving forward and reverse gears. When it is put into either gear, it stops because the pressure on the gear stabilizes the gear housings. I checked with another FW dealer and they said that they do see the same thing with Volvo Penta outdrives, but most people don't notice the noise because the engine drowns it out.

Well maybe that is characteristic of the new design Volvos, I'd want to check with VP myself to see what their tech people say. I have a vid of my Cobra running on the water hose when I winterized it last year and with it running out of the water when you would hear any noise it is completely quiet. I have the Merc high performance gear lube in it at my mechanic's recommendation, it shifts great and is doing pretty well for a 21 year old.
I am a little suspicious of the permenantly lubed ujoints and gimble bearings, I know they work fine on cars, but in the marine environment it's nice to be able to see the fresh grease coming out of them so you know it's got good lubrication.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

By your description, it sounds like a backlash issue.

With the gimbal bearing, I just replaced mine last spring, I am sure that if VP had a sealed bearing that cost more they would have pushed that on me! I too think that for the marine enviroment that you want to see the fresh grease squirt out of the races and know that its lubed. But that's just me.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

Honestly I'd be suprised if a Volvo tech person said that the noise was normal, after all Volvo prides themselves on using the cone clutch which is smoother and quieter than the dog clutches used on the Merc Alpha drives. My Cobra (dog clutch) does shift into gear with a 'thunk' but idling in gear or in neutral there is no noise from the gears at all.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II