Difficulty getting Volvo DP-X out of gear.
 

I have a 95 27' Advantage Victory with a 541 ci EFI 600 HP and a Volvo DP-X drive. I bought the boat two years ago and it only had 6 hrs on a new motor. I'm very happy with it except for one thing. It is extremely difficult to take out of gear. It goes into gear with a clunk but I don't think there is a problem there. I replaced the shift cable right after I got it because it was about 6' too long. Although that helped, I still don't think it's right. It makes maneuvering around docks very interesting. The only it comes out of gear easily is if I happen to have the drive turned all the way to one side or the other.
I have talked to several marine mechanics and most of them don't know enough about this drive to point me in the right direction or solve the problem. I talked to a factory rep at the LA Boat show this year and he said there are shims that go in the shift plate by adding or subtracting them, but I don't know enough to mess with it. Does anyone out there know of a DP-X guru on the west coast and preferably in the Lake Havasu area? Really like to solve this issue before I do damage to it.

Check the shift interrupter under the control box. May need adjustment.

I was told by the mechanic that put my new cable in, that they don't have one. I have a separate throttle and shifter

DPX drives have shift interuptor

IMO problem there or cone clutch or its glazed very badly

Shift cable adjustment and or needs a new one

Volvo highly recommends a syn GL 5 spec 75w -140 for these.

Thanks. I will spend some time looking into this. Shift cable is new. If I don't have a shift interrupter, I'll probably look to having one installed. I took out the shift/throttle assy and could find no evidence of a shift interrupter. On drive oil, I use Lucas M8. Don't know that I've seen the GL5 oil. but will look.

Interrupt is just a small red box in line with the cable. It actuates through push/pull forces and has a small magnetic 2 wire connector that runs to it. They are very sensitive as to position on the cable, as in, if it is near a bend or offset it may affect its operation. Just helped out another fellow DPX owner with this same sort of issue. I relocated mine several years ago and alleviated all associated problems.

As BUP said, it could also be a slipping cone clutch. When they slip and get hot they tend to swell a bit and stick in the cone.

One thing you didnt metion, is what is your set idle speed? If it is idling a bit high, that could be the reason for your into gear "clunk" and also the reason it is difficult to get out.

.My idle speed, which I think is due to EFI, is about 800 to 850 RPM. This seems high to me but that's how it was set up when I bought it.

Idle would seem to be in range. When you move your shifter slightly toward forward or reverse but still in neutral, does the engine idle up another hundred rpm or so?

How is drive oil color? Is it relatively clear or dark and burnt looking? This would be an indication of whether to look inside boat or inside drive

When I put it in gear, I notice no difference in the idle RPM, except when it goes in to gear and the props are turning. I know they are moving a lot of water and sometimes it will even stall. I attribute that problem to the EFI being set up pretty rich. It restarts without a problem. Last time I changed my drive oil was the first time I personally changed it. It was pretty dark and had a strong sulphur smell to it, but no evidence of water or metal etc. I put Lucas M8 in it which is a pretty clear oil. I check it regularly and it has not changed color much if at all. It still looks clear.

Sounds like someone was using Merc High Perf gear oil cause they can get that strong sulpher smell being worn out and overheated. Longtime users of this gear oil on Volvo outdrives seem to glaze the cone clutch overtime. Volvo Penta in their Tech schools warn against using Merc gear oils all the time. also Merc High Perf gear oil is a 80w -90 GL 4 spec. Not even what Volvo recommends especially for the DPX.

Ok, I took the shift control unit out this weekend. I did see what looks like a small micro switch in there with a black and a red wire leading up to it. I switched on the ignition and put a test light on it. It does not seem to have power going to it. But, I'm taking it in and having it diagnosed. I don't want to take the shift control/throttle assembly apart myself. So, thanks though, I feel like I have somewhere to start.

Tried to PM you back but wouldnt go through. Looks like you are not set up to receive PMs? The shift interrupt switch is inline with the cable, The cable attaches to it on one end and the switch itself might be attached directly to the shift lever linkage. If you dont have one, and want to add one, you are more than likely going to need a VP guy who is willing to do a little leg work

Tried to send you a PM as well.. Oh well. I'm beginning to think you're right about having a V/P guy do some legwork. V/P guys seem to be in short supply on this end of the country. Mercury rules the roost out here. I also did some more research and found that it may also be a shim issue in the shift mechanism in the back of the drive. It may have been shimmed improperly at some point. I read that gas engine DP-X's are only supposed to have one shim, diesels, three. So I'm going to look into that some more. There is a special tool from V/P that I have to have check it. I'll keep you posted and thanks again for your input. I really appreciate it and I hate it when things don't work as they should.

there is no set number of shims to be used on the shift mechanism, but at a minimum the manual would dictate 4. They are used to set the depth of the shift shoe into the clutch assembly and will adjust the travel of same to some extent. In order to adjust this per manual, install special tool, start with 1 shim and the bolt finger tight. rotate prop shaft and add shims until no resistance is felt on rotation. when rotating freely, add 3 more shims and torque to between 10 & 12 ft lbs.. . If you take the back cover off, the shims are underneath the hex bolt on the shift linkage butterfly. they are VERY thin.

I was studying that in my Clymer manual .I may well order that special tool and give it a try. I'm going to try and find out how thick the shims are and try and get my hands on some. If that doesn't work, I'll look at possibility at installing a shift interrupter.
Again, thanks. BTW I fixed my settings to receive PM's.

I am having problem getting my DPXR to go from forward to reverse without force without force did you catch any help from somebody that understand what to do

You are more likely to get help by starting a new thread rather than adding replies to multiple threads with members that don't even visit this site anymore.

The lower the rpm, the easier it will be to get out of gear. Cone clutch are driven in harder with more applied torque and with a lot of blade area, the engines are loading up the clutch pretty hard. The shift interrupt helps by cutting cylinders, lowering the rpm point, or both, to briefly reduce the load energizing load on the clutch to allow the fork to pop the clutch out of the gear.
If your engines have adjustable idle rpm (it might be set by the ecu, then don't mess with it!), lowering the idle rpm by even 100 rpm would help. Also make sure that the cables are letting the throttles return to full idle.
I know it can be more difficult when docking, but stopping briefly in neutral is easier on the clutches. Sometimes the props have not even stopped rotating in one direction while engaging the opposite gear, that drives the clutch in harder, similar to having the rpm up while going in gear. The engine rpm can also flare briefly between gears as the idle rpm control / ecu sees the rpm increase as the engine load is reduced and can only react so fast, also making engagement harsher.

What gear oil were they serviced with? The Volvo's are very picky to run the Volvo synthetic...even substituting /running a quality
Merc gear oil in a Volvo will not shift properly and seem like the drives are in need of a tear down due to shift issues.

There is no issue with the starboard motor it's just the port motor I replaced both shift cables and try to adjust at the helm however the boats in the water so I can't adjust from the drive unfortunately I won't know anything until I take the voter out of the water play with the drive. It's a 1994 no ECU.

dpxr
 

I've hold the boat and took off the linkage to see what the drives are doing out of water. I noticed the port drive When I turn the drive shifter from outside it's sloppy and moves into place a little too easy. when I compared it to tthe starboard side which clicks into gear much tighter. . I tried to video it but this thread won't take it

dpxr
 

I've hold the boat and took off the linkage to see what the drives are doing out of water. I noticed the port drive When I turn the drive shifter from outside it's sloppy and moves into place a little too easy. when I compared it to tthe starboard side which clicks into gear much tighter. . I tried to video it but this thread won't take it