Water in gear oil.-

Sea Rider

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A friend of mine bought a boat with a 5 Ltr Gasoline Volvo Penta inboard motor, when changing the lower leg's gear oil was found quite milky. Question : to change all gear case's related parts such as o'rings, seals, is it a straightforward work compared to doing same on an outboard lower leg ? Are the Volvo Penta reliables motors ? What to know about them and be aware of.

Happy Boating
 

QBhoy

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Hi sea rider

in particular, the Volvo 270, 280 and 290 drives...including the DP versions of the latter two, are notorious for taking in water through the o ring oem seals that go on the drain, fill and dip stick fittings. Especially if they are nipped or miss shaped when tightening up the fitting after an oil change.
I would guess that most times these drives have water in them, it’s a result of this. Many actually use aftermarket seals instead and it’s even known for some to use the mercruiser fibre seals in addition, on the drain fitting and then seal over it with silicone. I certainly used to do this. Since I first did this, it never once took water in there after in the years I had it.
when changing the drive oil on friends who currently have these drives...I do the same.

of course it’s possible this isn’t the reason...but for certain...there is a damn good chance of it.

as for how good they are...no doubt they are superbly engineered, but expensive to fix if they have been neglected. They can be a total pain to remove if they haven’t been off for a while. The retaining pins can stick solid and can be awkward. I had to make a sliding hammer with a thread fitting to remove mine at first.
you can cheat a little if the bellows need done. You can get away with just taking half the drive off.
the reverse locking catch can wear and cause the drive to lift in reverse...usually at the worst possible time and in front of an audience...haha.
The cone clutch can wear too. If it’s worn and/or the wrong grade of oil is used or water is in the oil. They can be quite sensitive with regards to grade of oil and water temperature with regards to viscosity of oil in the extreme case (the older drives pre 290, use engine oil and not gear oil).
last issue couple of issues I can think of is the trim position sender issue and the well known trim pump issue...where the ball valves wear causing the drive to drop down over a period of time and especially underway at speed.
oh and if it’s a DP (dual prop), the oem props are silly expensive. Especially the stainless ones.

hope that makes sense and all above refers to 270/280/290 in general. Not much of an opinion on newer models really.
 

BRICH1260

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We need to know specifics on the drive that your friend has acquired to give the best information.
 

Sea Rider

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Thanks, not sure if told me it was a 5 or 5,5 Ltr inboard Volvo motor, but it's the Dual Prop version if we can narrow the lower leg model the boat is powered with..

Happy Boating
 

QBhoy

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Thanks, not sure if told me it was a 5 or 5,5 Ltr inboard Volvo motor, but it's the Dual Prop version if we can narrow the lower leg model the boat is powered with..

Happy Boating

Likely of the usual 5.0 or 5.7 GM variant. For the most part, they use the same engine as mercruiser do. Up until very recently at least. Only older exceptions would be the 5.8 efi. That’s a ford engine. The smaller 4 cylinder AQ engines were terrible things. If it’s a 5.0 or 5.7 no worries.
If you know it’s a DP drive and know the rough age of it, I could have a guess at what model it is.
 

Sea Rider

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Thanks QB, will check the year with the owner...

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Sea Rider

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Update, it's a Glastron 1998-25 ft cabin cruiser. All lower leg or'rings and gaskets has been changed for new ones, so problem solved. There's a new water intrusion, it's a small vein shape water intrusion around rear motor and transom/leg area. Which parts/areas should be looked for or changed to solve fast this new issue if anyone has experienced this kind of problem ?

Happy Boating
 

QBhoy

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Update, it's a Glastron 1998-25 ft cabin cruiser. All lower leg or'rings and gaskets has been changed for new ones, so problem solved. There's a new water intrusion, it's a small vein shape water intrusion around rear motor and transom/leg area. Which parts/areas should be looked for or changed to solve fast this new issue if anyone has experienced this kind of problem ?

Happy Boating

Glad to hear the drive issue has solved that issue. Really common thing.
with the other issue. Look towards the steering pin for the leak. May also be a leak from a bellow, depending on exactly where it’s coming from.
 

Sea Rider

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QBoy, the owner shot a video of the problem, will need some kind of visual tech interpretation as the space seems to be tight to determine easily the exact location.

Happy Boating
 

Scott Danforth

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Update, it's a Glastron 1998-25 ft cabin cruiser. All lower leg or'rings and gaskets has been changed for new ones, so problem solved. There's a new water intrusion, it's a small vein shape water intrusion around rear motor and transom/leg area. Which parts/areas should be looked for or changed to solve fast this new issue if anyone has experienced this kind of problem ?

Happy Boating

pull the drive and look at the bellows. if they have been leaking water, not only will you eventually leak water into the bilge, you will destroy the u-joints and input shaft.

if that is all good, then pull the motor(s) and look at the transom. Transom seals do not go bad, however the transom can rot.
 

Sea Rider

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Allan, have you seen the video sent by email ? If so, do you have any clue about the water leak seen at the right side some seconds before the video ends ?

Happy Boating
 

Sea Rider

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The water leak has been fixed after removing the motor and drive...

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The motor is a Chevrolet model 350. Will rev up nicely at different throttle positions when at neutral, when geared forward has an awful speed less than 10 knots at full throttle. What to check, look for, what's the time advance of this motor ?

Happy Boating
 

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racerone

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Is a VOLVO 350 GM painted black ??------I thought RED was the VOLVO PENTA primary colour ?
 

Lou C

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During the joint venture era with OMC they were dark grey just the same as OMC then in 2000 went back to red.
 

Sea Rider

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Is a VOLVO 350 GM painted black ??------I thought RED was the VOLVO PENTA primary colour ?

That's the original motor color, so it's a Volvo-350 GM, 6 V cylinder motor. Would you say that model has an electronic distributor or works with the old style one old cars used to run with ?

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racerone

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Well----I count 8 sparkplug wires in the picture.----Remove distributor cap to see if there are points / condenser in there.
 

Sea Rider

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Well----I count 8 sparkplug wires in the picture.----Remove distributor cap to see if there are points / condenser in there.

If the motor runs great at neutral, does the carb needs an adjustment aside from the ralenti/idle one. Assume carb has fixed jets that start to work once idle rpm rises, right ? Will look for points/condenser if having them, will be good to know the distributor's time advance setting, probably set wrong ? Thanks.

Happy Boating
 

Lou C

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That is definitely a V8 and it has a Holley 2bbl 2100 carb and no doubt an electronic ignition system. If its runnning poorly, a complete tune up (spark plugs, cap, rotor, spark plug wire resistance, etc) and fuel system cleaning (carb, fuel filter, operation of electric fuel pump, check of anti siphon valve) are all needed at this point. It would also be a good idea to do a compression test before doing anything else (warm up engine, disable ignition, set throttle wide open) to determine if the poor performance is due to low compression and engine wear.
 

Scott Danforth

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Holley carb.

Reving in neutral means nothing. The motor will do that running on two cylinders

Pull the carb and go thru it

Looks like a delco voyager dizzy.
 
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