v-drive noise

I have a 06 Malibu V-ride that I bought last year with 40 hours on it. When I first took it out, you could hear the clutches engage in the trany but it was faint. The more hours I have put on it the more noticable it has become. Is this normal as it is breaking in? I took it to my dealer for some warr work and told them to check it out. The dealer said that they have put a few clutch packs and fly wheels in the v-drives, anyone else had problems with Indmar V-drives?

Not especially. They are usually pretty good. The boat should be under warranty. I would contact Malibu customer service to make sure all the warranty stuff was transferred over. The dealer who does the warranty transfer is supposed to inspect the boat before the warranty transfer.

That is what I am kinda worried about. When I purchased it last year,it was from a private party. I took it to my dealer which is 4 hours away to have the warr transfer done. They did some paper work and I sent it to Indmar. Indmar contacted me and told me it was missing some other paper work that the dealer should have done a compression test and so on. I called the dealer and they said that they were not aware of that. Im asuming that they have never had to do a warr transfer???? Anyhow we came to the conclusion that I would wait till fall when I bring it up for some warrenty issues that they could complete the inspection then. Fall came and I spoke to my dealer, they said I should bring it in March. Also stated that Idmar requires to have the warr transfer done withing 30 days and this could become a problem. I called Indmar and told them my situation and they said as long as the boat checked out ok that it would not be a problem to transfer the warrenty. I took it up to the dealer last week, and thats when he mentioned they have had some issues with the clutch and flywheel. So here I am worried about weather they will cover it or not. The warrenty has not been transfered yet. I could transfer it then bring it back in a month but I feel it is not my faulty the dealer did not do thier job proper back last spring. I work for GM and when a customer brings a car in with a warrenty issue, whether he or she is the original owner does not make a difference. If the issue was caused by neglect then it will be determined at that time. I don't understand the whole warrenty transfer and why one has to fork over some $$ to get it done. I just hope the dealer will work with me here.

Scooter- you say you work for GM. in the boating business it is really hard for the boat dealerships to get the boat companies to pay for all the warranty work. i know that with cars GM would pay for 100% of the bill. you would get the same money rather it was GM that paid the bill or the customer. the boat companies typically only pay for about 70 percent of the bill. the dealer is out that other 30 percent. thats why us dealers hate doing warranty work. well we don't hate it but we would rather do other stuff. what we HATE is doing warranty work on boats that we didn't sale. that dealer did mess up and they should make up for it. they should of at least documented that they told you to bring it in after that month was up. hopefully Malibu will let it slide.

Scooter,

Inmar (GM) makes the engine. They do not make the transmission or the v drive. You are most likely going to be dealing with a warranty issue with Walters or Hurth. Check with your dealer because I don't see this involving Inmar at all.

BUMP

The Hurth v-drive is known to make a little chatter noise at low RPM's. Mastercraft recommends using SAE 30 engine oil instead of standard transmission fluid, because the higher viscosity oil helps with the noise and is still safe for the transmission.

There are quite a few threads about it; you might want to do a search on Hurth. I am not familiar with your boat and don't know which v-drive tranny you have.

I am a bit confused here. The V-drive is not the transmission. The V-drive has no clutches or fly wheels, it is a simple gearbox really.


I think you are talking about the tranny. Good luck with your endeavor none the less.

Flux, my boat has the Indmar engine and the Hurth ZF v-drive unit. I am not a mechanic, but my understanding is that it is both the v-drive gearbox and transmission in one unit. At least that's what the MC tech explained to me.

My previous boat had the Mercruiser package and had separate v-drive gearbox and tranny.

Thanks for clarifying that Rich, I am confused then. My CC has a separate V-drive and Tranny, both use different fluids, ATF and SAE30. As a side note, my tranny rattles a bit in reverse a bit, but I have heard this is normal for Nautiques. My Walters V-Drive leaks oil, and again, this is normal.

Good luck to scooter, I hope this works out for him and he gets back to wake shredding ASAP.

Ya, I guess it would be in the trany. Is that a
malibu warr or Indmar

Rich is right on. The V drive is only a single gear box. If you have noise and chattering, that is the transmission for sure.

Sounds like Indmar since they put the whole thing together.