VP D12 800 mystery rubber Fragments & dust on SQ 58 2008

[Tony W]

Noticed these pellets of rubber and rubber dust build up on return from a trip in the med, some are f these pellets are quite big with fine dust also, in the area of the coupling between engine and gearbox, what’s going off
Seems pretty urgent to me..
Any advice or experience of such so hone in on what needs sorting??

 

[TK Blue MAX]

Sorry to say, but that looks like the rubber coupling failing, not too big a job and can be done in the water, slide shaft back then move box back. gearbox is very heavy but it can be done, disconnect exhaust and engine mounts at the back, jack rear of engine/ gearbox up to slide off, did i mention the gearbox is very,very heavy

 

[volvopaul]

Oh no , it's flywheel coupling , they call them cupping rubbers , it's a common issue in the D9 and D12 , it's not as serious as you think , slide the box off to change the parts , don't leave it as you can damage the gearbox and the flywheel.

 

[Momac]

I thought maybe you had a rat on board but it seems that's not it.

 

[Tony W]

Thank you.
Not one I’ll try, have someone coming on Monday to have a look.

- Any idea on what sort timeline is it?
- is it just age and wear or something else that’s caused it?