Leg oil the colour of money!!!

[Mr Googler]

Well removed the drain plugs and out poors the yellow white stuff /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
After I stopped crying went to the only Volvo mechanic on the Isle of Man who reckons prop shaft seals and has quoted £300 to flush legs, replace seals and refill on both legs.
Does this sound right. He says no need to strip legs to do this.

He also said that if the shaft looks rusted once seals are out then thats that an new legs!!!!!!

The legs were overhauled in 2007 by VP dealer in Devon by previous owner so got on to them to see what was done. I know VP will warrenty for 1 year but I think its done less than 100 hours since then so what are my chances!

Im now going to cry some more /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[[2068]]

O dear, this was the bit where I said:
>decamp to the bar and have several large drinks.

Fortunately the legs are pretty tolerant of a dose of milkshake (so long as it hasn't been in there for too long), so new seals, flush, and a refill should sort out the problem.

This is the reason I usually unscrew the drain hole at the end of each season, just to drain out and check a bit of oil, and get some help if required asap.

dv.

 

[whisper]

To cheer you up, we had a similar problem with emulsified oil in the lower leg a month or so ago. Forward thrust bearing had gone "awol" - result was a bill for £1500.
Out of interest which Volvo dealer in Devon did the overhaul? Send me a PM if you don't want it to go public.

 

[Mr Googler]

PM sent.

Just noted what Whisper said about trust bearing.

I have had no end off problems with one engine having no power after 2200 revs and the other one doing all the work.

Up till now done air, compression and fuel. Everything changed and checked but I now have injection pump out ready to go to UK for checks. Could a thrust bearing do this or would the engine just tear it up. They are 6.5l v8 diesel so the torque must be unreal for a 290 dp leg.

Come forward the learned ones!!

 

[scottie]

oil should be checked at least every 100 hr or anually
so how was the oil last time you checked
2 years no come back on dealer
if itis the propshaft seals then
it could be a bit fishing line or rope
but it could be any of the places that have seals so ask them to check with a vacuum pump

 

[[2068]]

Just to add, the first thing to go would be the bearing set inboard of the seal.
Get your engineer to check it out: if rusty, then it's going to get expensive.

dv.

 

[oldgit]

"quoted £300 to flush legs, replace seals and refill on both legs."
Sounds OK to me.
If worst case scenerio and you want to go down the the "careful with your money route" you will almost certainly be able to source a secondhand shaft or poss complete S/H lower leg from Coastal Rides or IVSS Marine.

 

[Greg2]

Know exectly how you feel. Been there, had bearings/seals changed and still had semi-milky water the following year. Will be checking again in a few weeks and not looking forward to it /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Pendana]

£300 sounds a good price to me. VP man should put the leg on pressure and vacuum test to ascertain the cause of the leak. Same happened to me a few years ago but test showed nothing wrong. May have been a leak from filler / drain plugs or dipstick. Filled up with oil checked at end of next season and everything was ok. So, not always depressing news. Good luck.

Eddie

 

[spannerman]

I must have replaced seals in over 100 Volvo legs in the last 13 yrs, so as you can see its a common problem, I have only seen a couple that couldn't be repaired, the reason is that VP legs circulate the oil so the water doesn't collect at the bottom of the drive like a Mercruiser. The weakest part is the pinion gear on the bottom of the vertical shaft, this won't last very long if driven with water in the oil, if its OK and not chipped or damaged the rest will be OK. Just replace the seals, rinse the drive and refill. I have replaced a couple of dozen lower units because gear damage its cheaper than rebuiding the lower unit, but if you catch it early you should be fine, have him check the seal on the gearshift quadrant as these fail too.

 

[Liselle]

Just had to have one of our drives seals repaired as the oil was slightly emulsified. The ony extra problem we had was that the shaft was a little scored, so had it metal sprayed and remachined prior to the new seals being fitted. The shaft repair was an extra £140, so the whole job including the oil in the other leg was just under £400.

 

[Nick_H]

Ref your rpm problem, have you had the injectors checked? That could cause the problem you're describing.

 

[davedpc]

Is this a volvo problem as ive never experienced any problems with Bravo 2 Mercs. Why dont Volvo fit a level / top up bottle inside the transom which gives a positive gravity oil pressure also?

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Every post like this reinforces my position as one who is happy with shaft drive, despite the reduction in fuel efficiency the fixing costs of legs scare me.

 

[spannerman]

The reason we rarely see oil in Mercruiser drives is because there is a metal outer face on the seal with only about 1mm of exposed seal right up against the shaft itself, so they rarely if ever get damaged by fishing line etc, which damages Volvo seals instantly, I have found yards of line behind the seals on Volvos as there is nothing to stop it winding round the shaft and going past the seal, poor design if ever there was one, the early drives had metal cups over the seal housing but these have been dropped now, so you can expect water in the drive at least once in its life.
If we get in a twin installation its a safe bet one of the drives will be contaminated.
I guess the reason VP don't fit filler bottles is because Mercruiser own the patent.

 

[Elza_Skip]

The price sounds good

I had the same problem 2 years ago and our engineers found the prop shaft badly scored so we had the shaft chrome plated and ground. Final bil was close on a grand!

Based on Spannermans input you are odds on it is just new seals and oil

 

[Mr Googler]

I have done all injectors, fuel pick ups, new lift pump, new racor filter, new air filter and compression test. This morning I sent the injection pump off to specialist firm for test and possibly rebuild (although I hope not the latter!!) Both engines run off the one tank so fuel is ok.

I have also been trying to take props off today and bloody aly retaining thing between the props is stuck on. Bit of heat needed I reckon but I came close to just taking a hammer to it. Went home instead...much cheaper option. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif