cheitman

Thanks for all the suggestions. First, I did use a dead blow hammer on the crank to seat it. Ring gaps are on the loose side. Impellor and housing were new. I did not put too much grease on the splines, only enough to coat the shaft. the drive slid flush into place, did not have to draw it in with the bolts. When the motor locked up, I checked the risers to see if they were hot and they were not too hot to touch for a long period of time, in fact, i was leaning on them while pulling plugs and never got too hot to touch. Heres the scary part, my buddy just had a similar motor put together by the same shop (I assembled mine myself) Oil pressure was great at start up, after 30 min of run time, all pressure was lost. Even double checked with a mech. guage, only shows 5psi cold. His is a gen 5 mine a gen 6. Is there anything that could have been overlooked in the block prep? Mine is now ready to put back in boat. Was going to drop in tommorrow. I think I will wait untill I find out why his did the same.

cheitman

OK, I fired the new motor today and have good news and bad news. The good news is that the new motor seems to run fine and I found the little demon that caused the problem in the first place. The bad news is that the problem was that the drive had no oil in it except for the reservoir. It was the drive that seized up and not the motor, however, the extra strain did cause the thrust bearing in the motor to prematurely wear. the new motor only ran for maybe 1 min. so i suspect no damage. I heard the growl again and found the drive dry. Question is, how mucn damage did the drive sustain (BRAVO ONE) running 30 min at 3000-3200 rpm locking up and turning again when cool. A dealer told me that the same thing happened to someone else last year and they filled the drive up and it ran fine. I dont like that idea.

Ted G

No way you will be able to refill and go. The top bearing is weak to begin with and will smoke up with low lube level. You need to have it pulled down all the way and inspect it-be prepared for UGLY

And I was pretty close Sorry about that

paradigm shift

Man that is a story to remember. Glad you found your trouble but sorry about the drive. Personally I would find a GOOD drive tech and have it looked at. Bearings had to get awfully hot besides what the gears look like.

cheitman

At least I have an explanation for what went wrong the first time. I did not have that "fuzzy" felling without an explanation from the machine shop. In fact, he told me it had to be something with the drive because all clearances were rught on and I did nothing wrong with assy. I could fill it up with oil and head to the river. There's lots of debris from recent storms. Aim for the biggest log and call the insurance co! I don't opereate that way though. With my luck, i'd put a hole through the boat and miss the drive. My luck is so poor, it could be raining whores and I'd get hit by a queer!

miken

Just a fyi, years ago on a canadian fishing trip, ran a omc for one week, no problems, pull boat to leave and found the nose on the lower unit gone, 3 inch hole! Tore it apart and the bearings were hardly damaged except for the rust. Don't know how or when it happened! Figured it was the cold water that saved it!