Dennis Schneider
Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2006
- RO Number
- 21467
- Messages
- 1
Hi all,
I'm new on this forum, and have a question--looking for some advice.
I have a 1995 Formula 34PC, with twin 7.4 L merc's and Bravo III outdrives.
Toward the end of last season, while boating in Lake Michigan, my starbord outdrive started making funny noises. We pulled the boat, and checked the stern drive fluid, and it had lots of metal shavings. To make a long story short, I had the drive replaced with a new remanufactured drive. Of course the new drive was of a slighly different design than the old one as far as the anti-cavitation plate. It was professionally installed, and $7K later, my boat was running.
In the process of changing the outdrives, we drained and filled fluid on the port as well. And the gasket on the fill top fell off, unknown to all--so suddenly we had problems with the port outdrive loosing fluid. While it never ran dry, I kept topping it off, and until we identified the problem, we had a messy situation.
Once we resolved this, everything seemed to run fine, but the boat
was behaving differently--I can't exactly describe it, but the engine trim had to be adjusted much more carefully, and the boat seemed to not handle as well as before. The new drive was installed near the end of the boating season, so I didn't think too much about it until now.
Now we just launched her for this season. When I first attempted to go on plane, it appeared as if the PORT engine was lugging. I had trouble getting up plane, and noticed a vibration. The vibration was coming from the port (i.e. when I thottled back on the starbord, the port moved the boat, but with noticable vibration). Likewise, at low throttle, the port sounds "funny", and rougher than the starbord.
I had the marina mechanic check the engine itself, and he put his scope on it and said all the plugs are firing. I went out again, and the boat is not running right--it is hard to get on plane, and top speed is significantly down.
My question/advice. Is it likely that my port outdrive is now "toast" and also needs to be replaced? The port outdrive was re-built about 5 or 6 years ago, after a seal let go and somehow shot outdrive fluid all over the bilge. The guy that did the rebuild sounded compentent, but then one never knows.
My fear is that it will be another $7K for another new outdrive.
Any advice on an easy way to figure out what's going on?
Thanks!
Denny
I'm new on this forum, and have a question--looking for some advice.
I have a 1995 Formula 34PC, with twin 7.4 L merc's and Bravo III outdrives.
Toward the end of last season, while boating in Lake Michigan, my starbord outdrive started making funny noises. We pulled the boat, and checked the stern drive fluid, and it had lots of metal shavings. To make a long story short, I had the drive replaced with a new remanufactured drive. Of course the new drive was of a slighly different design than the old one as far as the anti-cavitation plate. It was professionally installed, and $7K later, my boat was running.
In the process of changing the outdrives, we drained and filled fluid on the port as well. And the gasket on the fill top fell off, unknown to all--so suddenly we had problems with the port outdrive loosing fluid. While it never ran dry, I kept topping it off, and until we identified the problem, we had a messy situation.
Once we resolved this, everything seemed to run fine, but the boat
was behaving differently--I can't exactly describe it, but the engine trim had to be adjusted much more carefully, and the boat seemed to not handle as well as before. The new drive was installed near the end of the boating season, so I didn't think too much about it until now.
Now we just launched her for this season. When I first attempted to go on plane, it appeared as if the PORT engine was lugging. I had trouble getting up plane, and noticed a vibration. The vibration was coming from the port (i.e. when I thottled back on the starbord, the port moved the boat, but with noticable vibration). Likewise, at low throttle, the port sounds "funny", and rougher than the starbord.
I had the marina mechanic check the engine itself, and he put his scope on it and said all the plugs are firing. I went out again, and the boat is not running right--it is hard to get on plane, and top speed is significantly down.
My question/advice. Is it likely that my port outdrive is now "toast" and also needs to be replaced? The port outdrive was re-built about 5 or 6 years ago, after a seal let go and somehow shot outdrive fluid all over the bilge. The guy that did the rebuild sounded compentent, but then one never knows.
My fear is that it will be another $7K for another new outdrive.
Any advice on an easy way to figure out what's going on?
Thanks!
Denny