www.iFourWinns.com

I have a question that I would love to hear other people's opinion on, and see if anybody else has encountered this same problem. I bought a new 2007 Four Winns Horizon 210 last May. I grew up on the lakes in Kentucky and Tennessee from the time I was 6 years old, and finally at age 29, I can say that I love being a boat owner for the first time in my life. I am very particular about my boat, all the way from the way I run it to the way I wash it. So when I started hearing a noise coming from the back of my boat midway through the summer, it started to not only worry me, but also annoy me. It was a mix between a tick and a knock. I only have 20 hours on the engine, and at the time I first started hearing it, I think it had around 12-14 hours on it. My father-in-law, whose been around boats his entire life, listened to it and said he didn't know where it was coming from only that it wasn't coming from the engine. I only seemed to hear it after running it a little, and then putting it into neutral, but that could have been due to it being drowned out by the increased engine noise while running it at higher RPM's. It ran fine and gave no other indications that something was seriously wrong other than the tick I kept hearing. I called the dealership where I bought it and talked to a mechanic. He told me that as long as it was running smoothly and with no other problems, to just use it and they would check it out when I brought it up for the initial 20 hour service and for winterization. They told me that when they started it up, they heard it immediately as well. They thought it was coming from a bearing in the outdrive. They took the outdrive apart, and their master mechanic did not see anything unusual that would be causing the sound. They called Volvo to talk to their mechanics, and they just told them to reassemble it, and put in the regular synthetic outdrive oil back in it and that that should take care of the problem because the factory uses a thin mineral oil for the break-in period. They said they restarted it, and didn't hear any noise, only a slight vibration that subsided as the oil got circulated throughout. I haven't used the boat since I got it back because it is winter time and too cold here in Kentucky, but I am worried I am going to hear it again once I start it back up in the spring time. Has anybody else experienced this, or heard of anybody else experiencing this? Any ideas about what it could have been? Thanks, and sorry about the long post.

Welcome to the board BigBlue, and congratulations on your new boat! You have every right to be proud of your boat and expect it to be perfect, being brand-new. The reality is, most new boats go through a "shakedown" period (which often lasts the entire first season) during which you find all the things that weren't properly tightened, adjusted, etc. Unfortunately, 2 or 3 or 4 trips back to the dealer aren't uncommon to get all that niggly stuff taken care of. Frankly I thought the first year was a real PITA.

The bad news is, if you heard it before, it probably isn't going to go away during the winter . But take some comfort in the knowledge that FW will stand behind it. First of all, if your dealer has a guy they call the "master mechanic," I would consider that a potential red flag about the dealer. Sorry, but to me that kind of stuff screams, "we have no idea what we're doing." You might spend some time this winter finding out about any other Volvo shops in your area if you haven't already, just in case it comes down to wanting a second opinion.

As to the noise itself - It's hard to think of anything that would make such a noise on a new boat. On a boat that's a few years old, the immediate thought would be either the gimbal bearing or U-joints. You might try pumping some grease into your gimbal bearing just in case they missed it at the factory and at the dealership before delivery. Your U-joints are sealed and maintenance-free, so unless they're defective they shouldn't be the problem.

Did the noise occur regardless of trim and/or steering position? Only during turns? Only turning to one direction? I assume your drive wasn't trimmed way high when you heard the noise?

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

Thanks so much for the reply. To my knowledge, it made the sound regardless of trim, steering wheel position, etc. Also, it seemed like it only would do it, or maybe it was louder, after the boat had been run for a few minutes and was running at operating temperature. One more question for you: what is the gimbal bearing and how would I go about greasing it? Thanks again.

The gimble bearing is a large bearing that sits inside the transom, and supports the drive shaft between the rear of the engine and the drive unit. It's very important that it be greased once a year. If you look from the outside of the boat, up against the transom on the starboard side, you'll see a grease fitting. The fitting is actually in the end of a tube that runs to the bearing cavity. The fitting is in a recessed hole in the transom shield, so you may have to look for it. If there's no grease residue around it, that could be a clue that it wasn't greased. But even if it was, it may not have been greased fully. I wouldn't give it more than a few pumps, though.

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

Welcome BigBlue. Mike's advice is a good start. I'm not a real gearhead, so I can't give you any mechanical advice. What I can give you is my personal experience with a similar problem I had on a car a few years ago. I had the car in the shop 4 different times (the last 3 were at no charge) to have it looked at for a noise it was making. Turned out it was just a loose part that was rattling a bit and rubbing-everyone was too focused on the mechanical aspect of what was going on-thinking about lifters, valves, piston heads, crankshafts, etc. and so they missed it. I discovered it one day by accident when I was doing something under the hood.

Any chance that you've got something rattling around in the bilge or somewhere else that could be fooling you? Just a thought before you get too frustrated.

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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)

This sounds similar to an issue I had with my last boat, on the Alpha 1 drive. In that case it wasn't fully shifting into gear, and ticking just a bit. If you pushed the lever a bit more, it would engage properly. Thus, the shift cable needed slight adjustment, not an uncommon issue for the Alpha's. Does this only happen going into neutral you say? Perhaps not completely disengaging??? Just a different avenue to look into.
Good luck. Hopfully the dealer will knock it out before the season gets hot.

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Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

Thanks so much, gentlemen. I really appreciate the information, advice, and your willingness and time to give suggestions. I will check all the things you guys mentioned when I get the boat out of storage in the spring.

Gentlemen? You should probably get to know us a little better first...

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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)

Yeah... talk about misplaced optimism.

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

Re the Gimbal bearing; worth greasing it if you can, but wasn't it sometime in 2006/ 2007 that VP announced they were moving to a "sealed for Life" Gimbal bearing , that you can't grease? . I'm not so sure about the "thin oil" story either, when I drained my drive's gear oil out at 20 hours, it looked and smelled (awful) just like the VP Synthetic oil I put in. That oil also does a pretty good job as a paint stripper on the VP spray on outdrive antifouling! Maybe I'm just a cynic..

I'd start by looking for something slightly loose on or around the inner transom; the steering mechanism/ power steering servo assembly can move about a bit on it's mounting pins for instance.

regards,

Graham

Good info, I didn't know they went to a sealed gimbal bearing!

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

Mike,

I believe it is the new shape SX/ DPS drive/ transom that has the maintenance free gimbal bearing plus other changes. I'm not sure whether a 2007 boat bought in May would necessarily have the later drive (e.g. could have been a 2007 model year built in 2006 etc).

Regards,

Graham

I would suspect that we are talking about the new drive if it was in May of '07. I think the drives started showing up in December of '06. We bought our boat in March of '07, and we have the new SX drive.

I seem to recall the sealed gimbal bearing as well. Now you have me curious. I will have to look it up in the manual tonight!

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