TRansmission oil change on 1988 Borg Warner V-Drive

[Ka1oxd]

I have not really found anything on on to change the oil on a 72C Borg-Warner V-drive on a 1988 340 Sundancer. I tried to use a vacuum pump through the dip stick, but it does not seem to go far enough to reach the bottom of the drive. I did see somewhere that you have to take the cooling line off but no idea where this is on the drive. I also notice there really is not a place to catch the oil if that is the case.

Right now on my port engine, I have the big exhaust pipe off from the engine to the muffler so I could replace the packing on that shaft. Where is the line and is there any oil filters like on an engine or is it integrated with the cooler?

I am really pushing to get the boat in the water and this is the last thing I need to do mechanically before I launch.

Help is really needed. Is there anyone here in CT that has done this before?

 

[stuckinforward]

Well, if you can remove the cooler line "out" to the cooler or at the cooler, you can fire the engine and the trans will pump it out for you. doesnt hurt a thing. hell, guys run around for months on low oil situations running the pump dry..really, it doesnt hurt. as soon as the oil stops pumping, turn off the engine.
a good tip before changing is to add a couple of qts. to dilute the oil even more.
these tranny's are suseptible to mis alignment and cannot handle it at all for periods of time so its a good idea to also check the alignment and the intermediate bearing on the backside of the v-drive section has a tendency to fail often because of low oil levels, a good indicator of this will be the paint will be a different color in the area from heat. other than that when im on a boat with BW v-drives, when i have the coupling pulled away from the trans i will check for backlash in the bottem gear set simply by rocking the coupling back and forth like you are twisting off a pickle jar lid. if you catch the backlash in time you can save the trans

 

[Ka1oxd]

Where is the cooling hose to pull? Is it the lowest hose or should I pull the top hose and lower it to drain the oil? Thanks for the info.

 

[stuckinforward]

the top hose is oil out

 

[Ka1oxd]

Thanks, I will look for that this weekend

 

[stuckinforward]

james, look on the side of the v-drive section, in the early days they put the dipstick on the back section and then moved it up to the front section, they plugged the back hole with a pipe plug and that will allow you to got to the bottem of the case to get your oil out

 

[Ka1oxd]

I saw that! I was not sure, but you are right. On the transmission, the dip stick is as far forward towards the bow as you can get. I did see that I think 3/4 pipe plug and was wondering if that was the access to get the transmission oil out. I will have to check it out Sat.

 

[stuckinforward]

good thing you know a tranny man lol,
check your alignments and backlash!!!!!!! if you catch them in time, they are cheap...if not $$$$$$$

 

[Ka1oxd]

The tranny has not discolored and only have 600 hours on them. How much backlash is acceptable? If there is play, how is the backlash removed? is it done by an adjustment with out taking it apart? I know when we did sea trials, there was no clank when shifting between forward and reverse.

 

[stuckinforward]

about .015, you really have to grab them and rock them, the splines and the inside gear splines have a tendency to wear and there is no adjustment

 

[Ka1oxd]

Cool. I will check that tomorrow after I take my daughter out to get her hair done for the prom...... three towns over because a friend made the appointment. What is wrong with kids today? They think money grows on trees.

 

[stuckinforward]

so do wives....

 

[Ka1oxd]

I was only able to pump out about a quart of oil out of each transmission. I even pulled the top hose and pushed the tube down and tried to suck from there. I am going to fill up to the dip stick tomorrow and measure how much fluid goes in. When I got the oil analysis back from the sea trials, they said that the oil was never changed in 600 hours. So I would not be a bit surprised that some vaporized. I am planning to put a few hours on it then change the fluid again.

 

[Jeff340]

What type of fluid did you use? I have an 87 with borg warner v drives that needs an oil change.