Xstar transmission or propellor

[jmmcalpin]

My friend was out this weekend with me and his 2005 Xstar stopped running in the middle of an airchair run. When I got to his boat it was running but would not go into gear. forward or reverse. I check the cable at the v drive and it was shifting properly when you moved the throttle.

I towed him in and when it was on the trailer I looked at the prop and turned it a few times. it looks fine and the prop turns with the shaft by hand while in nuetral. I do not see any problem at that end?

Any ideas where to start?

John

[mtajpa]

Check the nut at the coupling side of the shaft. It might of just come loose. Have some one turn the prop shaft and see if it slips.

[mtajpa]

Here is the nut I was referring to. It may appear to be tight but if the coupling turns and the shaft is loose the shaft can spin. Picture is from Maristar Mans thread. Thanks MM

[jmmcalpin]

Thanks for the great advice and picture, I will be out to the boat tomorrow and try putting a wrench on it and see if it is tight..
Thanks John

[mtajpa]

Also you might check out this thread? I never seen this before.

http://mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=37781

[jmmcalpin]

I checked the bolt on the coupler and it was tight, everything seems to be tight and working but I cannot get the boat into gear. when I turn the prop with my hand it turns the coupler at the v drive and everything turns together freely.
Any ideas how to test the v drive or what could be causing it not to engage in gear?

John

[jmmcalpin]

We went to the boat today and tried running it putting it in drive and reverse with the perfect pass on and off, the prop does not move.. Indmar suggested it might be the drive plates in the Vdrive, has anyone had that problem , does this sound like it and any idea how much that will cost to repair?

[Jerseydave]

I assume your fluid is full and clean, not milky?

[jmmcalpin]

Yes, I checked the oil , it was full , clean and no smell or milky residue...

[jmmcalpin]

OK so we tried everything we could and finally called Indmar, it is bad Drive Plates... This is ridiculous at 300 hours and they want $300 for the parts and $1300 for labor (they have to pull the engine). Has anyone experienced this? And does it sound right , 13 hours of labor to pull the engine and replace the drive plates? I am getting realy dissapointed in the quality of the X star.
Reworking a transmission at 300 hours sounds crazy.

[doubleup_dan]

Yes common problem. I have a friend with an 05 and he went through 4-5 drive plates, apparently that year was notorious for it. Personally I had 2 go which in turn damaged the transmission with in 350 hours

[jmmcalpin]

Wow, that doesn't sound good, when you say he went through 4 to 5 plates and you went through 2 are you talking about one incident with multiple plates going or 4 to 5 incidents happened.. they are talking about $1,600 to fix it so I am assuming you did not have to do this multiple times..

John

[doubleup_dan]

for me I did the first at 100 hours second at 300 both were under the warenty but the secound time did take me a while to get them to warrenty it.

Now have a new boat on 60 hours no prblems so far

My friends was under warrenty too

[jmmcalpin]

Thanks , unfortunately this is a 2005 so it is not under warranty, he is calling Mastercraft and Indma to see if they will help with the expense..

Thanks John

[NatesGr8]

sorry to hear about the troubles...anyone out there know if this was a problem on the 05 X-45 as well? Mine's got about 160 hours on it and I would not like to have to be doing this :(

[Richnes]

I have a 2005 X-star with the 350 MCX (standard) engine and think just experienced this drive plate problem. It's got 205hrs and has been running well until yesterday. I was idling around my dock and when I shifted into reverse the transmission just failed to engage. I thought it was odd so put it back forward but still nothing. The engine would rev up fine but seemed the transmission just died or something. I also noticed a new subtle yet consistent ringing sound. Almost like a washer sliding around a spinning shaft... I did some searching and found this post..

it sucks to find out 2005 X-stars are prone for this problem and that the fix will be $300(parts)+$1300(labor)...

@jmmcalpin: have you replaced your drive plates yet? what was the total? did you have to take the boat to the deal or they came out to you? is there any way to avoid this from happen again within the next 200hrs? eg improved drive plates, minimize idling, drive smoother when accelerating, etc.

thanks in advance...

[Richnes]

I got a response from the Indmar Service Dept.. this is what they say:

You have probably had a drive plate failure. The drive plate looks like a clutch plate and bolts to the engine's flywheel. It has an internal spline in the center that the input shaft from the transmission plugs into. See photo below:

http://store.inboardonline.com/images/S885201.jpg

Over time the springs in the older style plate like the one on your engine get loose and sloppy. This results in the center of the plate becoming disengaged from the outer part of the plate. The failures are generally related to heavy loading of the boat for wakeboarding and/or surfing. The replacemant plate like the one above (P/N S885201) is significantly heavier than the plate that was on your engine. We have used this plate since 2006 model year and I do not recall seeing any failures. The plate above retails for around $160.00 and usually takes 8-9 hours to do the replacement.

[scott023]

I got a response from the Indmar Service Dept.. this is what they say:



Yikes. 8-9 hours labor is going to add up. :eek:

[Ole Miss Rebels]

flex plate on my 2005xstar with mcx failed at about 200 hours also. come to think of it my 1999 205 V flex plate with LTR failed also at about 300 hours.

[Richnes]

I got my drive plate replaced at Miami Ski Nautique this past weekend. They charged me 7 hours labor @ $105/hr. Great service. I ordered the part for $120+shipping from InboardOnline here: http://store.inboardonline.com/iwwidb.pvx?;multi_item_submit

Here's a picture I took at the shop of the broken drive plate. You can see on the outer edge there the plate failed.:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_cPXvc6hSjVI/TXBJhr1fsQI/AAAAAAAAASg/w8IwuVgHzac/s288/IMG_0673.JPG

BTW, now that I have my boat in working order I'm looking to sell my 2005 Mastercraft Trailer. It's a dual axel, disc brake, standard Mastercraft make for the 2005 Xstar. It needs 2 new tires and a new Fulton winch, but otherwise is in good working condition. I'm asking $2500 OBO (https://picasaweb.google.com/richard.grundy/WebShare#)... PM me if interested...

[Jerseydave]

It seems MC and Indmar are not helping anyone with this problem, an inferior drive plate that will barely last 200 hours on an '05 X-star?

I guess I'll just add it to this list of inferior components:

Fuel pump
rudder (too small, upgrade was larger)
ballast impellers
ballast pumps mounted upside-down, motor at bottom
brake calipers
seat vinyl cracking at threads after 4 years
tower gaskets coming out of place, non available anymore


Sorry I'm venting but after spending north of $60K for a boat, an owner should not have these kind of issues.

[G-Star]

You have probably had a drive plate failure. The drive plate looks like a clutch plate and bolts to the engine's flywheel. It has an internal spline in the center that the input shaft from the transmission plugs into. See photo below:

Over time the springs in the older style plate like the one on your engine get loose and sloppy. This results in the center of the plate becoming disengaged from the outer part of the plate. The failures are generally related to heavy loading of the boat for wakeboarding and/or surfing. The replacemant plate like the one above (P/N S885201) is significantly heavier than the plate that was on your engine. We have used this plate since 2006 model year and I do not recall seeing any failures. The plate above retails for around $160.00 and usually takes 8-9 hours to do the replacement.



So does this problem exist in all pre-2006 v-drive transmissions?
If so, why is it so prevalent in the '05 X-Star? Weight? Power?

[MachinedConcepts]

Great this makes me feel real good about my 05. Just the other day the center ballast vent hose got pinched shut because of how it was routed in the boat, and as it was filling, the tank cracked and cracked the gel coat on my deck. FML