Volvo Penta Saildrive 130 service

[picardy]

I have a 2006 year Volvo D1A with a 130B sail-drive with around 200 hours use.

The sail-drive seal was replaced last year and the sail-drive has been refilled with red oil (presumably ATF)

I understand I should now be using VDS3 engine oil. If so can I simply drain the ATF and refill with VDS or do I need to flush it first?

Also is it simply a case of removing the bottom drain screw and then filling once the screw has been refitted?

Do I need to be doing anything else?

Thanks in advance

 

[VicS]

Yes you are correct. VP now recommend using the same oil as the engine rather than ATF
www.marinepartsexpress.com/saildriveoilchange.pdf

Just drain and refill. You will see from the above link that it was even considered acceptable to only part change the oil if afloat.

Instructions for servicing the drive leg should be in your "Operators manual" for the engine.
It would be wise to use a new O ring on the drain plug when refitting

Servicing should include inspection / replacement of of the drive leg anode and the prop anodes

 

[Plevier]

Be very careful when refilling and do it by quantity and make sure enough goes in, don't just believe the dipstick.
They are apparently prone to airlocking when filling from empty and can take a long time and multiple efforts to fill. This may be more of a problem with 15-40 oil than with ATF I guess.
A boatyard in Portimao fell into this trap and underfilled the SD130 in my mate's Bavaria last winter by about a litre after replacing the shaft seals and it seized up first day out because the oil level was below the input shaft bearings.
It has been a nightmare to get sorted, lost a lot of the season!
Cost the yard quite a lot in the end.

Incidentally ZF who make the unit for Volvo actually still recommend ATF to Dexron II or III spec for their gearboxes. However those specs are now officially obsolete although widely available.
I have heard that the current spec Dexron VI is not suitable - can cause clutch slip - and that's why VP have changed for safety, in case someone puts Dex VI in, but I don't have that authoritatively. However if you have Dex II or III in it appears there is no urgency to change just for the sake of it.
The 15-40 doesn't need to be VDS3, that's a high performance engine oil. CD is fine.

 

[picardy]

Great advice thanks very much for this

 

[Blue5]

The other tool you may need is an impact driver to remove the drain plug screw, they can be very stubborn.

 

[Plevier]

Incidentally ZF who make the unit for Volvo actually still recommend ATF to Dexron II or III spec for their gearboxes. However those specs are now officially obsolete although widely available.

Correction to my previous post. In a newer operating manual (Sep 2011) ZF have also changed over to recommending 15-40 not Dexron for the saildrives sold under their own name.