My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

[07SENZA]

When I say exploded, I mean it. I just had paid $1200 for the annual, to have the bellows, u-joints and all the seal replaced on the outdrive and rebuild the whole outdrive. Everything seemed ok at the repair shop. I ran the engine but I didn't gun it- so I took it home. This weekend, I took it out for the first time, kids all loaded, wifey all happy, me all excited about a nice day a the lake. I had a binding issue with getting this into reverse. I checked the back and noticed that the cable wasn't possitioned correctly...so I moved the cable to its normal position. The binding continued but not as bad. I thought that I would have it adjusted on Monday morning. I pulled the boat off the trailer, picked up the wife at the dock and idled to the edge of the break-water at our lake. When I was clear, I moved the throttle to were 2500-3000 RPM normally would be...then BOOM!!!!

Here is the result.

I was fortunate that no one was hurt...but any ideas what may have caused this. I have serious issues with taking it back to the same guy- even if he was to fix it for free. I think I'm going to court on this on. I heard that I may be able to make a claim on my insurance...HOW is that?

 

[07SENZA]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

and they changed the impeller.

 

[Don S]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

I was fortunate that no one was hurt...but any ideas what may have caused this. I have serious issues with taking it back to the same guy- even if he was to fix it for free. I think I'm going to court on this on. I heard that I may be able to make a claim on my insurance...HOW is that?

Why don't you take it back to the dealer for warranty? I mean come on. at least give them a chance to make it right before you blow a gasket and start yelling court. As far as insurance, call your agent and find out if your policy covers it. This is a repair forum for DIYers, not your insurance agent.

 

[Don S]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

and they changed the impeller.

The impeller is on the front of the engine. How could that possibly have anything to do with your drive blowing up :facepalm:

 

[07SENZA]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

The impeller is on the front of the engine. How could that possibly have anything to do with your drive blowing up :facepalm:

My point about the impeller was to provide additional information about the amount of work that was done. I usually do all of my own work on every thing that I own. I was an F/A 18 powerplant mechanic, but I have never worked on a boat before. Since, this was the first time that the outdrive was to be taken apart, I thought I would let a professional deal with breaking all the original seals, bolts, and nuts that tend to be a real pain to break loose the first time.

I almost went for it because of this forum. Maybe I should have...but I didn't. I now came here looking for additional information because there tends to be good information...when you deal with the group as a whole.

I have been to the dealer- I didn't blow my gasket and he and I agreed that we could take it apart together to see what the cause was...but he said he had to fire the guy that had taken my unit apart, but if I miss seeing that a retaining clip or nut- I wouldn't know it. I was hoping for a ..."make sure to see if (blank) was installed correctly"...he said nothing about "making it right." But because of the amount of $$$ involved- he may just back off and let the dice roll and see me in court.

I only brought up the insurance issue because ...there are thousands of boaters on this forum, a lot more than I personally know and would be able to call. Maybe someone had a mechanical/maintenance issue of this magnitude and knew of a resolution.

I was just looking for quality info...

 

[Don S]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Now, you are giving some information instead of just a rant. You never mentioned you even talked to the shop in your original post.

We have no idea what all was done to your drive. You can't even touch a complete rebuild and all the work you said for $1200 so how much rebuilding actually happened?

Looking at that picture, the only way to find out what happened is to take the drive apart and see what happened. Unless you have another qualified Volvo tech familiar with those drives with you when the dealer takes it apart, I have no clue what to tell you to look for. It's going to take an experienced eye to see the problem during disassembly. Something us folks sitting at a keyboard can't give you.

As far as the insurance, some policies cover that sort of thing, does your's???? Have no clue, ask your agent.

 

[Nickypoo]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Here is a diagram of that shaft there that shot through the top of your drive. #15 on there is called a "locking clip". Would that normally retain that shaft from moving vertically? I have no idea. It's a small part though, and it looks like it would be easily missed during reassembly.



Take a look around at http://www.volvopentastore.com/ for your drive model and get yourself acquainted to the layout of all the parts using the parts breakdown if you're going to be there when they disassemble it.

I don't have any experience at all working on these drives so I can't give you any more information than that.

Sorry, I just realized the image is super small. #15 is the very last part at the bottom right. It's a split ring retainer. You can see for yourself when you search you drive model on that site.

 

[07SENZA]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Thank you Nickypoo and Don- I appreciate the time that you took to look at this (issue)...from looking at the IPB, I see the locking clip at the bottom of the shaft. Thanks. I printed out both sheets and we'll do a line-by-line check with the dismantle.

Now, Don- what you said has me a little on edge now. I was told that these items were replaced: gimble bearings and related seals, I was told a complete seal kit was installed and I'm hoping my gift to this forum... I had the drive shaft u-joints replaced. I did not purchase the new VP shaft kit, for that crazy amount ($500 ?) I went to my specialty drive-line shop that I have been to before and had some excessive High-Power shafts made. I shared that it was from my boat and they rebuilt the shaft using NEAPCO Ultra seals u-joints. http://www.neapco.com/nA-aftermarket-universal-joints.php
I was going to share the part number once I knew everything was okay. My dealer went through two differant sets of u-joints and he said the shop manual said to replace the shaft. This forum shared other ujoints, but I couldn't get the correct fit...still do not know why.
Thanks again, I'll update when I know more.

 

[Don S]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Ujoints, bellows, and gimbal bearings are not going to blow the vertical shaft out the top.
I don't even know why the vertical shaft and gear assembly part of the drive would have been taken apart for a re-seal. There are no seals there. The input shaft seal (ujoint shaft) the shift mechanism and the top cap are the only seals in the upper. So if all they did was a re-seal, they would not have had to take the vertical shaft and gears out and disassemble them. But not the vertical shaft. And it would take a special tool (or several) to even take out, and there still wouldn't be any seals. A rebuild (in my books) is new bearings and gears, not just new seals.

What I am getting at here, is for a complete reseal of the drive, there is nothing anyone could have done to cause that.
Here is a link to the OEM manual, see for yourself. http://www.4shared.com/file/50982625/e2bdb42c/SX_DP-S_Service_Manual.html

 

[craze1cars]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Insurance input:

99% certain this is NOT an insurance claim on your personal insurance. Your insurance will deny coverage for "mechanical failure" which this most certainly is.

HOWEVER, your dealer/mechanic who did this repair might be able to file a claim on his insurance. Generically they are often called "garage insurance" liability policies. Most decent shops carry insurance to cover themselves against huge expenses in the event one of their employees makes an error on reassembly of a componant. As a very common example, the majority of quick-lube joints carry insurance to prevent losing the high cost of engine replacement when it is discovered that one of their employees forgets to put in a drain plug and you drive away and sieze your engine due to lack of oil.

So if you and/or the shop feels there might have been an error on reassembly....forgotten part or whatever...it is very reasonable to ask the shop owner if he has garage liability insurance, and ask him to file a claim which will easily prevent either of you from taking a great financial loss. He probably has a deductible, which should be his responsibility to cover if the claim is approved.

 

[bnicov]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

The shop that did the work is on the hook if the work they did caused your drive to fail catastrophically. Be on them, be polite at first and if that doesn't work, a call from your lawyer is in order.

 

[sethjon]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

When I say exploded, I mean it. I just had paid $1200 for the annual, to have the bellows, u-joints and all the seal replaced on the outdrive and rebuild the whole outdrive. Everything seemed ok at the repair shop. I ran the engine but I didn't gun it- so I took it home. This weekend, I took it out for the first time, kids all loaded, wifey all happy, me all excited about a nice day a the lake. I had a binding issue with getting this into reverse. I checked the back and noticed that the cable wasn't possitioned correctly...so I moved the cable to its normal position. The binding continued but not as bad. I thought that I would have it adjusted on Monday morning. I pulled the boat off the trailer, picked up the wife at the dock and idled to the edge of the break-water at our lake. When I was clear, I moved the throttle to were 2500-3000 RPM normally would be...then BOOM!!!!

Here is the result.

I was fortunate that no one was hurt...but any ideas what may have caused this. I have serious issues with taking it back to the same guy- even if he was to fix it for free. I think I'm going to court on this on. I heard that I may be able to make a claim on my insurance...HOW is that?
View attachment 145278View attachment 145279View attachment 145280

In court, you have no case. By law, you must give the mechanic the opportunity to make it right and at no charge if what he did is his fault. I doubt your insurance will cover it unless you have a policy unknown to me with added riders.

 

[07SENZA]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Thanks for the additional information. I took the afternoon off on Wednesday to take the boat to the shop. The owner and I are going to take the unit apart and find out what happened. I read Don's comment about the vertical shaft NOT being required to be remove for the work, really has me wondering WTF happened. I did have a problem getting the boat into reverse and the manual says that improper installation could cause a malfunction. Here are some other pictures of the work... shop said that they had a problem when they were taking the unit apart...so they obviously used a screwdriver and pounded it apart...just leads me towards poor maintenance.

 

[Don S]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

A shift cable out of adjustment could cause it to not shift correctly, but it won't blow the top out of the drive.
Here are a couple of c clips that holds the shaft down. If one of those failed, or the shaft broke, or the hardened washer they set in broke it's hard to say.
Could also be that there was no oil in the drive, or something was left loose and the oil leaked out. again hard to say. That is why you have to take it apart and look.
Your drive may have just given up by itself and was just poor timing for the shop.

Here's an example that happened to me. Had an old Glasply with an Alpha I outdrive. Had been running great. Picked up a plastic bag and started to over heat. Stopped, even seen the bag float away. Started back up, and was ok, but running about 10? hotter than normal. No biggy, back to the shop, pulled the drive, replaced the impeller, all looked good to go and back in the water.
20 minutes into the run the drive started knocking. Eased back to the shop and found a chunk out of the upper gear. Did it have anything to do with my overheat. No. But I did work on it last, so it must be my fault for doing something wrong, right ?????? Nope, just poor timing.

 

[07SENZA]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Thanks Don, I understand that the cable may have needed to be readjusted and as you said, that should not have caused the shaft to blow out of the top...I'll know more on Wednesday when we break it down.

This is the second time that someone told me that having no oil may have caused this. I didn't see any leakage (at least not until after the boom) now it leaks from everywhere, just dripping from almost every seem on the outdrive.

As far as timing, what was the resolution you had come up with the owner about the gear? I believe in being fair- I also believe in not being screwed. I'm not upset in my situation...just if it was improperly installed- I would expect all of this to be covered. For some reason, I am not yelling...I have not raised my voice nor been condensending...I feel that this is pretty straight forward. Sort of how you addressed your situation. Just poor maintenance or poor timing...either way...I just need it fixed correctly.

 

[Don S]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

As far as timing, what was the resolution you had come up with the owner about the gear?

It was MY drive, and MY gear that broke, and MY work on the impeller. I knew I didn't do anything wrong that would cause the gear to fail, it was just bad timing on the gears parts. I am a marine mechanic, well, I was. I retired.
Had I taken the drive to someone else to fix the impeller, I would think they had to do something that caused it. But since I did the work, I knew that I didn't do it and knew it was just a s*** Happens type problem.
No one caused the problem. Things break all the time and you can't blame it on anyone, it's called life.

 

[07SENZA]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

Thanks for sharing Don, I see that you are in W. Washington. I miss it there. I had gotten out of the Marines and moved to Bremerton, met my wife and moved to Graham- while I finished my engineering degree at Saint Martin's in Lacey. We moved to Vegas a few years ago. I really miss it and can't wait to retire back "home."
Thanks for the help.

 

[boatguya1]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

When I say exploded, I mean it. I just had paid $1200 for the annual, to have the bellows, u-joints and all the seal replaced on the outdrive and rebuild the whole outdrive. Everything seemed ok at the repair shop. I ran the engine but I didn't gun it- so I took it home. This weekend, I took it out for the first time, kids all loaded, wifey all happy, me all excited about a nice day a the lake. I had a binding issue with getting this into reverse. I checked the back and noticed that the cable wasn't possitioned correctly...so I moved the cable to its normal position. The binding continued but not as bad. I thought that I would have it adjusted on Monday morning. I pulled the boat off the trailer, picked up the wife at the dock and idled to the edge of the break-water at our lake. When I was clear, I moved the throttle to were 2500-3000 RPM normally would be...then BOOM!!!!

Here is the result.

I was fortunate that no one was hurt...but any ideas what may have caused this. I have serious issues with taking it back to the same guy- even if he was to fix it for free. I think I'm going to court on this on. I heard that I may be able to make a claim on my insurance...HOW is that?
View attachment 145278View attachment 145279View attachment 145280

When you moved the throttle to where 2500-3000 rpm should be did you shift from neutral into gear at the same time? Did the motor rev without the boat moving then Boom? If so the shift cable being out of position and then being moved may have something to do with what happened. I've seen mercruiser bravo drives look like that after being shifted with the rpm's up. Maybe this won't happen on volvos, but the damage looks familiar.

James

 

[07SENZA]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

No, I was forward gear idleing along and just past the NO WAKE bouy when I throttled up. I didn't throw the hammer down. I was asked this by a master tech also...he said he had seen this when someone quickly shift from high RPMs from forward to reverse. I didn't do that.

Today is the day that the owner of the shop and I are breaking down the outdrive. I will be taking lots of pictures. I'll share the results soon.

 

[muc]

Re: My 2007 V/P SX just exploded... any ideas of what to do?

If it helps, I have seen this a few times on the older drives that had the brass washer holding the vertical shaft. Never seen it on the SX style that uses the steel washer. It has always happened because of shifting at high RPM’s.