www.iFourWinns.com

Hi guys,
I managed to strip the female thread of the bearing cover for the drivetrain oil dipstick today while prepping the boat for the season. I looked online and the replacement part is ~300$... I still don't understand why the female thread is aluminum vs. the stainless steel dipstick, sounds backwards to me.

My boat is a 2005 200 horizon with a volvo penta 5.0 V8 gxi. The replacement part is #19 bearing cover part#: 3854401

Anyway, anybody have any luck with using a helicoil? If so what size? Any recommendations as to how to proceed?

I'll be reaching out to my marina mechanic tomorrow to see what he says.

Thanks

I'd go and post this on the Volvo I/O forum over at the iboats forums, I bet someone has done this before....
I have heard of this happening on some of these, maybe the grade of aluminum they used was too soft or they should have installed a helicoil or similar in the first place. I know that on my OMC Cobra, there are inserts installed in various areas to keep that from happening.

_________________
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

been there, done that. Helicoil works as good OR better as having a new top cover. Also makes it harder to strip it again. I took my cover off and took it to a shop, they put the helicoil in there for me for 20 bucks. Its probably not hard to do this yourself, but I did not want to buy an entire kit and tools. Keep in mind, the dipstick only goes in at VERY LOW torque (hindsight 20/20 right?) It is measured in inch/lbs. I can't remember the torque 10 in/lbs maybe? Be careful not to lose the shims when you take the top cover off-- not necessarily easy to lose, but if you will be taking it to a shop, keep track of them and make sure they all get put back... also when you bolt top cover back on, use even pressure on all bolts applied a little at a time similar to how you put lug nuts back on...

If you go the other route and buy a NEW top cover... keep in mind it will probably need to be re-shimmed. The shims were measured for your existing top cover and there are slight differences from cover to cover.

_________________
2007 FW Horizon 200 5.0GXi/SX-A

I ended up bringing it in to my marina mechanic. He put a helicoil in there for 30$ and it is good to go.

Thanks for all the help!