Transmission Alarm?

belliswood

Member
Nov 21, 2011
320
Colonial Beach, VA
Boat Info
1996 370 SUNDANCER
NAME: DAWG HAUS 3
Engines
7.4 EFI 454
V-DRIVES
Just recently had my Port V-Drive rebuilt. Only had about 5 hours on it when we began a trip. Cruised for 1 hour and stopped for awhile to swim took off and cruised for an hour to a marina for the night. next morning took off for a 3 hour cruise. after just over 2 hours I began to feel a slight vibration an after about 10 minute's an alarm sounded and I was coming from the portside. determined it was the high temp alarm on the transmission. shut the engine down and started it again several times and the alarm finally went off. Allowed the engine to idle for several minutes and then continued the trip. No vibration and ran good. Next day cruising home we traveled about 2 1/2 hours and stopped for gas. Had a difficult time shifting into neutral and reverse. When I started the engine after refueling the shifter worked smoothly. We continued the cruise home and had no other problems.

So would you consider this as being break-in issues? Any thoughts?

Thanks for your input.
Barry
 
Clutch slippage would cause all of these issues including no issues at low load conditions. Looks like the shifter may not have been adjusted correctly. A partially engaged rotary spool valve in the transmission will not provide full hydraulic pressure to hold the clutch packs engaged and they will consequently slip under load and create a lot of heat. I would have the installer stand behind this. Worst case is the clutch plates are warped and the system will continue to degrade even after correct shifter adjustment.
FYI there are neutral detents in the helm shift levers and separate neutral detents in the transmission rotary spool valve lever; these detents must align. Additionally, the transmission rotary spool valve lever must be fully articulated to it's stops when the helm shift lever is moved both forward and reverse to the stops.
About the only other cause would be the new gear is not producing hydraulic pressure to specification.
 
I purchased the rebuilt transmission and then hired a mechanic to install it. So how would you determine who is at fault? I contacted the rebuilder and he asked if the fluid level was full and it is. He also asked if I pulled the filter and I said no. so he want me to pull the filter and look for metal fragments. If there is clutch slippage would I expect to see anything in the filter? The oil does not smell burnt.
 

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