Transmission trouble

[Lakeside]

Sad to report that I needed a replacement transmission.  Glad to report that I was able to get a salvage Epic transmission with about 20 hours on it!  It's nice to have the boat back on the water! 

By the way, the shop mentioned that if you have the worst case scenario and needed to replace the transmission and engine together with a brand new fully dressed ZF transmission/Lexus engine combo, it would run $6,900.  This is surprisingly low (even he was surprised).  He said that similar fully dressed transmission/engine combos for other boat lines run north of $10,000.

Another thing I learned is that the ZF Hurth transmission in an Epic is not the same as the ZF Hurth's in Mastercrafts.  Our tranny's are built to run with higher RPM's than a MC, since the Lexus engine can handle 6,000 RPM.

[lesman01]

Sorry to hear about that, but glad your back on the water.

So what did they say was wrong with your transmission that it had to be fully replaced? Surprising about the price for the engine/tranny combo. Wow!

[festivus]

how many hours did your transmission have on it?  Did they diagnose the cause of the problem?

[Lakeside]

It started with the clutch plates and odd performance and ended with uncertainty.  If I had the dealer try to repair the transmission, they would have had to outsource the work to another shop.  If the outside shop didn't fix it properly, there would not be a guarantee and I'd have to pony up for additional work.  It seemed like a potential money pit, since the outside shop had not done any work on an Epic transmission before.  There were more questions than answers about the right way to go.  Then, my dealer worked closedly with Rick to find a good solution.  With Rick's help, they were able to find a salvage Epic transmission in town with 20 hours on it and I saved a bundle vs. buying a new transmission.  Thanks, Rick, for your help.

[h20proof]

Lakeside,
Could you give me the name & number of that shop?  I am interested in the engine/tranny combo and would like to find out how to track one down. 
Thanks.

[Epic h2o]

I've put Two, yes Two trannys in an epic for what seemed to be a tranny problem (your symptoms exactly) to eventually track the problem to a bad spark plug (no I'm not he brightest light in the knife drawer). The engine will do a funny nocking sound when one (or two) plugs have fouled.  It will sound like the trans, but trust me and change your plugs and make sure your fuel pump (next most common prob) are not the culprit.
Glad to see the site's still up!

[breakawaydaze]

The exact same thing happened on my E21!  One fouled plug and it sent a knocking sound out through the transmission, I thought the transmission was toast!  E-mailed Cyclone in a panic, I thought I would never find a transmission.  I pulled coils off of spark plugs one at a time while running, found one that made no difference, replaced all plugs, and knocking sound gone!  What a releif!

[Lakeside]

Call Ryan in the service department at Skipper Buds in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.  262-544-1200.  They are now the official TMS shop in the Milwaukee area and no longer sublet from Jack Safro Toyota/Lexus.

I'll ask Ryan about the spark plug thing, but I think my problem was bigger than that.  Thanks for the insight!