Volvo Saildrive Problems

[Thegoodshipmagn]

Hi,

anyone had experience of problems with a Volvo 120 saildrive?

Ours has covered about 1400 engine hours and we have just arrived in the Balearic's from the UK and ours has started to miss behave.

when going astern the engine is reluctant to rev as though there is friction from the gearbox and then when going back into forward it requires a few goes and quite a bit of force. Also after going astern if we go straight to neutral the prop is actually still turning in reverse making anchoring and berthing manoeuvres a bit fraught. We have now learned to go from astern to forward briefly (assuming we can engage forward!!) and then to neutral.
It is an intermittent problem and appears worse if we have been motoring for a while and everything is hot.

I have changed the oil (from above)

Is there anything else I can do? Any idea of likely repair costs ??

Many thanks

[atoll]

friends had to replace volvo 2003t&sail drive unit at 1650 hours,apparently that was the design life for thse units,based on a 15 year life of light usage.

i would also check your morse control cables that could be broken,try engaging at the gearbox by hand as you may find it is not getting the full travel on the cable due to a break

[Thegoodshipmagn]

Thanks Atoll, I changed the morse cables before we left home and have checked the linkages etc.
Beginning to suspect the worst, any idea of cost of new saildrive ?

[cyclepro]

Sorry to hear about your saildrive problems. Last year I replaced my saildrive and I had a hard time finding a used one - $4500.00 (used) and that was only for the unit. On the bright side; it took two of us only one morning to replace it. The biggest problem was to line up the gearbox spline with the unit. It involved some heavy lifting. I think that you will be able to find several blogs and articles on this this subject. I can send you 'my story' if it gets that far.

Good luck

Jan

[atoll]

no idea of cost,but i would check out the boat yards,andraix,palma etc,for second hand units other wise online volvo has a list of local dealers.

[atoll]

Volvo Penta Exploded view / schematic Drive 150S-A, 150S-B, 150SR-A,150SR-B, complete 150S-A, 150S-B, 150SR-A, 150SR-B - MarinePartsEurope.com

complete new unit is 7310 euro......ouch

[atoll]

sorry above is for 150 unit,this is the 120 unit,but similar price

Volvo Penta Exploded view / schematic Lower Gear Unit Sail Boat Drive Unit MS25S, MS25SR, Spare Part Solution MS25S-A, MS25SR-A, 120S-A, 120S-B, 120S-D, 120S-E - MarinePartsEurope.com

Volvo Penta Exploded view / schematic Upper Gear Unit Sail Boat Drive Unit MS25S, MS25SR MS25S-A, MS25SR-A - MarinePartsEurope.com

Volvo Penta Exploded view / schematic Upper Gear Unit Sail Boat Drive Unit MS25S, MS25SR, Components MS25S-A, MS25SR-A - MarinePartsEurope.com

[atoll]

the good news is all the parts are available,so may only need a bearing replaced,best start looking for a winter haulout,last i heard andraitax was pretty good,though mainland may be cheaper.

[Jeannius]

My 120s have now done 8000 hours each - most of that time in bareboat charter!!! They did require cones or something replacing at about 5000 but the problem there was no drive so your problem sounds different.

So at 1400 hours yours are just about run-in so unless they suffered serious neglect or abuse should be good for a long while yet.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Jeannius

My 120s have now done 8000 hours each - most of that time in bareboat charter!!! They did require cones or something replacing at about 5000 but the problem there was no drive so your problem sounds different.

So at 1400 hours yours are just about run-in so unless they suffered serious neglect or abuse should be good for a long while yet.

sorry if i was misleading,was refering to the 2003t volvo engine,that has a notoriously short lifespan,not the gearbox unit that if looked after should out last most engines.

[barnakiel]

Have you checked the cables and related gear? When at the dock, if you have access, disconnect the wires and see if you can shift by hand. Sometimes it is just the cable beginning to corrode within the jacket or the levers being out of alignment, etc..

Also check the condition of the prop. Fouled props can give similar set of headaches.

b.

[barnakiel]

OK, I read on and see you have checked the cables.

If there is a good mechanic around, you can put the boat on dry and lower the unit. The drive can be opened and inspected. If you are away from your home area but within cheap flights range, consider funding a ticked to a well known to you mechanic from your home area. The person will have a 'vacation', you will have your drive, possibly, diagnosed, maybe fixed.

b.

[Cotemar]

Thegoodshipmagn,

I had a simular problem with my port engine sail drive starting in gear every once in a while. Was never hard to shift, but would have to put her in reverse and back to neutral to get it out of gear.
I noticed that the gear lever was not square to the sail drive, so I would grab it with my hand and just square it up as you see in the attached picture and I could feel it go into neutral.
I then made and adjustment at the helm shifter, so that it was consistenly square as it was being shifted into neutral after many forward and and reverse shifts and all has been well since then.

Removing four screws allows me to just remove and adjust the port side of the helm shifter.
Took me about an hour to adjust and but back together.

Mark

[svcattales]

I would try putting the transmission in neutral and then dive down to prop and turn it by hand. (Just how cold is the water there?) This will spin the vertical and horizontal shaft bearings and the pinion gears in the lower half of the drive. If you feel resistance or "a hitch" while turning the prop in both directions you might be able to isolate whether the problem is in the upper half (inside the boat) or lower half of the drive. Keep your ears tuned to any clunking noises.

Another option is to have the transmission oil analyzed to find out if there are unusual "wear metals" or moisture in the oil. (Since you just changed some of the oil, that might skew the results, but the oil analyzer maybe able to factor that in). Depending on the results, you may have some clues about internal problems.

If you can't isolate the problem part, you may have to haul out and take the drive apart to figure it out.

[Bell]

HI there
I have the this problem with my 120 se saildrive (1700hrs) which is attached to a Volvo Penta 2030. There is a kiwi feathering prop driving (freshly greased 1 month ago).

Did you find any thing which may help me locate the issue.

Both cones for forward and reverse have been replaced as well as bearing and seals. The selector and dog have been replaced on the gear box, all cables as well as throttle mechanism have been renewed.

I suffer the same problem when the drive is warm to full operating temperature, when selecting astern the drive rotates in the correct direction but am unable to apply engine revs even though the cable is operating perfectly with the engine thottle. The next thing is I can't disengage astern without turning the engine off.

Any help would be great!!!!!

Cheers Darryl