hard Plastic/rubber pieces 480CE

[Matt]

I have a pair of 480CE (s/n 46484363 and 46484197)  in a SeaRay 420 Sundancer, and I noticed pieces of hard plastic or rubber under the belt guard of the engines.  I had the belts replaced, and they were fine(not the reason for pieces).  My mechanic and I are at a loss as he does not see where they are coming from as well.  Any advice?

Topic

[Matt]

Clark,

Yes Sir the oil pads were there, that’s actually how I noticed the pieces.  Both engines started shedding the pieces within a couple hours of each other.

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Clark Leighs]

First post posing the question.     Pics 1419  & 1424   both show oil absorbent pads with pieces on the pads.  Is that how the pieces were when you found them, on the pads?     Did you place the pieces on the pads for highlighting them.

If they were on the pads then those pieces fell there.   Those pads would not allow the pieces to move around in the bilge. 

Could the pieces have come off the idler or tensioner pulleys assemblies?      Other b’s have had that happen and it is hard to see where they came from untill parts were pulled and examined.

 

But the clue to me is those absorbent pads if they were in place when the pieces showed.     Those pieces stayed where they fell.

[Tony Athens]

Better Pics

Some better pictures for all to see..

 

Tony

[Tony Athens]

1)  Remove the belt guard and take very good pics..   Send me the pics posted, and from under the belt guard–Send in HIGH RES as .jpg attachments –They must be clear and in-focus.. “[email protected]”  ..

 

It’s not how “big” or how many Mb it is, it all about focus , steadiness,  and a clean lens…. ……………………………..

   Tony

[Matt]

HAHA Very true my friend!! 

 

I spoke with my mechanic again today about the torsional coupling, and he said that was his first guess but there were no signs of black powder around the top of the transmission and flywheel bell housing area.  He stated that the bell housing has a vent plate with small holes that are too small for the big chunks of debris to get through.

Thanks as always for you help.  Back to guessing…

[Rob Schepis]

mmoss1 wrote:

…..it’s like seeing your kid sick and not knowing what’s wrong!

It’s clearly MUCH worse than that… come on now, you really need to start taking your boating more serious!

[Matt]

Thanks Rob, we discussed that, but since it is at the other end of the transmission, we ruled that out.  And I have not noticed any different rattles or noises.  I ran them the other day and was happy about how great things sounded.   I have also found some of the debris on the actual engine support bracket directly under the belt housing.  The other weird thing is that both engines started to do this at the same time.

Some have said it was the crankshaft balancer(not sure if that is the right term), but we were told it was a one piece design on the 480’s so I am not sure how that is failing.

Thanks again for the help, it’s like seeing your kid sick and not knowing what’s wrong!

[Rob Schepis]

Looks like a typical case of a failing Torsional Coupling…. did the mechanic mention that?  That is a V-drive so the pcs of debris would migrate there way from fwd to aft into the area you mention.  Any “rattley” noises on shutdown or idle ?

[Matt]

couple more pics

[Author]

Replies