Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

Hi guys
Last year in September my v drive bearing locked up.The boat has only 100 hours and it has always been serviced at the same dealership since new.
PCM won’t help cover the cost since it’s out of warranty even though it only has 100 hours on it.
When I took the 2 drain plugs out they both had a milky paste to them.
The dealership didn’t really determine the cause of the seized bearing.most likely a defective part or water intrusion.the pressure tested it and said all the seals are fine so it was winterize
By them.
It’s just disappointing to not really know why this happen.
Any advice or input would be a really big help.
I need to let them know next week.
Thank you Bill

This is what the v drive looked like when I took them.sorry for the poor picture.



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That milkiness indicates that you had water contamination in your V drive oil. It should look like super thick honey.

If the dealer determined that there is no leaks on the internal cooling line, then there is a vent on the top of your V drive and you could have taken a lot of water on board at some point, and it could have gotten in that way.

I don't understand how the dealer didn't determine the cause of the bad bearing to not be a result of the contaminated oil.

There is no way Malibu is going to warranty this so far out of your factory warranty. Even if you were in warranty period, then it is still your responsibility to check fluids to make sure everything is good.

I just replaced the V Drive on my 15' A22, due to a bad rear seal, and it was about a $5,500 bill. Luckily I had an extended warranty that covered it.

Thank you for the reply.
The dealership told me it was likely a defective part in the v drive that caused the bearing to seize up.i have always had the boat serviced from the same dealership since new.
When I picked the bot up last year from storage I noticed water in the engine bay.Some how they never took the drain plug out of the boat.
I quested them repeatly in this and could it have caused the bearing to seize.They told me it doesn’t and won’t pay for it.Pcm didn’t really help much as far as confirming it was water intrusion and not just a defective v drive.


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I bet the bearing locked up because of the water intrusion in the transmission, ot because of it being defective.

How much water did you see in the engine bay?

There was a lot of water in the engine bay.Over the v drive


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That's why it failed. Water into vent.

Thank you for all the help. They ordered the new v drive and it’s being installed next week.


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