DonS

[rodbolt]

hello<br /> man I got a delima.<br /> while resealing a bravoII the other day at a place I contract for I was removing the shift shaft assy when the owner walked by and asked why I was removing it for just a seal job. I politly told and showed him in the book the only way I could time the driven gears I had to move the shaft out so I could see them. his reply was that the one he did a few weeks ago had no timing marks and he had never heard of them. then later when I was pulling the seal carrier from the lower to remove the load ring he asked again what I was doing and said he never pulled the ring cause he could just pick the oring out and replace it. he had never heard of a load ring. he did not replace it on the last one he did either.<br /> I know the customer that he did this drive on. now I have to try to determine will it make a difference or should I call him and tell him his drive may be at risk.<br /> the owner has maybe 5 service manuals in the whole shop. and he is a volvo,mercrusier,PCM dealer.<br /> my question is have you ever seen the upper case on a bravo run any time with the gears not timed ?

 

[rabidfish]

Re: DonS

1) It will run just fine... What it wont do is disengage.<br /><br />2) Let me restate that. It "may not" come out of gear properly, depending on how far "out of time" it really is. (It may not be "out of time" just because he didn't know. Although... I would sure like to see.)<br /><br />3) Honestly... I have a hard time sleeping at night knowing something may be wrong that I can fix.<br /><br />4) As for the load ring... Not all Bravo's had one. The load ring didnt come into play until later. If you know it(the drive in question) has one: refer to # 3

 

[rodbolt]

Re: DonS

rabidfish<br /> all the bravoi II's I have ever had apart had the load ring. never seen one without. what worries me is even tough I did not do the job I know the tech/owner that did did not do it coirrectly. what I need to know is will this cause a failure of the drive or is it something I can quietly do when it comes back. this is a shop I just started contracting for. I value my reputation way more than I value the work place. so I have issues with an upper and a lower that in my opinion were not done correctly even though the tech has a master cert on the wall

 

[rabidfish]

Re: DonS

Certificates be "darned"!<br /><br />That's a tough spot, no doubt about it.<br /><br />It won't fail the drive. That's not the issue with (timming/alignment). But there is another issue possibly even more important. SAFETY!<br /><br />What if he is coming into a dock "hot", and it delays coming out of gear because the cones aren't aligned? ( I know you know the answer to this )<br /><br />Then the question is responsibility. Is it yours? Just because you know about it? Or is it the dealer?<br /><br />In this case, I would go to the dealer/service manager, let him know the implications. If he won't at least make an inspection, then you almost owe it to the boat owner to inform him he may not be safe, and that you can tell with a quick inspection.<br /><br />The hardest part will be to "play it down" while still making it "important enough" to make certain the owner gets it looked at. Let me know how that goes... If you do it well, then you have better "people skills" than most of the dealers in the US!

 

[rabidfish]

Re: DonS

Oh and another thing, You are correct, the Bravo two's all had load rings. (Bravo one brain fizz!) My apologies!

 

[cmyers_uk]

Re: DonS

Rodbolt, <br /><br />Speak to the owner, explain the situation if hes running a good shop surely he will get the boat back and fix it. It will be really good PR. No need to say it was done wrong , more a product recall. If he doesnt want to do it then maybe its not the sort of place a guy with your morals should work at (easier said than done I appreciate). This is a classic example that the main dealer shop stamp doesnt mean you get what the manufacturer recommends but no doubt you are paying top dollar. <br /><br />I hope all goes well for you

 

[rodbolt]

Re: DonS

chris<br /> this guy is supposed merc master tech. if you dont belive it then in the first 3 min of any conversation he will tell you. however he nor any one in the shop, including me now. has<br />merc certs.in june of 2003 mine got pulled because the dealership I was working for failed to resend all my schools. merc U revamped all certs in june of 03. mine got dropped. oh well they cant take away my knowledge .<br />my concern is for this customer. however I have to balance it between the relationship with the marina and the customer.<br /> all I can say at this point is man I hope this property I am on sells soon. I will quit then<br /> the deal with the marina was i wasto train his guys. he has two of the sharpest non trained techs I have seen in a long time. however the owner wont allow them to be trained.

 

[tommays]

Re: DonS

rodbolt<br />i just ran into something like this at work the owner wanted to take on a job that we did not have the saftey equiment to do<br /><br />i am the plant eng and would have on the hook if anyone had been injured it really put me in a bad spot<br /><br />i had to go home and have a family meeting after which i told them if they were going to do it i would have to leave <br /><br />well thank god they decided not to and i can still go to work and look my self in the eye<br /><br />tommays

 

[Don S]

Re: DonS

Kind of puts you between a rock and a hard spot. I think I would let him know. If he is already having problems with the shifting being hard to come out of gear, he may think it's just a stiff cable or something until something else breaks. If you talk to him and explain your concern and he says all is well, then at least he was the one to make the decision, not you. You may be able to say something like the timing MIGHT not have been set correctly. Then if he wants to get it fixed you could fix the load ring at the same time.<br />Not sure telling him both things at the same time might just scare him or make him mad about other things that may be wrong on other parts of his boat. I don't know him, so it's really hard to say.

 

[Bondo]

Re: DonS

As Usual,....... I think Don has the Right Answer...............<br /><br />I think just being subtle,+ Asking the boat owner How it's running might be a Good way to go....<br /><br />If there's a Problem,.. well, Then You've got your foot in the door,+ An Excuse to bail him out.............<br /><br />If All is Well,........Maybe the Marina owner got Lucky...........<br />Then it's Purely a judgment call on Your part, if it should be pursued.......

 

[rodbolt]

Re: DonS

bondo<br /> the boat stays in the drystack. so I can keep an eye out for the owner and the forklift driver knows of the potential problem. so we are just going to ask how its working in the spring when he starts using it. if there is no problems I will let it ride, if there is I will come up with some excuse to get it back in the shop. the marina we used to see the boat at closed and now all my old customers are at the new place. so myself and the forklift driver know most the customers and the boat history.I just hate to see boats that I spent the past 6 years or longer maintaining have problems that are technician caused. makes me look bad by association sometimes.