Propeller won't turn - any advice? : Volvo Penta 5.7GXi-H w/ DPS-A sterndrive

[kjbristow]

I have a 2008 Regal Commodore 2665 powered by a VP 5.7GXi-H w/ DPS-A sterndrive. I was out on the lake over the weekend running about 30mph when my boat abruptly lost power. The engine was still running, but there was no movement from the propeller. Tried shifting into gear forward and reverse and couldn't get the prop to turn, so ended up getting the boat towed back to the slip about a mile or two away.

The boat is in the water year-round and I don't have a trailer, so I've been a bit limited in what I can do to troubleshoot the issue. I checked the shift cable at the throttle and at the outdrive and it's working as expected. I've also tried turning the propeller by hand (in neutral, and in gear) and it won't budge. Finally, I went for a swim to try manually shifting gears at the sterndrive and it shifts smoothly with no resistance.

At this point I'm assuming it's an issue with the propeller shaft or a drive shaft. Any thoughts on what else I can do to troubleshoot? I'm going to have the boat hauled out of the water later this week to get a better look at it, but was hoping to get some advice from people more experienced with these things than I am. Thanks in advance!

 

[Thalasso]

Welcome aboard.
Did you hit something?

You have a splined sleeve on the vertical shaft that is supposed to break so no damage happens to the drive when you hit something. Most likely this is what happened. Not a big or very expensive repair.
The drive needs to be separated to repair it

 

[Scott Danforth]

and no, you cant service the drive with the boat in the water.

pull the drive, pull the upper gear box and check the sleeve

 

[kjbristow]

I don't think I hit anything, we were in 130 feet of water on a clear day when the power cut out, but anything's possible I guess.

Looks like my next stop is the dry dock. I'll post an update once the drive is out and I can take a look at that sleeve. Thank you both for the quick replies - very much appreciated.

 

[Thalasso]

I don't think I hit anything, we were in 130 feet of water on a clear day when the power cut out, but anything's possible I guess.

Looks like my next stop is the dry dock. I'll post an update once the drive is out and I can take a look at that sleeve. Thank you both for the quick replies - very much appreciated.

A guy in my marine bought a new Montrey last year and while motoring down the river the same thing happened to him. No scrapes or anything on the skegs but both drives suffered the same fate.

 

[kjbristow]

I finally got my boat out of the water. Removed the props, drained the gear oil, and pulled the drive. The splined sleeve is intact, but there were some metal shavings around the lower vertical shaft. When I turn the vertical shaft by hand the propeller shaft turns, then seems to "slip" a little, then turns a little more. Assume I have to pull the prop shaft to get a better look at what's going on inside... should I expect to find a set of destroyed gears when I do? Could damaged bearings cause the "slip" between the vertical shaft and prop shaft? Thanks again for your help.

 

[BRICH1260]

Based on what you are saying it sounds like you have some damaged gears or splines in the lower unit. You will have to tear the lower unit apart to find the cause and replace or purchase a used or rebuilt whole lower and bolt back up.

 

[muc]

Sure sounds like you will find that the gears are bad.
The bad news is that Volvo has a very good drive lube circulation system, so you may have gotten metal into the upper gear box.
The good news is that the pump for this system is on the forward gear, so if it was a sudden failure the upper may be ok.

Suggest that the upper be disassembled, cleaned and inspected as part of this repair.

By the way, a spline sleeve failure will allow the prop to spin freely while the drive is in gear. NOT cause it to lock up.

 

[kjbristow]

Thanks guys. What are the leading causes of this kind of failure? Old/dirty gear oil? Hitting something in the water? The gear oil I drained out wasn't milky so doesn't seem like water got in the there, but it was dark brown/black and clearly needed to be changed.

 

[BRICH1260]

Thanks guys. What are the leading causes of this kind of failure? Old/dirty gear oil? Hitting something in the water? The gear oil I drained out wasn't milky so doesn't seem like water got in the there, but it was dark brown/black and clearly needed to be changed.

I`d vote for impact with something.

 

[kjbristow]

If you guys were in my situation, would you rebuild the lower unit or just replace it with a used or rebuilt unit? I think I could save some money by rebuilding it, but it looks like it's going to be a lot of time and effort.

 

[dennis461]

I have a 2008 Regal Commodore 2665 powered by a VP 5.7GXi-H w/ DPS-A sterndrive. I was out on the lake over the weekend running about 30mph when my boat abruptly lost power. The engine was still running, but there was no movement from the propeller. Tried shifting into gear forward and reverse and couldn't get the prop to turn, so ended up getting the boat towed back to the slip about a mile or two away.

The boat is in the water year-round and I don't have a trailer, so I've been a bit limited in what I can do to troubleshoot the issue. I checked the shift cable at the throttle and at the outdrive and it's working as expected. I've also tried turning the propeller by hand (in neutral, and in gear) and it won't budge. Finally, I went for a swim to try manually shifting gears at the sterndrive and it shifts smoothly with no resistance.

At this point I'm assuming it's an issue with the propeller shaft or a drive shaft. Any thoughts on what else I can do to troubleshoot? I'm going to have the boat hauled out of the water later this week to get a better look at it, but was hoping to get some advice from people more experienced with these things than I am. Thanks in advance!

Let go over this again.
By saying "There was no movement from the propeller."
Do you mean you looked over the stern and the propeller was not spinning with engine running in forward or reverse.
or
do you mean you tried turning it by hand and it is stuck?

If it is not stuck, you may simply be stuck in neutral because of shift linkage failure.

As for 130' of water, the drive is only in 2-3 feet of water where the waterlogged logs hide out :-(

 

[Paul81917]

I have a 2008 Regal Commodore 2665 powered by a VP 5.7GXi-H w/ DPS-A sterndrive. I was out on the lake over the weekend running about 30mph when my boat abruptly lost power. The engine was still running, but there was no movement from the propeller. Tried shifting into gear forward and reverse and couldn't get the prop to turn, so ended up getting the boat towed back to the slip about a mile or two away.

The boat is in the water year-round and I don't have a trailer, so I've been a bit limited in what I can do to troubleshoot the issue. I checked the shift cable at the throttle and at the outdrive and it's working as expected. I've also tried turning the propeller by hand (in neutral, and in gear) and it won't budge. Finally, I went for a swim to try manually shifting gears at the sterndrive and it shifts smoothly with no resistance.

At this point I'm assuming it's an issue with the propeller shaft or a drive shaft. Any thoughts on what else I can do to troubleshoot? I'm going to have the boat hauled out of the water later this week to get a better look at it, but was hoping to get some advice from people more experienced with these things than I am. Thanks in advance!

Did you ever find a solution? From what you described, we are now having the same issue. Very curios to hear what the problem ended up being.
Would appreciate any insight!

 

[kjbristow]

Did you ever find a solution? From what you described, we are now having the same issue. Very curios to hear what the problem ended up being.
Would appreciate any insight!

Yeah, in my case the gears were shot and I ended up replacing the lower unit with a used drive I found on craigslist. Still don't know what caused the failure but have to assume I hit something on the lake that day.

Hopefully your issue is different, and easier/cheaper to repair!