Hi guys

I recently experienced that I could not shift my Volve Penta AQ 290 DP from forward drive back to neutral.

When being in the marina shifting from neutral to forward and rearward drive was absolutely fine.
After I left the marina I increased the engine revs and the load.
When I wanted to stop the boat I could not shift back into neutral so the boat remained idling by going constantly forward.
The only way to get it back into neutral was by shifting it back through the starter motor the moment before the engine would fire up.
The shifting mechanism at the back of the sterndrive and the cable from the shifter are not seized and all parts move easily.

My sterndrive was filled with new API-GL5 SAE 90 oil.
The oil lever was at max according to the oil dip stick.
MY boat has got 700h on the meter hence I believe that the sterndrive is 700h old as well.

Before taking it apart I would like to know if the problem could be narrowed down.
I was thinking about this problem being related to a worn clutch cone.

Has anyone expereinced a similar behaviour and could tell me how it was fixed?
I lost the confidence in the sterndrive at the moment as it would have been a disaster in the marina if you can't go into neutral as you can imagine

Thank you very much guys

Martin

It could be related to a worn cone clutch. If the clutch is slipping, sometimes when they get hot they stick in the cone.

I see.
Do you think the clutch cone would get stuck when being in gear for 10 minutes under load?
It shouldn’t slip then.

My problem appeared after being in forward gear for some time.

has the drive ever been apart?

Not under my ownership which is 3 years now.
Considering that my boat is from 1990 I’d assume that it was apart at some point.

Don't those 200 series outdrives use standard multi-grade engine oil and not the 90wt gear oil ?

I haven’t been into one in about 10 years, but yes, I recall using 10w40,
that’s what it called for.

But who knows now, since the EPA ( god bless them &#128580 put a hammer
on the zinc content in automotive multi grade oil, they may have changed
what they’re calling for now

Hi guys

Thank you for the replies.

I have changed the clutch cone.
The old one definitely felt worn and "flat" compared to the new one.

What I noticed is that the gear set in which the cone is engaging, so the opposite part of the cone above and below, seemed to have some sort of sticky coating/layer.
I'm not sure if this was some sort of friction coating or remains of additives/debris?!
This made the new cone be very sticky when engaged, making it difficult to remove when shifted by hand.

Does anybody know what that is and if I should take it off with a fleece pad or something?

Are you recommending 10W40 instead of the blue Volvo Penta oil?

Thank you guys!

I have always used the Volvo gl5 oil in my 290 drives, if you have the older Volvo drives with the brass cones use non synthetic oil, my Volvo guy said if you have the cones that have a black coating on them and they start slipping they have to be replaced, if they don’t have the black coating they can be lapped with valve compound. Also I had an issue with shifting when my idle was a little too high, shifted fine on the water hose but once in the water and under load would not shift out of gear, I just shut the motor off put in neutral and restarted and had to do that.

Years ago, Volvo put out a bulletin on this. They go pretty in depth. Here's the short version. Volvo tech support and the instructor at the drive school both said to only lap with the old cone and check the pattern with the new cone. Both said all new cones have a special coating on them that lapping will ruin. I've never lapped a new cone but have talked to techs that have, they said they had no problems after lapping a new cone.

Note! Mark the upper and lower gear cups, so that they are reassembled in the same position.

1. Start by lapping the gear cups together with the old cone.

Thoroughly clean in solvent and dry the clean pieces.

2. Using a valve grinding paste, lap new cone into respective

gear cup. Note! One at a time making sure marking “TOP” on the new

cone faces the upper gear cup.

The proper way to do this is to:

A. Coat the gear cup with a thin even layer of medium valve grinding

paste.

B. Insert the cone into the cup and rotate approximately 30°

back and forth using as much pressure as possible for about 10 times.

C. Lift cone straight up and rotate it 120° (1/3 turn) and

repeat the above procedure.

D. Lift cone once more straight up and turn it another 120°

(1/3) and repeat the above procedure.

3. Note! THOROUGHLY CLEAN in a solvent keeping the grit out of the bearing and dry the clean pieces.

4. Apply thin even layer of Prussian blue marking paste or equivalent in the gear cup (1). Insert the

cone and rotate under pressure back and forth, no more than 10°. Remove (straight up)

cone from cup and inspect both pieces for uniform contact. If uniform contact is not

obtained repeat above described procedure as many times as needed.

5. When uniform contact is achieved repeat procedure for the remaining gear cup with corresponding

cone.