Help! Add me....

[ssmith]

to the list of bad first days :(.

Kinda long but I hope you guys can help me diagnose the problem. This is how my day went.

Backed the boat down the ramp. My wife couldn't get the boat to start so I thought, great:mad:. I had just had Viper Customs install a dual battery setup with VSR. Could this be the cause? Luckily I hadn't fully launched the boat so I climbed into the boat and it started up first try. I did have to hold the ignition over longer. Definitely different than last season. Launched boat and parked SUV and trailer.

I boarded the boat, relieved it was still running and everything appeared normal. My wife motored us out of the no wake zone while I checked on things. I looked in the engine compartment, messed with the ballast system, etc... Just a general going over. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Once past the no wake zone, my wife tried to take off and nothing happened. I took over and still nothing. I would almost fully advance the throttle before anything would happen and then the max speed was about 10mph. Since the engine was running OK, I decided to check the V-drive. I opened it up and found it shooting a stream of water around the prop shaft and filling up with water. Decided to motor back into the dock. Once at the dock, turned the engine off and messed with it for a while. I had a socket set and was able to tighten the 4 clamps around the packing nut (think thats what it is called). Still leaked without any improvement. After about an hour of messing with it, I decided to take it out beyond the no wake just once more. This time it performed completely normally. I ran 36-38mph at 4000 rpm with normal oil pressure and engine temps. I have no idea why now and not earlier. However, the major leak is still there. I go ahead and trailer the boat and call it a day.

Oh, I also found these 2 white pieces of plastic, each with a screw hole, floating in the water around the V-drive. Any ideas?

Now to recap...

1) Why is it hard to start
2) Why is it leaking around the prop shaft
3) Why would it not go anywhere earlier but acted normal later
4) What are the 2 plastic pieces I found floating in the V-drive compartment

Here's a video I took showing my problems....


http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w126/scotties2006/?action=view&current=MVI_5013-1.flv


And a few pics....

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w126/scotties2006/Supra/IMG_5010.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w126/scotties2006/Supra/IMG_5014.jpg

[ScottnAz]

After sitting and tinkering for the hour, did the boat start right up the second time or was it hard to start again? When starting, was it cranking but taking longer to turn over, or was it more of a delay from when you turned the key to start?

Did you check your v-drive fluid level while you were on the water?

The
stream of water around the prop shaft was way more than I expected to see. It's almost scary how much water was flowing through there

[ssmith]

After sitting and tinkering for the hour, did the boat start right up the second time or was it hard to start again? When starting, was it cranking but taking longer to turn over, or was it more of a delay from when you turned the key to start?

Did you check your v-drive fluid level while you were on the water?

Thewas way more than I expected to see. It's almost scary how much water was flowing through there
No, the boat didn't start right up. I had to turn the key clockwise and hold it there for a couple of seconds and then it would turn over and start.


I didn't check the V-drive fluid level and should have. However, the prop shaft was turning fine. I had the boat winterized at the dealership...do they change out V-drive fluids? If so, would it take that long to circulate around and engage everything properly.

Yes, I know lots of water. The bilge would kick on every about every 15 minutes. At least the bilge works.

Thoughts??

[docdrs]

was this the first time out?


ok your prop shaft nut needs to be tightened. maybe the packing needs to be replaced. easy to do . moomba search ton of guys doing it. that water is coming in from the lake, and should still be coming in even with the motor off. should be a drop every 15 - 30 seconds.

was the motor reving and the boat not going anywhere or did the motor not rev. Bad gas. no stabil for a number of years and passages blocking?
I would drain gas or put seafoam or some carb fuel injector cleaner in to help clean fuel system

check elect connections , that all are tight can loosen over time..... other than that i would need pro advice

not sure but some systems have a combiner for starting and maybe thats why you had to hold it as the main battery charge level was low and it had to kick in the combiner?

[ScottnAz]

Well, the water coming in at the shaft appears to be a shaft packing problem. Did you try adjusting the packing nut on the shaft?

The starting problem sounds, to me, like an ignition switch problem. Check the wires at the back of the cylinder to make sure they're all secure. You could also try bypassing the key cylinder and hot-wiring the boat to verify that is where the problem lies.

I don't know anything about winterization (AZ), sorry I can't help you there. And couldn't even formulate a guess on those plastic pieces.

[ssmith]

Doc,

My first thought is that the packing needs replaced. However, I'm clueless about this stuff. I did tighten the 4 clamps...the packing nut is different, I guess? I'll search Moomba and see what I can find.

It was the first time out this year. The motor was reving and nothing was happening until almost full throttle. I had a full tank of ethanol free gas and stabil added over the winter.

Scott,

Jim at Viper did hot wire the boat himself to check out the VSR and batts. I wonder if he didn't get things back right?

I need a packing nut guide for dummies I guess. I wouldn't know a packing nut from a hole in the ground.

All kinda odd to me. I've never had this problem. I had an I/O for 4 years with zero issues and this is the 2nd year with the inboard and first time I've had issues. Maybe I've just been lucky.

[docdrs]

here ya go for dummies http://moomba.com/msgboard/showthread.php?t=10841&highlight=packing .. check the vdrive and the tranny fluid levels and oil. should be light brown ,pink and light brown respectively not milky. it all seems odd?? sounds live not enough oil in vdrive or tranny. did vrive lightstay on above 1200 rpms?

read your manual form cover to cover and then again

nice pics and vid by the way helps diagnose things

[jonyb]

That piece of plastic looks like some sort of backing plate. You'd be surprised what SC leaves in the bilges of those boats when they build them. I don't think they ever cleaned out my boat when it was built. I'm still finding screws in there.

[ScottnAz]

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n315/woodwrangler/packingnut.jpg
And like Doc pointed out, there's a bunch of threads over on the moomba boards about changing the packing.

http://moomba.com/msgboard/showthread.php?t=10032
http://moomba.com/msgboard/showthread.php?t=10031

[ssmith]

Thanks for all the input. I do feel better knowing its most likely the packing. Sounds like a PITA to replace on a V-drive but also a cheap fix for a DIY project. Only like $5-10 for the packing. However, it takes 2-3 hrs to do it.

If I do have to take it to a shop it sounds like it will cost between $300-$400. So, I think I'll attempt to do it myself and try to be patient.

I'm going to the storage building later today and try tightening the nut and see how much thread I have left to tighten up to. That will be the first step and then perhaps the repacking procedure if that doesn't work.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again.

[ssmith]

What a pain. I worked on the boat today. It was tough getting any space to work in the v-drive compartment with proper lighting. I removed the sprinkler valve for the front ballast to gain more room. I was able to loosen the packing nut and jam nut. I didn't really know how the two worked together but now it makes sense. I couldn't see far enough in to know if it was threaded all the way on to its max position. I used a 10 inch pipe wrench to break the packing nut loose and the jam nut came with it but then the two seperated from one another. i could easily unthread them both by hand. I studied them for a bit and then I threaded the jam nut about 3/4 of the way on and then threaded the packing nut on up to the jam nut and hand tightened the packing nut. Next, I used vice grips to tighted the jam nut up to the packing nut.

I won't know if this improved the leak until Tuesday which is the next time I'll be able to go to the lake. I do now feel like I know enough about how this works to mess around with it at the lake and try to improve it.

If I can't stop the leak Tuesday, I'll just repack it. I think I'll order the packing anyways as I'm sure I'll need it now or later.

Here's a pic of the packing nut seperated from the jam nut.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w126/scotties2006/SU1HMDAyMTItMjAxMDA0MjQtMTg1NC5qcGc.jpg

Thanks

[ssmith]

here ya go for dummies http://moomba.com/msgboard/showthread.php?t=10841&highlight=packing .. check the vdrive and the tranny fluid levels and oil. should be light brown ,pink and light brown respectively not milky. it all seems odd?? sounds live not enough oil in vdrive or tranny. did vrive lightstay on above 1200 rpms?

read your manual form cover to cover and then again

nice pics and vid by the way helps diagnose things

Thanks for the Dummy link...just what I needed :p. No the light did not stay on. I read the manual last year but definitely need to read over it again and maybe again.