www.iFourWinns.com

Well, I dropped Nauti Luv off at the dealer on Tuesday morning to have the drive alignment checked/adjusted if needed. There is nothing wrong with it...I am just knocking on the 100 hour mark and want to do whats needed, as needed.

Anyway, the service advisor (didnt know I had a warranty yet) called me first thing this morning telling me that the yoke seal between the upper unit and the engine was leaking drive fluid into the bellows. He started in on how much labor/parts were going to be and I interupted him to tell him I extended the warranty. Obviously, they are going to cover it and hopefully she will still be ready for me to pick up tomorrow.

What I am happy about is that by me taking the initiative of having the drive alignment checked, it probably saved drive unit from eventually running out of fluid....could have been a real mess.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Doesn't VP have a low drive fluid warning buzzer like Mercruiser's ? They are there to prevent excessive fluid loss and avoid
a major failure in the drives. They go off way before you are even close to running out of drive lube.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I have no idea.

_________________
Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Sorry. Volvo's do not have it. You have to check the dipstick when the boat is out of the water. The Volvo ocean series drives do have a drive lube monitor installed on them. DPS and SX do not.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Thats one plus for Mercruiser.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

Another Merc plus is the full reservoir for the drive that's in the engine compartment....as far as shifting, durablity, and maintenance its all VP.....kinda makes you wonder if it's the synthetic oil that prompted the seal leak??? Of well - at least it's covered under the warranty....you actually came out better on the deal since now the drive alignment should be part of the repair. Dang your smart and may get a freebee oil swap in the drive as a result.

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi

Overfilling the drive causes pressure build up as it heats up/ the oil expands. The input shaft seal fails first, as the pressure the other side of it is less than at the lower unit. At least it means water doesn't get in! Maybe not by design!

Graham

This shows the value of pulling the drive off at the end of the season to check everything to make sure that seal is not leaking into the bellows...which will result in a low drive oil level as noted...

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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

Good to hear the VP extended warranty is working out for you. I too am approaching 100 hours, and have been mentally reviewing what all to get done. Drive alignment is now at the top of the list. What else did you have them take a look at?

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Thats all I took it in for. I am due for an oil change and drive fluid change right now (at 100hrs)...but looks like I wont have to worry about drive fluid being changed.

There are 2 things that I know are issues with my boat, but I am not going to have it taken care of until the off season.
1. My trim still bleeds down very slightly over the course of a week. The check valve in the pump obviously sucks like the last one did.
2. There appears to be a VERY VERY minor power steering leak. At the beginning of the season of 2009, I had to fill the fluid reservoir. It was at the "low" mark on the reservoir....litterally only took a couple ounces. At the beginning of the 2010 season...exact same amount was down. Its not like much of any is leaking into the bilge so I am not worried about it right now.

_________________
Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Well that certainly doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I change my own fluids and filter and do my own minor maintenance. Its a 45 mile trip 1 way just to get to a place that can winterize for me. An authorized VP dealer is several hours away, and FW doesn't even have a dealer in my state anymore so having my drive removed every year would be a challenge. I guess I'll have to start checking my drive oil more often.

If your drive was leaking oil into your bellows, was water not getting into your drive?

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2008 FW F204 - 5.0 VP "Stand On It"
Former Boat: Larson 186 LXI - 4.3 VP

The seal that was bad was the seal on the input shaft to the upper unit. Basically that seal is inside the area protected by the bellows and that is why there was no water intrusion.

_________________
Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

It actually is not that hard to remove and replace the drive each season and you can save a lot of money and avoid expensive repairs this way. If you go over to http://www.iboats.com and look in the I/O forums there are pics of how to make an outdrive stand out of wood and then you just need the alignment tool (I got a Sierra one locally) to check engine allgnment and also line up the gimble bearing so the driveshaft will slide through into the coupler...Lubing the ujionts and gimble (if yours are greasable) and the driveshaft splines will greatly extend the life of these parts...When I take mine off if I find a problem I can't fix I take to my mechanic over the winter...if there are no problems then I just reinstall it in the spring...

_________________
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

Dang Steve, now you got me worried. I went over 100 hours on this weekends trip. I wasn't gonna worry about having anything extra done until winterize. Did have to replace my trim pump again, but I posted about that in another thread. I purchased the extended warranty at the time of sale. I remember when you were contemplating adding it, good call.

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2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

I would get it in...

_________________
Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4