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Alpha 1 Gen II

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mozbornj

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Ok So I had my shop install a

Ok So I had my shop install a new lower on my alpha one gen II last week. Well I was in the first hour of break in when the boat stopped foward motion.
I got it back to the house to check the unit and pulled the top cap and nothing but 2 smooth chunks of metal left in the upper no teeth at all. No oil at all in the upper unit.
I pressure tested the unit and it has held the pressure for 24 hours at 15 PSI.
HE said they put in 1.5 quarts of oil but with the pressure test good is there anyway the oil could have leaked out and I not see it?
Is it possible for oil to leak out at all if the pressure test was good?
 
"You need to do a vacuum check

"You need to do a vacuum check also, if you can pull about 6-8 inches and see if it holds.

Also remove the entire outdrive and see if there is any gear lube in the bellows. remember to put in forward gear first.

If all is good then he did not fill it up!!!!!!

guarenteed!!!

If I am not mistaken the outdrives hold 38 ounces that is one quart plus 4 ounces so he could NOT have put 1 1/2 quarts in there. that would be 48 ounces......

Do you have a gear lube bottle at the engine??

That woould be the only way to get that much oil if he had to fill the bottle also.

Just my opinion.............."
 
"It has a reservoir on the eng

"It has a reservoir on the engine for the gear oil, which puts the capacity at 64 ounces total according to the manual, but if you guys say its safe to do it I'll pull a vacuum also
Merc says don't pull vaccume on the alpha units. No water in the oil left in the lower unit, so it wasn't leaking water in, and there are no large chunks of steel in the lower unit either so the oil must not have been circulating from the top to the bottom.
I pulled the drive and there was no oil at all in the bellows, and they are brand new also."
 
I also found a couple more car

I also found a couple more careless mistakes he had made. No crimp ring or hose clamp on the shift cable bellows and the cable bellows was wrapped 3 times around the cable.
 
I bet he filled it from the to

I bet he filled it from the top and not from the bottom

99 % of the time this happens and no leak is found this is why. Believe me when I say this I have a plastic bin full of upper gears with no teeth.......just for demo purposes to people.......

Do not do the vacuum test your results thus far tell the tail.........

You can do a vacuum check as long as you plug the check valve where the gear oil come in to the outdrive from the gimbal housing. But do not do if the manual says so.
 
That is kind of what I was thi

That is kind of what I was thinking KGhost.
I took it back to him Tuesday and he hasn't even looked at it yet. I was going to give him a shot to make it good but I am to the point of taking it to someone else and suing him for the bill. I am tired of messing with this shop.
 
"Tell him what you have learne

"Tell him what you have learned how it could not have had sufficient drive oil in it. Ask him if he is going to make it right at his expense and give him a chance to do it; one week is sufficient. Keep copious notes w/dates, times and names. Make sure he sees you writing notes. If he doesn't fix it, then file your suit w/o threatening that you will or did. He'll make it good when he gets served."
 
The fact that you have a oil r

The fact that you have a oil resevoir this should not have happened!!

After more thought I suspect he installed the lower and left it like that and did not check the oil level.

How much oil was in the resevoir? If it was full when the lower was installed then he did not add any oil and what oil was in the lower came from the resevoir only.

My best guess!

Do you have insurance?

If so claim it and get a new one and have the insurance co go after HIM!
 
WEll I called him yesterday to

WEll I called him yesterday to check up on it. So far he hasn't even pulled it up in the shop to look at it. He said WE may get to it this weekend.
In my business I would be putting other stuff off to make this customer happy. Some people just don't need to be in business for themselves.
I do have insurance but they will not pay for it. I already checked.
I am giving him until Tuesday to give me an answer and it will go to another shop and then I'll take him to court.
 
"Why would he want to look at

"Why would he want to look at it........

He knows it is his fault and he needs to make some money to cover the cost of his out of pocket repair, That is if he owns up to his/there mistake!!"
 
"So what do you recomend I do?

"So what do you recomend I do?
Should I order the parts and fix it myself, take it to another shop and have it fixed, or Let him fix it?
Of course if I did the work or another shop did the work, I would sue him to get the money back.
I mean in business you are going to make mistakes, things are going to happen and it's just right to fix the mistakes you make. That's what I do."
 
"I'm not an attorney. I b

"I'm not an attorney. I believe that you need to give him a reasonable opportunity to look at it and tell you that it is not his fault and will not fix it for free. Be persistent with him. If he says he'll look at it Monday tell him you want to be there when he does. TAKE PICTURES of it and include him in the pics. Video taping the inspection will capture voice for a court case.

If he filled the LU w/a lube hose, connected to a bulk oil drum, that has a dispensing gauge, it could easily have been read incorrectly by the person that filled it. It happens in the oil change business all the time."
 
"Well after calling him Friday

"Well after calling him Friday, he said he was going to break it down and look Saturday. I spent all day Saturday sitting at his shop from open till close. He never even pulled it up into the shop. They never touched it. So now I am extremely pissed off. I pissed away a whole day and still nothing. I just don't understand people like this.
Its a 1 hour job tops to remove the unit, and bolt a new one on. He still says it had to leak oil even though it passed a 36 hour pressure test."
 
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