Zeus POD emergency repair

JamesT

JamesT

Active Member
Oct 7, 2013
250
Somers Point, NJ
Boat Info
2011 470 Sundancer
Engines
Cummins 480s w/ Zeus PODs
Hi all. So I suspected a water leak in my starboard POD and sent a fluid sample to the lab which tested positive for 10% water by volume in the gear lube. I called Cummins to request an emergency repair and had the boat short hauled for Cummins who sent two A team roadies to come after hours this past season to pull the POD apart and reseal all connections. They arrived at about 5pm and finished the job by 9pm. I was there for the whole surgery and was very impressed. They pulled the entire lower unit off the boat and did the whole repair in the parking lot of Marine Max in NJ. They dismantled the POD all the way down to the gears, carrying the gears dripping with lube oil to their truck and doing their magic. It was pretty amazing. The repair was done early July and after about 150 hours of use since then all is still great. Just posting a few photos. The first photo is the milky discharge from the gear lube drain. We drained the port POD too and port drained with no milk whatsoever... IMG_2047.jpgIMG_2053.jpgIMG_2054.jpgIMG_2055.jpgIMG_2057.jpgIMG_2059.jpg
 
Thanks for posting. Impressive to see a job like that was handled out of the back of a truck. Even more impressive that they got it done in four hours. And even more impressive that they started the job at 5pm!!
 
thank you for posting.

Most of the time we hear about things gone bad.

Good to hear a story about things going good.
 
h_gerry said:
Thanks for posting. Impressive to see a job like that was handled out of the back of a truck. Even more impressive that they got it done in four hours. And even more impressive that they started the job at 5pm!!
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h_gerry said:
Thanks for posting. Impressive to see a job like that was handled out of the back of a truck. Even more impressive that they got it done in four hours. And even more impressive that they started the job at 5pm!!
Click to expand...

Yes, this truck was like the batmobile. The crew was was two men who do this all over the east coast. They are used to the night/road work as these same guys work on commercial fishing and shipping vessels where time is money and there is no time to wait. The truck had spotlights for nightwork, all the tools necessary, a liftjack to support the several hundred pound POD, vices, drums of gear lube, etc. And their headquarters crew is just as sharp. The techs don't load the truck, the HQ personnel do. They evaluate each job, load each truck with dozens/hundreds of parts specific to the job, so all the techs have to do is drive to HQ, hop in the truck and drive to the job. The guys told me after leaving my job they had to drive back to north Jersey and hop a plane to fix another boat.

The more senior tech kept telling me that everyone is so mystified by the perceived complexity of PODs when in fact it's very simple. A few shafts, a few gears at 90 degree angles, and the gearcase that seals it all in. When I saw it all dismantled I had to agree.
 
h_gerry said:
Thanks for posting. Impressive to see a job like that was handled out of the back of a truck. Even more impressive that they got it done in four hours. And even more impressive that they started the job at 5pm!!
Click to expand...

Agreed with all of this -- while reading the OP, I started to wonder if this was an early April Fool's joke or something. Glad the pod is running well!
 
trit21 said:
I have heard of others (2 others) leaking as well, wonder if this is a problem with the zeus design?
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Coming late to the party but in my opinion (and experience)...yes. If I had to do it over again, I would not buy a boat with early model Zeus drives. We're on leak number 4 in the 9 months we've owned our boat. Sea Ray and Mercury just say we're out of luck because we're the 3rd owner and the boat is out of warranty. I will continue to pursue with them and Brunswick as well because a 5-6 year old boat with 335 hours on diesel engines should not have so many issues. It's not right that for a product that is so high-priced isn't backed up by the manufacturer when the parts are failing. This is not a lack of maintenance issue (as they keep implying), it's bad design that they are not wanting to stand behind. Still hoping that there is someone within Mercury Marine who is willing to show some goodwill to a new Sea Ray customer. Unless things turn around for us soon, we may cut our losses and just sell the boat.

Sandy
 
Sandy, sorry to hear your problems. I do know the early model pods had many issues. Hit and miss I suppose. I guy in my marina had the same year, make and model as me and had to have both his transmissions replaced within 200 hours. I on the other hand (and the previous owner before me) had zero issues. I'm at 920 hours each with only one re-seal need which Cummins agrees I caught in plenty of time. The same Cummins tech who re-sealed my port in 2015 is coming in February to re-seal my starboard just as a preventative measure. He is a Cummins employee (not a dealer) and among the very few qualified on the east coast to eat, sleep and breathe pods. I can ask him if there is such an expert in the Pacific NW.

Having said all that, I don't like having gear cases underwater as problems like sea water intrusion leaks are inevitable. Even after re-sealing pods, running over some fishing line can cause a prop shaft leak two days later. While I'm sometimes jealous of my shaft and rudder friends, they have their problems too. And their boats are not as fun to operate as a pod boat, IMO.
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences! I do agree it's hit and miss with these pod boats but it really sucks when you're the miss!!

To my knowledge the only mobile pod technician is at Lake Union Sea Ray. He's good. Really good. But I hate dealing with the service scheduler. She actually wanted to charge me for my time on the phone with the technician because our call ran over 30 minutes. It was my only connection to the tech while he was trying to troubleshoot our drives. So yes - I would love to get another recommendation for another pod mechanic, if nothing else so that we have options. Our local Cummins dealer will do maintenance but nothing else.

I have another friend who just bought a boat with pods and he's looking for a mechanic.

Thanks again and best of luck with your boat!!
 
sandydlc,

there is something to be said for staying with a service organization that is connected to the manufacturer. It's not that an independent service tech is not just as good, but when you spending your service dollars at a business that is also selling the same boat, sometimes that helps.

Just my opinion,

Mark
 
sandydlc said:
.............. She actually wanted to charge me for my time on the phone with the technician because our call ran over 30 minutes. ...........
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IMO, that's not an unreasonable request. Time is money and the techs only have so much time that can be billable in a day. We do the same thing at my company (commercial audio video). We typically "give away" the first long call, but our techs are instructed to tell the client that in the future long calls would be billable.
 
Steve195 said:
IMO, that's not an unreasonable request. Time is money and the techs only have so much time that can be billable in a day. We do the same thing at my company (commercial audio video). We typically "give away" the first long call, but our techs are instructed to tell the client that in the future long calls would be billable.
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I own a business also and my clients can speak to their project managers as long as is necessary to resolve an issue - especially if there have been repeated and ongoing issues. When we first got our boat we requested time with the tech on the boat to get familiar with the systems and happily paid for it. I wouldn't have been offended if I had been told up-front from the beginning that all time over (let's say 15 minutes) with the tech is billable. Set expectations and then the customer is not upset. We're dealing with a complex and ongoing issue with our pods and we covered several items that he had questions about. Also - I feel that it should be up to the employee to keep the call brief if indeed there will or could be charges associated with that phone call. In this instance - it was my only contact with the mobile technician who was working on my boat. The service scheduler schedules his time but is not a technical person. Initially we thought it would just be routine maintenance but then not one but two issues were discovered once the boat was out of the water - thus the longer phone call.

There is a history with this lady and poor customer service. Not just with me but with other people I know and users on this forum.

I'd love to have another option for service because the tech we work with at the Sea Ray dealer is not always available. We lost a two week vacation last summer due to a failed o-ring in the starboard transmission manifold. It took 5 days to get the tech out to diagnose and another 5 days to get parts and get him back out. Another back-up option would be ideal.

Sandy
 
FootballFan said:
sandydlc,

there is something to be said for staying with a service organization that is connected to the manufacturer. It's not that an independent service tech is not just as good, but when you spending your service dollars at a business that is also selling the same boat, sometimes that helps.

Just my opinion,

Mark
Click to expand...

Yes - totally agree and that's why we've made a point of working with the local Sea Ray dealer for our pod work. But they only have one guy and if he's busy - you're waiting a long time. It's nice to have a backup especially if not having a mechanic available means that you have to miss a long-planned and highly anticipated cruise. My son is 16 - now almost 17 and the times when he's willing to go on the boat for an extended trip are fading fast!!
 
Sandy, just an observation but you might want to pull the string hard with Cummins on your problems if you haven't already. I know there's a complicated history on Cummins/Mercury but as evidenced by the OP Cummins will service the pods and I would guess they maintain the same ability on your coast to bring in help even if a local service location doesn't have the capability. Also, if a Cummins tech has ever touched your boat they will have a record of it and could possibly fill in holes in your maintenance history. In my experience it is not hard to get a response from above the local level if you have problems. They will expect to get paid handsomely for their services but might also be able to help with leverage on Sea Ray since they are no longer closely related but are still wrapped together mutually on so many products.
 
Hi Sandy

So sorry for your pod issues. I would be very frustrated and disappointed with LUSR also for charging for time on the phone for a problem from what I gather from the above posts that they are very aware of the known design issues and associated problems.

Out of curiosity this summer when you had the o-ring problems serviced was that LUSR? and did anyone make you a where of the pod failure design at that time?
 
velooce said:
Hi Sandy

So sorry for your pod issues. I would be very frustrated and disappointed with LUSR also for charging for time on the phone for a problem from what I gather from the above posts that they are very aware of the known design issues and associated problems.

Out of curiosity this summer when you had the o-ring problems serviced was that LUSR? and did anyone make you a where of the pod failure design at that time?
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Thanks for your message. Yes - LUSR performed the repair for the o-ring. They have not acknowledged a known issue regarding the pod design. I suspect it would become a liability for them to admit as such.
 
Thank you Al! I did contact Cummins today however they confirmed that they only provide routine maintenance and most of the time they contract out to LUSR. Since I already have Sea Ray/Brunswick's ear, and they have activated Mercury to take a look at our shafts, I'm going to see where that road leads us. One complication - apparently both Sea Ray and Mercury shut down for the holidays for two weeks after Friday so I need to push them to get some kind of resolution asap. This is exhausting but hopefully will be worth it!
 
I have seen pods in action and am very impressed... even jealous. But with all the problems I read about I have to wonder if V-drive and shafts, combined with a bow thruster and maybe a stern thruster, wouldn't be as effective and less troublesome.
 
Blkbird said:
I have seen pods in action and am very impressed... even jealous. But with all the problems I read about I have to wonder if V-drive and shafts, combined with a bow thruster and maybe a stern thruster, wouldn't be as effective and less troublesome.
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In all fairness to the technology, the pod drives/joystick/ ability to station keep with skyhook - it's really incredible. Docking in close quarters, in high winds - the stress level just goes down exponentially. I'm hopeful that once we work through our issues (hopefully with the help of Mercury/Sea Ray) we'll be able to start enjoying our boat without worry. It's really odd because the issues with Zeus pods seem to be hit and miss. There are some boats with very few issues. I guess we just got (un)lucky. :(

Sandy
 
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