Anyone with Zeus Pods?

The oil all over the engine room is due to the seal allowing the 350ish psi of steering actuator/trim cylinder pressure to overcome the low gear oil pressure on the opposite side of the seal and pressurize the gear lube side. It’s least path of resistance is out the gear lube bottle monitor. Depending on how bad the seal failure is determines how messy your engine room gets. Mine was so slightly damaged that the oil was just steadily running out the breather hole on the gear lube monitor bottles cap.

Again, my frustration has not been with the cause of the issue (although an updated seal should’ve been a warranty issue) it’s soley been on the availability of parts (if your headlight burns out, you shouldn’t need to buy a whole front end to your car) and the lies I’ve been told.

My pods and Mercury’s software that controls them, being some of the first ones built after the prototypes, didn’t have the availability to store any codes in the vessel view which created insurance issues.

I’ve learned a lot and have been inside these things as deep as any owner I know. I love the technology and maneuverability they provide. I know I’m fortunate to be in the position I am in and am just trying to pay it forward any way I can. I’ve gotten a lot of useful information from this site in the past and I appreciate those who’ve helped.
 
Update! Mercury just released parts and the tool to replace the steering actuator seal. Boat needs to be on stands still but a lot less work AND MONEY than replacing the entire actuator!

I want to thank RK for his help in getting Mercury moving. It’s been a long time coming. My seal kit and tool have been ordered and will be here in 2 days. Will replace next week after Easter. I will post pictures of my progress. $298 is a lot less $ than $14000 for parts.
 
Hi Jethro, can u advise how long your seal kit arrive after you placed order? I have the same problem like yours and a Mercury dealer told me it’s 6-8 weeks for the seal kit. May you let me know where you bought yours.
I read thru the bulletin and it seems like the replacement of seal should be able to do in the water as you only take out the transmission and drive is fully bolted to the plate. Appreciate your inputs. Thanks
 

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Peter, where do you live? I had my parts 2 days after I ordered them through my local Mercury dealer.

The boat HAS TO BE ON THE HARD in order to do the seal replacement. Yes, you can remove the transmission without needing to support the pod but in order to replace the actuator seal, the pod needs to be properly supported with a hydraulic jack (I used one of my adjustable keel stands so there was no possibility of the jack losing pressure). If the pod is not properly supported and you remove the top actuator nut, the pod along with a million actuator parts will drop out from the boat.
 
Peter, where do you live? I had my parts 2 days after I ordered them through my local Mercury dealer.

The boat HAS TO BE ON THE HARD in order to do the seal replacement. Yes, you can remove the transmission without needing to support the pod but in order to replace the actuator seal, the pod needs to be properly supported with a hydraulic jack (I used one of my adjustable keel stands so there was no possibility of the jack losing pressure). If the pod is not properly supported and you remove the top actuator nut, the pod along with a million actuator parts will drop out from the boat.
 
Thanks Jethro. I live in Singapore. If it’s available in US, I should be able to get it here in 7 days via FedEx. Appreciate u let me know where to buy. Pls email me at pyang_ky@yahoo.com.sg or whatapps +6596150831. Thanks a lot.
 
Peter, where do you live? I had my parts 2 days after I ordered them through my local Mercury dealer.

The boat HAS TO BE ON THE HARD in order to do the seal replacement. Yes, you can remove the transmission without needing to support the pod but in order to replace the actuator seal, the pod needs to be properly supported with a hydraulic jack (I used one of my adjustable keel stands so there was no possibility of the jack losing pressure). If the pod is not properly supported and you remove the top actuator nut, the pod along with a million actuator parts will drop out from the boat.

My name is Lisa my husband Gerald and I are having the same problem with only one of our Zeus pods...super frustrating to say the least! Don't want to spend the $16K that we have been quoted for replacement parts...Reading your post that the parts are now available to purchase direct?? Not sure what to tell the local Mercury dealer what I need for the repair. Would totally appreciate some suggestions. Gerald's email address is gerald@har-bach.com. Thanks guys!
 
Not sure where to start here. From what i have been told, the pods are the units "Inside the boat" while the lower gear is the "underwater" units. My issues have been with the lower gears.

Mine is an '09 and both lower gears have been replaced already. The PO had replaced one (in 2011) and i replaced the other (about two years ago). After about 200 hours on the gear, i noticed a little gear lube in engine compartment (came out the top of the reservoir). I Had them take a look and what they found, in both units, was a groove in the shaft of the units. This after only 200 hours.

This allowed water to intrude into the system and popped the lid on the reservoir cans. The groove in both shafts was in the area of the seals on the shafts and the mechanic believes that the shafts were not hardened enough. Not sure how a rubber gasket can make a groove in a stainless shaft but it seams the only way it happened. We tried to get mercury/cummins/ZF to give us the specs for the hardness so i could test the shafts, they wouldn't give it to us.

The solution that we decided to go down was to ceramic coat the shafts and put them back in. Another boat in our area has done this and they haven't had any issues since. I am hoping that this solves the problem as replacing both lower gears again would, with apparently this ticking time bomb still not addressed, is not something i am looking forward to doing. Was only about $200 each for the ceramic coating but i am told this should eliminate the problem. Not sure how much the service is going to coist me at this point as both gears have just been resealed but it is what is. Curious, anyone else have this issue with the lower gears?

Andrew, how is the ceramic coating holding up on your lower shafts? How many hours since you did this repair? Who did the coating for you?
 
Andrew, how is the ceramic coating holding up on your lower shafts? How many hours since you did this repair? Who did the coating for you?
We did the shafts last September and have about 150 hours on them since. Our local dealer is very good with them - Lake Union Sea Ray. It was not expensive, like $500 for all four shafts. I am doing all fluid services in the next week or so and am going to have them inspected to see if there is any wear on the shafts at that time. Other than that, she is running great as we now have roughly 1,500 hours on the boat. Considering we cruise at 30, we put a lot of time on the boat!
 
We did the shafts last September and have about 150 hours on them since. Our local dealer is very good with them - Lake Union Sea Ray. It was not expensive, like $500 for all four shafts. I am doing all fluid services in the next week or so and am going to have them inspected to see if there is any wear on the shafts at that time. Other than that, she is running great as we now have roughly 1,500 hours on the boat. Considering we cruise at 30, we put a lot of time on the boat!
Andrew, thanks for your reply. I am very interested in this ceramic coating solution as the Zeus shafts are failing on a lot of boats when the seals carve grooves in them. Mercury cannot assure me the new shaft/seal units have been improved to correct this issue. I will reach out to Lake Union for more info. Please let us know how your service and inspection go.
 
I too am an extremely unhappy pod owner. I have been dealing with a blown steering actuator seal on my starboard pod.

Over the 4th of July we had high winds blow through our area (Mississippi River in LaCrosse, Wisconsin). Debris was blowing all over the sandbar we were at so we decided to be safe and push off to head back to the marina. As we were pulling out of the bay I had a “high exhaust temp starboard” warning go off on my vesselview. I brought the engines to idle to check the water spray coming out both sides of the boat. The spray was strong and the alarm went away so we proceeded back to our marina. Two days later we decided to take the boat out on Friday July 6th. I opened up the engine hatch as I always do to check all fluids and strainers. To my amazement I found a piece of cloth stuck In my starboard engine strainer. I removed the debris and discarded it in the trash. All other fluids looked good so I fired up the engines, let them warm up then headed south. We got a mile from our marina when I started to throttle up the engines when I got a severe alarm indicating low hydraulic oil in my starboard pod. I immediately shut the engine down and proceeded to the closest bay on my port engine. I dropped my anchor and opened up my engine hatch to find hydraulic oil spilling out of my drive lube monitor bottle. Since there is NO DEALER THAT HAS TOUCHED A POD IN ANY SERIOUS MANNER ANYWHERE CLOSE TO ME, I called mercruiser only to have their Zeus specialist (who is extremely knowledgeable and helpful) tell me my steering actuator seal had failed and that the seal isn’t serviceable and I would need an entire steering actuator. ($23k quote to fix at my closest authorized dealer)

My insurance company has all but denied my claim because my vessel view (1st run right after the prototypes) never stored ANY codes. Also, I couldn’t prove that my strainer was clogged because I threw the cloth away. Im left with having to either have the dealer tear down my pod to “prove what caused the seal failure” (not sure how they can prove anything) and be stuck paying for all the labor, or just fix it myself.(yes, I’m very capable and have the facilities to do it)

My frustration lies with mercury. These parts are 10 years old and they are still sourcing assemblies from companies that won’t allow them the parts to rebuild them. I will never come to grips with a $23k bill to fix a $50,$100 seal?????

I’ve hit my limit with this company and my insurance company has all but thrown me overboard.

Not sure where to go from here. I am sick to my stomach and may just let the boat sit on stands at home until parts become available.


Has the time come for a ‘class action’ law suit?

I too own pods. Steering failed recently. Entire mechanism was replaced while still under warranty. But. Transmission is now idling at 400+ psi with prop still. Which everyone will tell you isn’t possible. I was told this is a known issue and requires transmission replacement.

Seems we all need a lawyer and need to work to get class action status against Mercury.
 
Hi Jethro, I have ordered the seal kit from a dealer for one month already and Mercury kept on coming back to revise their delivery date from end July to now early Sep. Can you pls advise your dealer contact I can get it ASAP. Mercury has stock for the whole actuator replacement but that would cost me a lot.
 
Andrew, thanks for your reply. I am very interested in this ceramic coating solution as the Zeus shafts are failing on a lot of boats when the seals carve grooves in them. Mercury cannot assure me the new shaft/seal units have been improved to correct this issue. I will reach out to Lake Union for more info. Please let us know how your service and inspection go.
Dunigan: So far it looks like the ceramic coating of the shafts (lower gear units) is working as planned. After over 200 hours, we pulled off the props and the grease is still there and looks like it was brand new. You can see the ceramic coating on the end of the shafts and it looks perfect. If there was any leak again, the first thing to go would be that grease. I kinda wanted to pull the lower gear off to look internally but there was just no need to do it. Hope this helps. I know my brother is planning on doing them as a preventative maintenance when he services his pods.
 
For all you pod lovers out there.

I just ended a call with my mechanic. After being told to replace a sensor on our transmission due to pressures of 380+ at idle. And doing the work.

He gets told ‘don’t worry about it, it’s a known issue with no fix’. There is no problem.

Does anyone trust this? I don’t. I asked for it in writing. So when the transmission fails. I have documentation to prove my court case against Mercury.
 
Guys, regarding the Actuator Seal Kit Part Number 98-8M0153478 and the service Bulletin, it only tells you to change the top seal(the one included in the kit, But on the other side(buttom) of the Actuator(after complete disassemble) there is another seal exactly the same. In the service bulletin is not mentioned, and I notice after several actuator repairs, that damage also occurs to that seal, it just takes longer to fail than the top seal because it is closer to the water level and the exhaust temp is cooler there, but distortion of that seal is observed.

Any comments??? Have guys change that bottom seal, or only the top? Any hours on record for both top and buttom. I usually have on record 900 to 1100 hours on the top one to fail. Dont have records on the bottom seal. I also observe that the seal kit 98-8M0153478 is basically the same seal as the original one. NO UPGRADES observe, I dont know if the composition of the seal is the same.

Would like to share and receive input.

Regards
 
Dunigan: So far it looks like the ceramic coating of the shafts (lower gear units) is working as planned. After over 200 hours, we pulled off the props and the grease is still there and looks like it was brand new. You can see the ceramic coating on the end of the shafts and it looks perfect. If there was any leak again, the first thing to go would be that grease. I kinda wanted to pull the lower gear off to look internally but there was just no need to do it. Hope this helps. I know my brother is planning on doing them as a preventative maintenance when he services his pods.
Great!!! and thanks for the update. I plan to use the same ceramic company when that time comes!
 
Andrew, let me know if you perform an oil test on the gear oil at any point. I would love to know the numbers. Thanks.

Bruce
 
I have one of these Pods for sale if someone needs it;

Late model Cummins Mercury Zeus Pod Drive, comes complete with Z12 props. Was salvaged from the Detroit River. In excellent condition. Can send photos and videos will arrange shipping.
Have government documentation asserting claim.

Asking $10K
 
Sounds like I should be relived I just purchased a 420 Sundancer and looked at a 44 with PODS and based on research that I did which matches the comments here sure glad I went with V-Drives.
 

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