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Tranny / Engine Help Needed


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Hi

Need some input from my fellow BU owners. I have a '04 LSV . I was out on the lake yesterday doing some boarding and surfing when Mad.gif just ending a set, there was a horrible noise from the tranny/engine area. I mean it sounded like putting silverware in a blender. We immediately shut her down and got a tow back to the dock. I spent the last 12 hours trying to figure out what happened. Did I blow the engine somehow (150 hours), was it tranny, vdrive??? This morning i went out to the boat again to do another visual inspection, and get her prepped to go to the dealer. What I found was really shocking. There was huge pieces of metal in the bilge, that look to me came from the tranny, right where it bolts to the engine. There was no tranny oil as of this morning (im sure there was yesterday because I checked last week). I have attached a couple pictures. Can you make anything out? I guess tranny is good news compared to blowing an engine? What am I looking at $$$ wise to get a new tranny installed? Could this damage the engine beyond repair where I have to replace both??? Thanks so much for your input.

Here is a link to the pictures

http://sbauld.smugmug.com/gallery/5482585_...335262667_wNEWy

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You have exploded a drive plate. its like a flex plate bolted to the end of the crankshaft inside the little bell housing, just about all 04 and 05 will have this problem, I think they recalled them, if they didnt they shoud have. should be under warrent6y. they came out with a better one in 06. they will still break if you run too much over factory ballast.

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You have exploded a drive plate. its like a flex plate bolted to the end of the crankshaft inside the little bell housing, just about all 04 and 05 will have this problem, I think they recalled them, if they didnt they shoud have. should be under warrent6y. they came out with a better one in 06. they will still break if you run too much over factory ballast.

Radio-

First... Thanks for taking the time to respond. It does look like you are correct. I have a call into Tony @ Waterski America to confirm. Would this damage the engine itself? I assume I'll need a whole new tranny? What kind of cost do you think i'm about to get into? You mentioned warranty, being an '04 is this still covered? I haven't been able to locate my documents about my warranty timeframe. I really hope it is, but I'm even more hopeful that it didn't damage the engine too. This has been an awesome boat, first problem since we bought her. Thanks again for your help.

Anyone else have input for me?

Regards,

Tinop

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You have exploded a drive plate. its like a flex plate bolted to the end of the crankshaft inside the little bell housing, just about all 04 and 05 will have this problem, I think they recalled them, if they didnt they shoud have. should be under warrent6y. they came out with a better one in 06. they will still break if you run too much over factory ballast.

Radio-

First... Thanks for taking the time to respond. It does look like you are correct. I have a call into Tony @ Waterski America to confirm. Would this damage the engine itself? I assume I'll need a whole new tranny? What kind of cost do you think i'm about to get into? You mentioned warranty, being an '04 is this still covered? I haven't been able to locate my documents about my warranty timeframe. I really hope it is, but I'm even more hopeful that it didn't damage the engine too. This has been an awesome boat, first problem since we bought her. Thanks again for your help.

Anyone else have input for me?

Regards,

Tinop

ttt

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I woundnt think you hurt the engine or the tranny. The worst parts list, I have seen is plate, bellhousing, starter (nose got broke) , ECM ( hole punched in it) one or two cut wires, full pump bracket. I think it should be covered even if you are a year or so over the warrenty. as many of these that go out, they have to know it is a problem. not just malibu, i have seen 4 x-stars out with less then 150 hours.

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You have exploded a drive plate. its like a flex plate bolted to the end of the crankshaft inside the little bell housing, just about all 04 and 05 will have this problem, I think they recalled them, if they didnt they shoud have. should be under warrent6y. they came out with a better one in 06. they will still break if you run too much over factory ballast.

Would the 04 Response LXI have this potential problem as well?

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You have exploded a drive plate. its like a flex plate bolted to the end of the crankshaft inside the little bell housing, just about all 04 and 05 will have this problem, I think they recalled them, if they didnt they shoud have. should be under warrent6y. they came out with a better one in 06. they will still break if you run too much over factory ballast.

Would the 04 Response LXI have this potential problem as well?

Radio- thanks again for your input. I'm taking her to the dealer tomorrow and will post more when i get a full diagnosis. I'll ask if they are seeing this as common to the '04 and '05 for those owners interested in this problem. If anyone has anything to add, or specific questions for me to ask them, just post it.

Thanks

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  • 1 month later...
Hi

Need some input from my fellow BU owners. I have a '04 LSV . I was out on the lake yesterday doing some boarding and surfing when Mad.gif just ending a set, there was a horrible noise from the tranny/engine area. I mean it sounded like putting silverware in a blender. We immediately shut her down and got a tow back to the dock. I spent the last 12 hours trying to figure out what happened. Did I blow the engine somehow (150 hours), was it tranny, vdrive??? This morning i went out to the boat again to do another visual inspection, and get her prepped to go to the dealer. What I found was really shocking. There was huge pieces of metal in the bilge, that look to me came from the tranny, right where it bolts to the engine. There was no tranny oil as of this morning (im sure there was yesterday because I checked last week). I have attached a couple pictures. Can you make anything out? I guess tranny is good news compared to blowing an engine? What am I looking at $$$ wise to get a new tranny installed? Could this damage the engine beyond repair where I have to replace both??? Thanks so much for your input.

Here is a link to the pictures

http://sbauld.smugmug.com/gallery/5482585_...335262667_wNEWy

WOW!!

I think we just had the same problem with our boat this weekend......We didn't have the pieces of metal in the bilge though. The sound was exactly the same.

Does anybody know if this was a recall??

Thanks!!

Judy

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  • 1 month later...
No recall I can remember of.

Funny, but I've never seen this problem with any Indmar motor.

-Chris

I have a 2005 LXI 290 hrs. Drive plate went bad. New replacements are stronger. It should not hurt the engine or transmission but make sure parts did not get into the starter. Dave

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My 2004 LSV with HH motor did the same thing at less than 1 yr old with 75 hours. I did get a warning though. The starter locked up because the flywheel was loose. The dealer put in a new starter and said I was good to go. Within 1 hour the flywheel and bell housing blew apart. The bill was around 1800.00 and was covered under the warrantee. I put another 800 hours on that motor/transmission without any issues whatsoever.

I sold that boat to a Indmar certified mechanic. He looked up the history and saw the documentation for the repair. He said he was not worried about it because it was a common failure with a reliable fix.

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I could not pull up your pic, but I think radio man is right on. My 05 LXI was 3 months out of warranty but Indmar covered the Drive plate. Cost of drive plate would have been about. $140.00. It went out two days before Labor Day weekend so I had Indmar overnight it to me. Which cost me all most the same as the plate, but I had it going for the weekend. I am sure it probable did not do any damage to the engine or transmission. If you fix it your self just make sure no parts.. or springs from the drive plate are in the starter. Good Luck Dave

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  • 9 months later...

After using the search function and finding that i am not alone, I am hoping to find some help here. I have also had a total failure of the drive plate with lots of metal shards in and around the bilge and stater area. I did not have the bell housing majorly damaged but there could be some scoring back behind the flywheel. I have only removed the starter so I am not sure the full extent of damage. from what I can tell, there is some scoring in the housing and the post in the front of the starter has been gouged pretty good. The satrter seems fine otherwise. (I do need to remove all of the grease and metal slivers from the cavity)

Two questions, If The original poster is still on the site, what was your damage, anything else to look for?

For all others, same thing, anything else to look for?

Also is the starter still salvageable with damage to the post (sorry I will post a pic this evening).

I would like to get this fixed as soon as possible and DIY might not be out of the question. I should have acces to a mechanic here at the course and some tools, but would like to know the simplest way to do this, specifically:

1) best way to lift and support engine

2) best way to remove damper plate

3) what if any other parts need to be removed (that would be in the way otherwise) keeping in mind that i have already pulled the starter.

Also just wondering if Malibu or Inmar has been sympathetic to this issue (rolling eyes)

It sucks that i cannot even order a part until the 6th so I will be happy to read any and all replies until then

Thanks for the help and thanks to this site for alowwing me to know what happened, because it sure sounds catostrophic when it goes. Inmar really should have a recall on this part.

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Some friends and I went out this 4th of July weekend and had this happen to my 2005 VLX, I have attached some pics. The dealer said they need to pull the motor to fix it. I have sent an email to Indmar and will follow up with a call after I get the parts needed from my dealer. We have a weeklong boat camping trip next week and want to have the boat ready.

Any suggestions or ways to get this taken care of by indmar or ways to keep it from happening?

P1050590.jpgP1050586.jpg

P1050587.jpgP1050589.jpg

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WOW!!! Those pics look horrible..

Good luck with the fix and keep us posted on how Indmar treats this.. Maybe this should be a recall? How fast were you going when this happened?

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WOW!!! Those pics look horrible..

Good luck with the fix and keep us posted on how Indmar treats this.. Maybe this should be a recall? How fast were you going when this happened?

I had all four factory ballast filled as well as the factory manual wedge down. I ride at 23.7mph when the water is glass and it was perfect, i just started my run so it happend as i went out for my first big air. The dealer just called back and said it was a pretty good break and wasnt as bad as some he has seen. He ripped through an electrical line and part of the fule line as well as busted a spring inside. Indmar is taking the claim under personal review since it is out of the 36 month limited warrenty but broke under normal use. My Bu has 200 hours on it and we treat it like our child.

I will keep you posted on the cost and coverage of the fix.

Brett

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Some friends and I went out this 4th of July weekend and had this happen to my 2005 VLX, I have attached some pics. The dealer said they need to pull the motor to fix it. I have sent an email to Indmar and will follow up with a call after I get the parts needed from my dealer. We have a weeklong boat camping trip next week and want to have the boat ready.

Any suggestions or ways to get this taken care of by indmar or ways to keep it from happening?

You should not have to pull the engine. Just the back seat, the Transmission and the V Drive. Same thing happend to me on my 06 23 LSV, Warr took care of it parts and Labor. Thanks to the guys at No Wake Marine Cincinnati, Ohio.

They have re-designed the drive plate and the bell housing.

Joe

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Search damper plate on this site and you will see my thread on this. There is a view of the damper plate that I put into my BU.

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Search damper plate on this site and you will see my thread on this. There is a view of the damper plate that I put into my BU.

Ok i have good and bad news:

THe Good News - Idaho Water Sports was able to get my boat in and out within the week, my repair was not complicated but still took about a day and a half in the shop.

The Bad News - We have not heard back from Indmar about covering the parts out of warrenty, the total bill was just under $1,900!

We are taking out Bu to Lake Billy Chinook next week for a week of camping and boating. Thanks everyone for the information, hopefully Indmar will kick in and take some responsibility for the faulty part on my monsoon 340!

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For future reference to people reading this thread. Assuming the plate self destructs without cracking the belhousing or starter you can probably get away with just replacing the plate.

To do it, you need to remove the rear seat and probably the gas tank to make it easier. You then could support the engine with blocks and the tranny with blocks, unbolt the trans from the engine, mounts, and prop shaft and slide it back about 4 inches. This should give you enough room to replace the plate and fit a torque wrench inbetween the engine and tranny.

Alternatively since it's only a few more bolts you could just yank the whole engine, tranny and vdrive combo out of the boat and do it but taht would require a hoist and slightly more work IMO.

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