450: SD 60 need some quick advice.

[Pascals Wager]

That makes sense as when I loosened the stb dip stick air was sucked in suggesting the seal was holding. There was no air noise on the port.

[Pascals Wager]

After pumping out the oil, flushing with more oil, removing that and refilling water turned up again. The extracted oil was definitely milky. Yanmar have agreed there's an issue and are lifting the boat and replacing the seals under warranty.

[Krabimike]

After I changed the oil I sailed from the Maldives to chagos. The oil looked great! Then after 3 weeks in chagos. We departed for our return to phuket 1955 miles the oil still looks great!
I did also notice a suction when checking oil. So I left the dip stick, can I say, just lightly snug. When arriving thai i sinced no suction as I had before. thanks for all the good advice!

[Pascals Wager]

Photo of the offending seal and some surface corrosion starting on the drive gear. Flushed the SD with diesel then several refills of oil. Back in the water in a few days and will know if it worked...

[davedindubai]

It looks like you did the right thing there. Were Yanmar easy to deal with?

I think the high salinity in Dubai waters is the main problem, I used to not only run the engines every week but spin both props for at least 5 mins each way if the boat wasn't being used. That keeps the tiny marine growth away and helps to maintain the seals.

[gstent]

Slight change of focus but I'll post here to an engaged group. One of my SD 60 drives seems to be 'slipping' or at least not engaging. It appears to be an intermittent problem and I am still in the middle of trying to work out what is happening. It seems to not have any power but I think I hear a thunk when it takes up (sorry to be vague but this is one of those probs which has just become apparant) Spoke to a mechanic here in Greece late yesterday who said he has replaced a number of SD 60 sail drive 'clutch' assemblies under warranty - did about 10 Sunsail boats last week alone. I am trying to work through language barriers to find out the specific part he is referring to.I have not heard of any such problems with the SD60 ( older drives yes). Anyway I have just had these serviced with new seals etc So I'm wondering - anyone heard about an issue with SD60 clutch probs? Today I'm going to check linkages as I have heard this can also be a cause for the type of problem I'm having. Not that I know how to adjust these...

[downunder]

Interesting to see the SD60 seems to have similar problems to SD 50.
I expected it to be bulletproof but apparently not.

Out of interest Yanmar will not warrant the saildrive in a powercat situation whereas Volvo will with their 54-75 range of engines.

[Pascals Wager]

Haven't heard any specific clutch problems but they are sensitive to incorrect linkage adjustment. Same as most disc type clutches to be fair.

[gstent]

I have heard that correct linkage adjustment is essential. Anybody have suggestions on how to ensure correct linkage adjustment?

[gstent]

This is very interesting for SD60 owners http://Manualzz.com/doc/7390358/yatb...ve-shift-delay