Arghh..Volvo Penta MS4B gearbox ... No Drive

Parabordi said:
Wouldnt be volvo by any chance?
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Unfair.

As one of the largest makers in the marina industry...the forum is bound to be full of stories and no one posts when things are fine.

My recently sold boat had a pair of Tamd61a and 220 boxes...30 years old.

The new owner is on route from Isle of Man to Gosport. He’s done 350 miles so far. 9 hours at 20 knots for one leg. Not missed a beat, used no oil and no coolant. Can’t say fairer than that imho.
 
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Hi guys,
i have got the same problem with my ms4a,ms4b gear box went out for the day fishing got back to the lock and no port drive, ive opened the gear box up every thing seems ok the rubber seal on the prop side looks like it broken and loose, when i open up the engine compartment there was oil in bilge , the oil level was low in the gearbox but there was still a fair bit of oil in the box.
any advise is welcome and need to know where i can get parts, seals etc as i have looked on the vp site and it say most of the parts are discontinued.
Thank Stuart
 
STUART P said:
Hi guys,
i have got the same problem with my ms4a,ms4b gear box went out for the day fishing got back to the lock and no port drive, ive opened the gear box up every thing seems ok the rubber seal on the prop side looks like it broken and loose, when i open up the engine compartment there was oil in bilge , the oil level was low in the gearbox but there was still a fair bit of oil in the box.
any advise is welcome and need to know where i can get parts, seals etc as i have looked on the vp site and it say most of the parts are discontinued.
Thank Stuart
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Was the oil black , it sounds like the cone is slipping .
 
Assuming the prop has not dropped off or the prop has lost the key and rotating on shaft. !!!!

The box is going to have to come out anyway. Get it out,and get it in bits to find out exactly whats gone wrong.
No great feat of strength to get it out, support it while you release flexible couplings and gearbox bolts.
Be gentle with oil cooler connections.Can be a bit crumbly.Slide shaft out of way.
The box can be lifted out of bilge and manually placed on a pontoon by any rather ancient, but pissed off skipper.
It took less than an hour to remove and a few moments to dismantle on workbench to discover a broken shaft.
Do not get to discouraged, some vital parts are still available and it sounds like Volvo Paul has the vital bits which are no longer available.
A very basic box that your local gearbox shop should be able to dis/reassemble and set up in their tea break
If gearbox is BER .Couple of routes you can go down and not at starship money.
You are lucky in that your ratio is the most common one, so secondhand is not out of the question,several for sale but only on Ebay USA.
Or there is a Hurth gearbox from Lancing Marine which which "nearly" fits with a bit of fiddling.
Check the flexible drive thingy while you are there ,about £120.00 from Lancing.

Ps.Important bits from the MS4 and the later MS5 are NOT interchangable.
 
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volvopaul said:
Was the oil black , it sounds like the cone is slipping .
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Hi Paul
Yes the oil was black when i opened up the gearbox, everything seems ok gears all solid, nothing broken ,it looks like ive lost some oil through the seal where the cone comes through the gear box on the drive prop side, bilge was full of oil, but there was still a fair bit in the sump.
i have removed the seal which was loose on the cone it is a v ring v60 , do you know what the one inside the housing is this was fitted around the casing which the cone is connected to.
thanks Stuart
 
STUART P said:
Hi Paul
Yes the oil was black when i opened up the gearbox, everything seems ok gears all solid, nothing broken ,it looks like ive lost some oil through the seal where the cone comes through the gear box on the drive prop side, bilge was full of oil, but there was still a fair bit in the sump.
i have removed the seal which was loose on the cone it is a v ring v60 , do you know what the one inside the housing is this was fitted around the casing which the cone is connected to.
thanks Stuart
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Have you looked at the MS3B details in Post #2 - this details the various changeable parts, although the MS4 may have variations. The output seal is a 72 x 50 x 8 single lip seal.
 
STUART P said:
Hi Paul
Yes the oil was black when i opened up the gearbox, everything seems ok gears all solid, nothing broken ,it looks like ive lost some oil through the seal where the cone comes through the gear box on the drive prop side, bilge was full of oil, but there was still a fair bit in the sump.
i have removed the seal which was loose on the cone it is a v ring v60 , do you know what the one inside the housing is this was fitted around the casing which the cone is connected to.
thanks Stuart
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The V ring is t the seal , to remove the lip seal you have to strip down the final drive housing , by taking the end casing out then stripping the drive flange off to get at the seal, black oil is slipping clutch so you will need a cone which means removing the box anyway , I’d suggest a rebuild to make it reliable .
 
oldgit said:
Gearbox in bits ............spiral 853523 shaft snapped. Grr.

MS5 shaft of course different dimensions. Anybody need a spares or repairs complete MS5 B gearbox :)


Contacted Keyparts about new shaft....New shaft on its way from Sweden.
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How much for the shaft?

mmm, that came out wrong, then again, maybe not.
 
BruceK said:
How much for the shaft?

mmm, that came out wrong, then again, maybe not.
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Volvo had 8 on stock in Sweden.
The price of the shaft including the cost of shipping it by time machine (wanted it the day before yesterday,quicker if possible) and getting it from Keyparts to me was around £550.00 + VAT including a decent discount.
Having a curiously short memory regarding stuff bought for boat, cannot remember exact price .
Suspect the invoice is still festering somewhere in the bottom draw of a filing cabinet.
Fortunate in having a gearbox repair shop next door to me who helped greatly with advice and tools.
Quid pro quo for me repairing all the the fragile electrical connectors they destroy when removing automatic gearboxes.
 
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Sapiano said:
Hi Volvo Paul - could you send me a contact number or email address pls ? We have some problems with Volvo Penta gearbox MS4a that we need to sort out - maybe you can help with that ? Thanks Jacqueline
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I cannot private message you because you are new to the forum but my email is on my profile page
 
Sapiano said:
Hi Volvo Paul - could you send me a contact number or email address pls ? We have some problems with Volvo Penta gearbox MS4a that we need to sort out - maybe you can help with that ? Thanks Jacqueline
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A few new parts are still available from Volvo Penta for this range of reverse gears..
They are still fixable.Thousands of them out there still going strong.
Shame that VP did not take the same interest to supply bits that they did for the folks with duff ECUs.
What boat is it in.?
It is possible to fit an earlier or later used gearbox if the ratio is similar, the external dimensions where the same.
Do try to get it fixed as a new "different " gearbox involves a lot of faffing around and expense.
 
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