Mercury pods leaked gear lube, lost gear pressure/propulsion on starboard engine

sandydlc

Active Member
Feb 24, 2016
605
Seattle, WA
Boat Info
Swift Trawler 50
Engines
Volve IPS D6
Well our first weekend cruise on our Sea Ray 450 turned out to be a bit of a disaster.

Just to rewind a bit - we took delivery of the Sea Ray one week ago Saturday from our broker. We drove at idle speed over to get fueled up and then went straight to our new slip at Fisherman’s terminal. We had no issues with docking.

This past weekend we left for Poulsbo Saturday around noon and since it was our first time out in our new boat we decided to cruise past the Seattle waterfront before heading to Poulsbo.

While on that cruise, the only remarkable thing we both noted was that it was a bit of a challenge getting up on plane and then we were only able to go about 20-22 knots at around 2600 rpm. I instinctively didn’t want to push it further. t thought that it might have been because we were fighting a current as it was our first cruise beyond the lake, so we continued on to our destination.

After getting through Agate pass and just before entering the channel to Liberty Bay, I slowed down to about 7-8 knots. As we slowed down and came off plane, I could feel the engines hesitate, almost stutter, slow and then move forward, stutter, slow, then move forward. I slowed down further to about 5-6 knots and the strange motion stopped.

When we arrived in Poulsbo, my husband was attempting to dock the boat and had a terrible time. (a little background on us - we have over 15 years of experience on a 30' Chaparral express cruiser with twin Volvo Penta drives. My husband is very accomplished at maneuvering a twin engine boat in tight quarters) There was no wind though a bit of current coming into the marina and the boat was just not responding as we expected. I would tell him to pivot to port and he simply couldn’t. He tried first with the joystick and then later with the drives but just barely got us docked.

When we left on Sunday morning, the wind was blowing about 9-10 knots from the North, but after checking the forecast, we realized it wasn’t getting better anytime before dark so we decided to go ahead and leave.

We tried to leave the dock and had the same problems with steering/control. We ended up having to exit the marina stern first so that we had enough power to push against the wind.

When we were out in the bay we decided to do some testing. We didn’t realize until we were on the phone with our mechanic that the gear pressure on the starboard pod was at zero. Thankfully the previous owner had left some bottles of gear lube in the engine room and our mechanic walked me through adding what we had so that we could get the pod up to pressure, enough to get it to engage the gears if we needed it.

We limped home on one engine and made it through the locks with some assistance from the lock attendants and their awesome lassoing skills! (got our bow cleat on the first try!). When we arrived at our marina, we started the starboard engine just long enough to allow us to dock with full control.

It was such a frustrating experience because we had just taken delivery of the boat and this is our first boat with the Mercury pod system. We had no idea when we were having trouble docking that the problem was that we were down to one engine. It's really important for new Sea Ray owners to become very familiar with all of the screens in Vessel View and notice immediately if one of the readings is drastically off. Had we done that on Saturday afternoon, we might have been able to have a mechanic come out to help us or at least to know before we left the slip that we were only on one engine. We had seen that the RPMs were synced and it appeared that both engines were working. They were but both pods were not.

I'm working with our local Sea Ray dealer on this and they said that there is a service bulletin for exactly this issue.

Hoping we didn’t do any further damage to that pod while doing our testing/docking over the weekend.

Has anyone else experienced a problem like this with the gear lube leaking out of the top of the pod? I'm worried that the repair is going to require a haul-out and worse yet that it will be costly. I can't help but wonder if the previous owner suspected a problem or did we just get very unlucky?

The good news is that we really loved using the boat over the weekend. We were super comfortable and it was such a novelty to be able to shower and have space to move around!!

Hoping for any help on this gear lube leaking issue!!

Thanks,
Sandy
 
This is a known problem to Mercruiser on Zeus Pods. Keep working thru your local dealer because he will be your leverage with Sea Ray if/when Mercruiser stops helping.
 
Thank you Frank. Do you have any links/more specifics on the Zeus pod leak issue? I'd like all the information that I can get that will help me while working with the dealer. As a third owner on this boat, will they still honor any warranty or coverage for these drives or will we be on our own to absorb the cost?

Thank you!
Sandy
 
Update - I tightened the fitting and tried to restart the starboard engine (my son was helping) and it blew the fitting almost immediately. I don't think I overtightened it. My guess is that it was already cracked and that's why it was oozing/leaking already. Our local Sea Ray dealer is coming out to the boat on Thursday and will hopefully be able to repair it. I didn't see any other leaks before I started it.

So bummed.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles and frustration at what should be an exciting time. Hopefully it will be resolved in short order without great expense. Very surprising that your survey wouldn't have picked any of this up. I had the same engine/pod package in a previous boat and had years of great performance and enjoyment so don't be too discouraged.

Only meant to be helpful moving forward if this isn't already part of your routine... Examination of your pods is an essential part of your pre-departure checks. There are three fluids that should be checked per pod. Be sure your Cummins tech shows you each if you're not already familiar. I'm surprised that the gear lube deficiency didn't trip a fault and throw a code on your Smartcraft. Be sure that they go through the system to ensure your senders are functioning properly. Also, I never untied the lines before first manipulating the joystick a bit. That at least allows for it to possibly detect trouble and throw a code before you're floating out of your slip. There was also some discussion on a thread not too long ago about engine starting sequence. Specifically for my setup I was told by several qualified experts to start the starboard then port engines so that everything initialized as it's intended to. I followed that protocol and never had an issue.

Good luck as you move forward and don't be dissuaded. Pods definitely require more attention to ensure that they remain properly dialed-in but if you're like me you'll enjoy the benefits immensely.
 
The surveyor was the mechanic I was on the phone with while we were going through this crisis. He said that he did not suspect or see any type of leakage on the pods. He sounded nearly as frustrated as I was since it's his job to ensure that his survey is accurate and complete. It's very possible that the metal tubes that feed into the top of the pods were either bumped or stepped on by someone prior to when we purchased the boat. We did get a "TOSS Sensor Error" code and I sent the code to another general mechanic who is very familiar with our boat and he said to ignore the error. It's certainly not very descriptive and I haven't been able to find it anywhere online as of yet. No other alarms were showing on Vessel View but when we scrolled through all of the pages, we did see the gear pressure at zero just prior to calling the diesel mechanic for more assistance.

The mechanic that they're sending out from the Sea Ray dealership is an expert certified pod technician and apparently one of the guys that Mercury calls on when they're scratching their heads over an issue. The added benefit is that he's also the guy who the local dealer sends out to deliver the new Sea Rays to owners and does a walk-through. Even if I have to pay an extra hour or two of his time, it will be well worth the money to have him walk me through the systems onboard and give me a good pre-departure checklist. I agree that's essential when operating any vessel. This was our very first time out with the boat and we clearly have so much to learn. I'm kicking myself that we didn't think to contact Sea Ray before going out on the Puget Sound with our new boat. I think that we were thinking that with 16+ years of experience with a twin-screw boat we were fairly well equipped to handle the new boat but what we didn't anticipate (and really, how could we??), was that we would have a mechanical failure on our very first cruise.

The service manager from Sea Ray confirmed that the previous owner rarely used the boat and was often out of the country for months at a time. I'll be sure and ask the mechanic what other items we should anticipate could fail from a boat sitting without use.

I really am looking forward to owning this boat. It's been so much fun to get her cleaned up and take care of the maintenance items that we can do ourselves (bulbs, etc), plus just getting our own things settled in the boat. I'm actually grateful in a strange way that this incident happened since it's forcing us to learn the systems and components of the boat very quickly. Who knows, maybe it will save us from a much worse and more dangerous experience in the future since we are now more prepared and will know what to check for before even leaving the dock.

Thank you for your advice and words of encouragement!! It's very much appreciated and helps to put this incident in perspective.

Sandy
 
Even if I have to pay an extra hour or two of his time, it will be well worth the money to have him walk me through the systems onboard and give me a good pre-departure checklist. I agree that's essential when operating any vessel.
Money well-spent indeed. Be sure to learn the emergency procedure for centering the pods should you lose steering control (and may you never need to use it).

Glad to hear your enthusiasm hasn't waned. May it be smooth motoring from here on out.
 
Centering the pods? Loss of steering? Okay - that sounds a little terrifying but thanks for letting me know. I may put together a list of questions so that I don't forget when I'm meeting with the mechanic.

Speaking of which - do any of you use the "Auto trim" on the controls? Or do you prefer to trim the engines manually? Just curious.

Thanks,
Sandy
 
do any of you use the "Auto trim" on the controls? Or do you prefer to trim the engines manually? Just curious.
Sandy - the auto trim on a Zeus boat adjusts the trim tabs, not the drives. The system is integral to the pods' operation. At idle speed the tabs are are automatically fully retracted. As you accelerate to get on plane the tabs automatically deploy to minimize time to plane by assisting in bringing the bow down. As the boat levels out the tabs will retract until the boat is at what has been deemed as a good running attitude. To level the lateral ride of the boat you can engage the tabs manually, adding and removing tab as needed without turning the system off. To reset the system to full auto after you have made such an adjustment but no longer need it, momentarily turn the auto tab switch off then on.

I cannot speak for your boat but on mine it was a very effective, well dialed-in system. Play around with it in open water, accelerating and decelerating and keep an eye on the tab levels on your Smartcraft display. You'll get a handle on how they operate pretty quickly.
 
Good news update! Our problem has been resolved and it was just two $100 parts plus the technician's time (still waiting for the final bill). As it turns out, I had put gear lube in the transmission which requires 30 weight synthetic oil and I used 90 weight (this was based on instruction from the diesel mechanic who had done our mechanical survey). Thankfully they said that most of the oil that I put in leaked out when that fitting blew but they're still going to have to do a transmission oil service in about a month or so after we've had an opportunity to run the boat a few times.

Looking forward to hopefully having some stress-free boating in the months ahead!
 
Sorry to hear about your recent issues. We have not had any issues with ours and love the performance of the pod system and the comfort of the 450.

At the end of the 2012 season, the dealer changed out all of the hydraulic hoses on both pods as a result of a service bulletin. I believe the number was 12-065R1. You might want to inquire about this with your dealer.

Best of luck!
 
Sandy, glad to hear you got it worked out. I have never been on a newer 450, but it looks like a sweet boat.

Jave, so you have 380HP engines turning those pods correct? Out of curiosity, about what HP engine would you need to turn a straight or Vdrive shaft to reach the same speeds as the pods?


Sorry to hear about your recent issues. We have not had any issues with ours and love the performance of the pod system and the comfort of the 450.

At the end of the 2012 season, the dealer changed out all of the hydraulic hoses on both pods as a result of a service bulletin. I believe the number was 12-065R1. You might want to inquire about this with your dealer.

Best of luck!
 
Sorry to hear about your recent issues. We have not had any issues with ours and love the performance of the pod system and the comfort of the 450.

At the end of the 2012 season, the dealer changed out all of the hydraulic hoses on both pods as a result of a service bulletin. I believe the number was 12-065R1. You might want to inquire about this with your dealer.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the information. Thankfully the local Sea Ray dealer has done most of the service on this boat and they were able to confirm to me that the service related to the hydraulics on the pods (I believe it was related to the steering system), were changed out last year.

I'm still trying to get accurate service records on the boat which is pretty frustrating. The mechanic that was out did tell me that now that the boat is getting used more often, we should expect little issues for the next several months. This last bill was about $750 so I hope that there really aren't too many more "little issues" to look forward to!

Sandy
 
Fast forward to today - July 24th...as we were entering the large locks, we lost gear pressure but this time, on the port pod. Unbelievable!! Luckily, since we have been through this before, we knew what to do. My husband turned off the engine and turned it on again to verify that the pressure being reported was correct. It was not all the way to zero, but very low. (There were no errors on Vessel View - we just lost steering on the port engine.). We then decided to just leave the engine off until we could open the hatch.

Once we were tied up in the locks (and by the way, why are the lock attendants so cranky lately??), we opened the hatch and I went down below. We had a few friends on board so they were able to help my husband to deal with the lines while I investigated the issue. As soon as the hatch was open I could see that the aft bilge as well as the entire area around the port pod was full of transmission fluid. Also, the coolant hose on the top of the port pod was leaking in exactly the same place that the starboard pod was leaking. I had very little time but I placed several absorbent pads around the pod, then checked the transmission fluid level. It showed no fluid on the dipstick. We always carry extra fluid so I poured two quarts into the port pod and got the heck out of that maddeningly hot engine room.

We opted to use the port engine (pod) to maneuver out of the locks, turned it off, then turned it on again just prior to docking. The pressure stayed up long enough for us to get the boat docked safely.

Now I get to call Lake Union Sea Ray tomorrow to see if they have the replacement parts and to see when they can get out to repair the issue. Also, there has been a bit of fluid around the starboard pod but fluid levels are normal and there are no signs of leaks. I suspect that the fluid is just residual from our previous leak and was told that this might be the case since the repair was done in the slip.

Other than this issue the boat has been great. We keep discovering new features and we really love it.

I just wish that we could get this transmission issue resolved. Frank mentioned that this is a known issue with Mercruiser. Is this something that I can address with them even though we're out of warranty? Or will we have to keep replacing coolant hoses and paying for bilge clean-up every few months?

Thanks,
Sandy
 
Update - Sea Ray will be out to fix our issue on August 4th. It will be in time for our next cruises that we have planned but it's cutting it close!
 

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