VP D3-SX gear problem

[baylabayla3288]

Hello Bart,

i think i got the same pb when the drive is very hot,about one hour driving at 3000Rpm....when it's again cold no pb!!please let me know wich was the issue?

I had a similar issue last summer and it turned out to be the shift cable that expanded in a hot engineroom causing the shift lever on the transmission to move only partly. A small adjustment cured the problem. Is there a delay also when shifting in reverse? If not, the problem could be somewhere else than the cone

 

[spannerman]

Having rebuilt dozens of VP drives and replaced clutches, I can confirm that overfilling will not cause any wear to the clutch, to the contrary too little will knacker it.
If its overfilled it could result in blown seals from lack of expansion room which as the drive cools down draws seawater into the drive. A problem Mercruiser doesn't have as there is always a head of oil above the top of the drive so as the drive cools it draws oil from the reservoir.
What happens is that with time the cone in the gear gets polished so the clutch doesn't bite with a thud but gradually engages after slipping, you can remove the glazing with emery paper if the grooves on the clutch which introduce oil aren't too worn down.
Also if the gear shift isn't adjusted correctly to neutral the clutch can lie offset and cause polishing by light contact with the gear instead of sitting equidistant from the two gears i.e.no contact when in neutral, and worst scenario its biased more to one gear than the other resulting in partial engagement when selecting the gear its furthest from, which also can induce slip and glazing.
Check the delay between forward and reverse, if reverse which is used less responds normally then its the forward gear that needs checking and its corresponding clutch cone, if its slow both ways then you could have water in the oil or a problem with the shift actuator.

 

[BartW]

Having rebuilt dozens of VP drives and replaced clutches, I can confirm that overfilling will not cause any wear to the clutch, to the contrary too little will knacker it.
If its overfilled it could result in blown seals from lack of expansion room which as the drive cools down draws seawater into the drive. A problem Mercruiser doesn't have as there is always a head of oil above the top of the drive so as the drive cools it draws oil from the reservoir.
What happens is that with time the cone in the gear gets polished so the clutch doesn't bite with a thud but gradually engages after slipping, you can remove the glazing with emery paper if the grooves on the clutch which introduce oil aren't too worn down.
Also if the gear shift isn't adjusted correctly to neutral the clutch can lie offset and cause polishing by light contact with the gear instead of sitting equidistant from the two gears i.e.no contact when in neutral, and worst scenario its biased more to one gear than the other resulting in partial engagement when selecting the gear its furthest from, which also can induce slip and glazing.
Check the delay between forward and reverse, if reverse which is used less responds normally then its the forward gear that needs checking and its corresponding clutch cone, if its slow both ways then you could have water in the oil or a problem with the shift actuator.

thank you spannerman, that's the most detailed explanation on a VP clutch functioning I ever had, and gave some new insights on this,
and this will hopefully help me to further investigate a clutch that still has a very slight delay on our Karnic.

regarding your statement that oil overfilling doesn't harm,
I'm intrigued that (at that time) the delay problem occured after a service and leg oil change from Volvo service
could there be a problem with the oil type they were using ?

 

[spannerman]

There is always the possibility that they have used the wrong oil, VP use 75-90 synthetic and 75-140 synthetic, the latter is only used in DPG drives usually found on the back of a KAD 300.
I have just this minute come back from a friends Windy 37 which had a delay on the port engine only when selecting forwards, after visually confirming that the actuator reacts immediately to shift commands from the helm, I then disconnected the shift cable going down to the drive and operated the shift a few times to centralise the actuator at neutral, then manually moved the gear wire to find neutral in the drive and sure enough the cable end was out of line with the pin on the actuator, I adjusted the ferrule until they lined up and refitted. Problem solved.
His symptoms were delay in forwards, and reverse hanging up so that sometimes the only way to get it out of reverse was stop the engine, shift and restart, not fun in a tight marina! The neutral on the actuator didn't coincide with the mechanical neutral in the drive so the clutch rested nearer reverse gear when in neutral, luckily adjustment cured it. This can happen during servicing as you have to disconnect the shift cable at the drive to take the drive off, and if the mechanic is a bit slapdash he can screw the end ferrule back on the shift wire in the wrong place and then push the shift quadrant to line up, but that demonstrates he shouldn't be working on drives at all if he does this.

 

[BartW]

...........The neutral on the actuator didn't coincide with the mechanical neutral in the drive so the clutch rested nearer reverse gear when in neutral, luckily adjustment cured it. This can happen during servicing as you have to disconnect the shift cable at the drive to take the drive off, and if the mechanic is a bit slapdash he can screw the end ferrule back on the shift wire in the wrong place and then push the shift quadrant to line up, but that demonstrates he shouldn't be working on drives at all if he does this.

that must be it ! It was after service from VP, it was a younger guy with little to no experience on that model of outdrives
but in his defence, he was determined and very helpfull,
and its the same bloke who replaced two of my D3 engine blocks, placing all old attachments on a new blok, without an issue, (under warranty)

thanks !

 

[alt]

There is always the possibility that they have used the wrong oil, VP use 75-90 synthetic and 75-140 synthetic, the latter is only used in DPG drives usually found on the back of a KAD 300.

Sorry for the thread drift, but curious as to why the DP-G requires 75-140? When the others use 75-90?

What's the difference between 90 / 140?

Thanks for the info... curiosity killed the cat!!