Damaged gear Volvo Penta dpsm

[KJ ll]

Hi there , I had the nearest Volvo Penta mechanics out to do a service on my 5.7 engine and dpsm while on the hard .
Motor fine but there was water in the drive oil . The oil was extremely black and had the velocity of thinish paint . The leg
was fully serviced 35 hours prior but 18 months ago .
They said they needed to take it to the workshop and pressure test it to identify the source of the leak .
3 days later I get an email quote for $5800 . I was in shock and said Ibwould be down the next morning to discuss .
The leg was already in pieces and they said they had to damage the main shaft to get this gear off . I asked to see the bearings or any other parts with obvious water damage and was told there wasn’t any but not to worry as they all get replaced anyway . I said that’s not the point , why dig this deep if there’s no obvious damage . I was told that’s how they do it . I asked about the pressure test and told that wasn’t done as all seals get replaced anyway . I asked about why the oil would look like that after an easy 35 hrs of use but they had no answer .
My questions to anyone that can help are
Does that gear have to be replaced taking into consideration the big difference between replacing some seals to a 6k rebuild
and , has anybody got any ideas on the oil ?
Thanks

 

[alldodge]

they had to damage the main shaft to get this gear off

They "had to damage the shaft", that's a new one. They did damage the main shaft because they don't know what their doing, or they don't have the proper tools to fully work on the drive. They could have pressure tested it before disassembly but didn't. Bearings may need to be replaced, but this isn't an automatic unless asked for a full rebuild.

If doing a rebuild I would replace the gear, but if that is the only bad spot and the matting gear is ok, it could go back together without issue

Your getting taken and there is not really much you can do about it now. If you would have said pressure test and let me know what you think before any other work you would have grounds. Letting them take it without direction lets a unscrupulous shop do what they want at your expense

 

[KJ ll]

Thanks for the reply AllDodge, I had a go disputing it with them today and was basically told the gear needed to be replaced as it would fail eventually . It’s a shame everything is so expensive when it comes to marine in Australia.
They cant explain tho how the oil ended up looking like thin black paint after an easy 35 hours
Cheers

 

[Grub54891]

The first step is pressure testing the drive unit! And the oil sample should have been saved/ sent out for analyzing. Tearing it down is the last step, after approval from the owner. Sorry they did this to you. I'd be respectfully letting them know what I think of their process.

 

[muc]

If this drive came into my shop, I wouldn’t have pressure tested either.
Drive had “black” lube. If it was the correct lube, that means it was running hot. Needs to be disassembled to find out why.
Drive had water in the lube. If the bellows were dry, that means at least one of the seals are bad.
So with those two things going on with this drive why would a competent mechanic pressure test it? Only reason I can think of is to increase the bill.
The picture of the gear isn’t very good, but sure looks like it needs replacing. I would be interested in how much backlash that gear had. Might be where the excessive heat was coming from?
not sure why they had to damage the drive shaft to get a pinion gear off. Volvo sells a really nice tool to pull this shaft.

 

[Grub54891]

So with those two things going on with this drive why would a competent mechanic pressure test it? Only reason I can think of is to increase the bill.

I have to disagree. Pressure testing helps to find where the issue started. Increase the bill? 10 min of diagnosis really isn't much, And just for my customers, If the pressure test fails, we give them a call and let them know whats going on. Tearing it down before the customer is aware, increases the bill ten fold. Some customers opt for a replacement drive with a good warranty.​

 

[muc]

So with those two things going on with this drive why would a competent mechanic pressure test it? Only reason I can think of is to increase the bill.

I have to disagree. Pressure testing helps to find where the issue started. Increase the bill? 10 min of diagnosis really isn't much, And just for my customers, If the pressure test fails, we give them a call and let them know whats going on. Tearing it down before the customer is aware, increases the bill ten fold. Some customers opt for a replacement drive with a good warranty.​

Well I will admit the pad the bill comment was a little argumentative. But I will stand by my comment that a pressure test is basically worthless in this situation.

So if you do a pressure test and find the shift seal leaking. What you gonna do now? Disregard the fact that this drive had burnt lube with water in it, for maybe over a year? And I disagree that pressure testing helps find where it started. If somebody can’t tell where the leak was during tear down, they shouldn’t be rebuilding drives.

i agree 100% that the shop should have got an OK before doing the tear down. But the good side of that is the O.P. Shouldn’t have to pay for any work he/she didn’t authorize.

That pinion gear ain’t gonna heal itself. Once they start flaking it’s only gonna get worse. And because Volvo has such a good lube circulation system it could take out the upper gears.

The OP says they will rebuild this for $5800. If it’s a Volvo shop that means it will come with a one year warranty. Can you find a DP-SM with a warranty for less then that?

sorry to get all cranky. It’s winterize season here in Minnesota and I do tend to get a bit worked up this time of year.

 

[KJ ll]

Thanks for your input MUC
After calming down I do see that nothing is really going to be achieved as they already had evidence it was coming from a the shifter seal ( this seems to be due to a helicoil not seating properly when it was rebuilt 18 months ago )
I now also agree that they are right saying the pinion gear should be replaced as if it does fail we have real problems.
I really wanted to know what caused the oil to fail and nobody could give me a reason as they had never seen this happen before , ever !!!! and they are Volvo Penta specialists
I said the other day let’s send it out and get it an analysis and they said with their expertience that would of been a waste of time and unfortunately the oil had already been thrown out which is something they never do normally until the job is finished .
All I can say is Volvo must make a good leg since it didn’t disintegrate due to the condition of the oil , it was seriously thinner than most paints
cheers and thanks for your time .

 

[02cobalt]

My upper gear box self destructed. It was a DPSM also. Gear oil was black and stinky. An option is to order in a complete new or factory reman drive unit. Install it yourself or let them install it. The cheapest I found was from Great Lakes Skipper. They sell both top and bottom units. Worth a look at.

 

[GeorgeDes]

What was their explanation for damaging the pinion gear? I have pulled several of these on the DP-SM using the proper tool, and it is a relatively easy pull.

 

[Tassie 1]

Whereabouts in Oz is this VP specialist?
what was the out come?