sandydlc
Active Member
We took our 2010 450DA in for annual maintenance and when the Zeus technician examined the props, he found that the starboard prop shaft seal was leaking (see pic):
We agreed to order the necessary parts last week and the Zeus technician went back today to install them. When he disassembled the shaft assembly, he found the following:
The Zeus technician is going to consult with Mercury on Tuesday when he's back in the office to see what the cause of this is and whether it can be repaired. When I asked how much a possible replacement might be I was given the following information:
"The shaft is no longer available, they make a retro fit kit where all the lower gears have to be removed and replaced to be compatible with the new and available shaft."
Understandably we're very concerned particularly since this is just the latest in a long string of issues that we've had with our Zeus pods since we purchased our boat in February of this year. Including the latest gear lube leak from the prop shaft, we've had two transmission fluid leaks from the starboard pod and one transmission leak from the port pod in the past 9 months. For a 2010 vessel that only had 335 hours on the engines at the time of purchase, this is not the experience we were expecting.
I've contacted Mercury and Sea Ray multiple times only to be told that the vessel is no longer under warranty and since we're the 3rd owners of the vessel, there isn't anything they can do for us. If the lower gears have to be removed and replaced I don't even want to think about the cost of that.
After reviewing the picture I don't know what could be causing the issue but I would appreciate any feedback or advice that you guys could provide. I'm absolutely sick to my stomach and very worried about how long our boat will be out of commission as well as the extent of the cost of the repairs.
Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?
Thank you,
Sandy
We agreed to order the necessary parts last week and the Zeus technician went back today to install them. When he disassembled the shaft assembly, he found the following:
The Zeus technician is going to consult with Mercury on Tuesday when he's back in the office to see what the cause of this is and whether it can be repaired. When I asked how much a possible replacement might be I was given the following information:
"The shaft is no longer available, they make a retro fit kit where all the lower gears have to be removed and replaced to be compatible with the new and available shaft."
Understandably we're very concerned particularly since this is just the latest in a long string of issues that we've had with our Zeus pods since we purchased our boat in February of this year. Including the latest gear lube leak from the prop shaft, we've had two transmission fluid leaks from the starboard pod and one transmission leak from the port pod in the past 9 months. For a 2010 vessel that only had 335 hours on the engines at the time of purchase, this is not the experience we were expecting.
I've contacted Mercury and Sea Ray multiple times only to be told that the vessel is no longer under warranty and since we're the 3rd owners of the vessel, there isn't anything they can do for us. If the lower gears have to be removed and replaced I don't even want to think about the cost of that.
After reviewing the picture I don't know what could be causing the issue but I would appreciate any feedback or advice that you guys could provide. I'm absolutely sick to my stomach and very worried about how long our boat will be out of commission as well as the extent of the cost of the repairs.
Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?
Thank you,
Sandy