Annual Maintenance

[Mesajeeper]

Looking to start preping my 2005 226 for the summer. We purchased the boat about a year ago and had the dealer perform the maintenance along with several repairs. Our prior boat was an I/O with a Mercruiser and I was able to change the impeller, engine oil and service the outdrive on my own. I would like to attempt to do this on our Nautique. My question is what services should I do? I will certainly change the oil and the impeller and battery maintenance. As there is not an outdrive is there transmission fluid that should be changed? Also, I remember last year the dealer repacked the propeller shaft. Is this something that should be done anually? What else am I missing that should be done. Thanks in advance for helping a v-drive newbie out.

[swc5150]

Besides the oil and impeller, you could change your tranny fluid. I change mine every 50 hours, since it's easy and inexpensive. Your prop shaft should be fine for a while - not really an annual thing. You could also swap out your spark plugs, since probably don't know when the last swap took place. An important thing is to make sure all of your cooling hoses and block plugs are connected and tight. You'll have a drain on each side of the block, one being your knock sensor. If you have a heater, make sure those hoses are connected as well.

[Mesajeeper]

Thanks for the quick reply. We had the spark plugs changed when we bought the boat as well so maybe these don't need to be done? As for the tranny fluid, is there a "how to" video or write-up on this? I search youtube and couldn't find anything relevant.

[AirTool]

Thanks for the quick reply. We had the spark plugs changed when we bought the boat as well so maybe these don't need to be done? As for the tranny fluid, is there a "how to" video or write-up on this? I search youtube and couldn't find anything relevant.

Brief bullets - not step by step no guarantee expressed or implied but there are many threads I can point you to early (and some what not to do)

get tranny fully hot (like after a real day out)
forward, neutral, reverse, neutral and check the level and note if you like it or not
get a suck up
make a tube like shown or better yet with a fitting like shown
pull the dipstick
suck out 2.25 hot quarts (if not, figure that out or adjust based on the level you had)
pour in what you sucked out but not more than 2 quarts because the new cold fluid is more dense.
put the boat in the water, fire it up, forward, neutral, reverse, neutral and check the level cold. It may be a little low. If in range, run it until it is hot and check again.

Note: ATF has a huge thermal expansion and your level is sensitive to heat. When the tranny is low, the lower end of the range is okay. After pulling 3 footers all day, the higher end of the range is expected. Avoid filling the tranny so full that when it gets hot, it overflows....not good.

[AirTool]

Brief bullets - not step by step no guarantee expressed or implied but there are many threads I can point you to early (and some what not to do)

get tranny fully hot (like after a real day out)
forward, neutral, reverse, neutral and check the level and note if you like it or not
get a suck up
make a tube like shown or better yet with a fitting like shown
pull the dipstick
suck out 2.25 hot quarts (if not, figure that out or adjust based on the level you had)
pour in what you sucked out but not more than 2 quarts because the new cold fluid is more dense.
put the boat in the water, fire it up, forward, neutral, reverse, neutral and check the level cold. It may be a little low. If in range, run it until it is hot and check again.

Note: ATF has a huge thermal expansion and your level is sensitive to heat. When the tranny is low, the lower end of the range is okay. After pulling 3 footers all day, the higher end of the range is expected. Avoid filling the tranny so full that when it gets hot, it overflows....not good.

I left off the photos:

[Mesajeeper]

thanks