www.iFourWinns.com

Take them off and look at them. They may be marked with the type of metal, or with a part number which you'd have to look up. If yours haven't been changed, they are most likely aluminum, which FW installs at the factory as a compromise because they can't know for sure what type of water the boat will be used in. If you boat in fresh water you should change them to magnesium. If you boat in salt water you should change them to zinc.

IMO most dealers are negligent on this point because as far as I can tell they say nothing about it to their new owners. They ought to make it a point to know where their buyers plan to use the boat, educate them about this need, and even swap the anodes out for the right ones prior to delivery. The fact that they don't do this, as far as I'm concerned, makes them at least partially responsible for problems like this.

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

Thanks, I'll check it out!

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Brian
2007 Four Winns H200 - VP 5.0L GL/SX
2003 Chevy Avalanche Z66
Canyon Lake, TX

+1 to Mike. Nobody at my dealer said a word about it, even thought they knew I was going to be a fresh water boater. IMHO, they should ship the boats without anodes so that the dealer installs them according to the application. They are doing other things to prep the boat, it isn't like it would take them 3 hours to do it.

I would suggest printing out the long threads you would be relying upon in saying "I know other people who got taken care of" and take them with you for those in-person discussions.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

I agree with this thought as well. IMO, the dealer should sock the most prevalent type of anodes for local water, and install them as part of the delivery prep. Makes perfectly good sense to me!

I was thinking the same thing pet575, I am definately going to print these threads out and have them for show and tell.

Does anyone know if the inner passages of the drive are painted? I will be expressing my two greatest concerns: the weakness of a scuff and paint repair compaired to the factory multi-step paint process, and the possibility of corrosion in the internal passages of the drive that won't be repaired by a "scuff and paint".

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2009 H180 w/3.0 Merc
Homebuilt Minimax Hydro
2011 Zodiac Cadet 310

Looking at my anode it shows little white dots of corrosion beginning. Guess that's good. On the underneath side the part number stamped into the anode reads "3883728" which I couldn't find on the Volvo Penta website on an SX-A lower gearhousing. Need to call the dealer.

EDIT- just added photo of my anode at the sterndrive.

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Brian
2007 Four Winns H200 - VP 5.0L GL/SX
2003 Chevy Avalanche Z66
Canyon Lake, TX

That number doesn't show up in Volvo's own parts database and also isn't found at dougrussell.com or marinepartsexpress.com.

You could also call 800-916-1123 if you want to go right to the horse's mouth.

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

Chris - please call the service rep I gave you the number for and tell her your situation. Tell her you know for a fact that they helped me and we have the same problem and could use some help getting the canadian folks to get it together. Id be willing to bet that the same people who made the decision to replace mine made your deicision also. No reason it should be differant. Lite some fires and see who yelps!

Dave

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Guns kill people like spoons make people fat.
2007 Horizon 190 Gxi
97 Pathfinder SE 4x4
73 International Scout II

Wow, I talked with VP and they couldn't even find the part number in their files for the anode my SX-A sterndrive came with. They did confirm the sterndrive anode I need for fresh water is Magnesium and the part number is 3888815. Part available only from the dealer.

My VP manual states the following:
"Note! Your Volvo Penta product has been shipped with either Zinc or Aluminum anodes..."
Then it lists a table showing material and part numbers for the different anodes for salt or brackish or fresh water conditions.

Called my dealer (Tex-All in San Antonio) and they said they don't change the anodes or special order them for fresh water. So I've got anodes for salt/brackish water, not fresh water... They're checking on their part stock and said they're about $20 or so.

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Brian
2007 Four Winns H200 - VP 5.0L GL/SX
2003 Chevy Avalanche Z66
Canyon Lake, TX

I've got a 2006 H180 and after reading this I found that my anodes were zinc. Luckily I have not had any significant corrosion issues to date as the boat is trailered. I boat in fresh water only and took the boat back to the dealer and they said that they 'usually always' change the electrodes to magnesium during pre-delievery as they sell the majority of their boats for fresh water use. I was told that FourWinns has an exchange program and they replaced the anodes after a full season on the water for no charge. I wouldn't think you should have to pay for these from my experience.

Steve
2006 H180
2007 F150 SuperCrew 5.4

Brian, in case you aren't aware, the drives up through '06 used two anodes - one on the drive itself and one on the transom shield. I would expect that there are still two on the new drives, and you'll want to change them both.

Steve, it sounds like your dealer has a policy about this - as all dealers should, but I think most of them don't. For most folks, if they didn't work out the correct anodes at delivery time they're probably stuck having to buy new ones. It's a raw deal IMO. People could probably ask their dealer to take care of it out of a sense of good will, but frankly I'd rather save up some of that good will for something more expensive.

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

Thanks! Sure enough, there are 2 anodes on the '07 SX-A sterndrive, one above the prop and one down by the drain plug on the transom shield. Easy enough to get to and swap out.

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Brian
2007 Four Winns H200 - VP 5.0L GL/SX
2003 Chevy Avalanche Z66
Canyon Lake, TX

Is that an "AL" before the part number on that anode Brian? If so, it's aluminum. They should be marked AL, ZN, or MG (or else marked only by part number). It looks like the casting mold is designed so that 38837 is always present, and then a 2-digit suffix and the 2-character material abbreviation are added depending on the material they're casting that day.

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

For the later drive SXA design, anode part numbers are:

Transom 38888 followed by 16 for Al, 17 for Zn, 18 for Mg.

Drive: 38888 followed by 13 for Al, 14 for Zn, 15 for Mg.

Looks like they changed the design, hence part numbers of the anodes from the early ones for this drive; the part in ther picture does not look like the latest anode design.

Mike,
Some of the earlier SX/ DPS design up to ca '06/ '07 actually used 3 anodes. 1 on the drive, 2 on the transom. That MHP drive again! Those transom anodes are only available in zinc or magnesium, not aluminium for some reason; doesn't bother me, as I boat exclusively in salt water.

Chris,
Certainly on the earlier drives, all the internal passages carrying/ exposed to water were not painted; they were treated with some sort of corrosion protection treatment though; yellow in colour, I'd imagine the whole drive has the same treatment/ coating, but is hidden by the paint elsewhere. Such passages on my drive are not showing any corrosion, so it does a good job if undamaged. I guess the outside/ normally visible surfaces are painted to make it look pretty and give this underlying coating protection from abrasion.

Regards,

Graham

Thanks Dave, my thoughts were to try and discuss this face to face at the show, as I am sure there will be some reps from FourWinns corp. HQ at the show (there always has been in the past). If I don't get some favorable replies there, then I was going to go ahead and call the number of the person that helped you. Either way, I am not letting this go!

Thanks Graham for the info on the internals. I had a feeling that there was some other type of coating/treatment besides paint in there.

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2009 H180 w/3.0 Merc
Homebuilt Minimax Hydro
2011 Zodiac Cadet 310

230 Mike,

A bit of trivia for you; I finally found out what the "MHP", as in the "DM SM MHP" transom shield stands for; "Moderate Hydrostatic Pressure". Presumably referring to lower backpressure due to the different exhaust hose and exhaust outlets on the transom shield. I won't let having thet knowledge change my way of life!

Regards,

Graham