The big old 80's 340 owners thread

I mounted mine the same way on the Port side over the dinette 3 years ago. Works well.
I swivel to view in the V berth so that there wern't just nuts and bolts coming out of the wall in the main area. Can't really see them in the V berth.
Can't see where yours is, the photo is too small for me to tell. I put a 19" AC/DC DVD combo.

moparlvr4406 said:
Now can watch from the dinette or the L shaped lounge at the end of the galley

OR swivel it around and watch from the Vberth
Click to expand...
 
Got out for a couple of hours yesterday and found out I am definitely blowing trany fluid out of the filler neck.
I had wrapped a chunk of paper towel around thee filler neck and when we got back to port - it was completely saturated and
the dip stick was just about popped out of the filler tub. On the upside it's not over full now :grin:

Does anybody else v-drive dip stick(s) fit really loose? It takes almost no effort to take mine out.

Dave - you said that on of your dipsticks was longer than the other. I did notice where the dipstick goes into the handle appears to be threaded.
you may want to have a real good look at yours and make certain that the dipstick is not coming free from the handle - I'd hate to think of what might happen if that dipstick fell into the v-drive.

I did not pull the other hatch as we were running late so I did not compare the length of the dipsticks but I would be shocked if they were different lengths.
 
Mike, um I hate to state the obvious but you do know how to tighten the vdrive dip sticks right? If you turn the handle and hold the rubber stopper you can adjust the rubber plug. I keep mine snug when I insert them then give them a turn to snug them up. I am 100% positive my sticks are the same length.
 
Hey Jas,

No - I'm gonna claim stupid here. Even when I checked them on the sea trial, I don't remember them being positivly locked in.
I'll crank on them! Thanks!
 
Pyrojodge said:
Mike, um I hate to state the obvious but you do know how to tighten the vdrive dip sticks right? If you turn the handle and hold the rubber stopper you can adjust the rubber plug. I keep mine snug when I insert them then give them a turn to snug them up. I am 100% positive my sticks are the same length.
Click to expand...


Mine work the same!!
 
Well, that certainly explains the threads. I wish I had mentioned how loose they were sooner and saved my self quite a bit of worry.
From the looks of the oil absorbent pad under the tranny, the loose dipstick might be the whole problem! The boat gets pulled on the 26th but
due to work issues, I'm thinking that the last ride of the year will be the very quick one over to the travel lift. So I might have to wait till next year
to see if there are no other leaks.
 
Velvet V drive. Dipsticks different lengths. Dipstick reading cold. When the trans is "HOT" Slightly below half on hot line. The shorter stick does don't read at all. The shorter stick looks like original stick. Both transmissions read the same when hot or cold with the longer dipstick. I am afraid of overservicing the units. On the other hand scared of not having enough fluid. Confused as to how to service these units. Can you suck out most of the fluid from the dipstick port? How much fluid in the unit?​
 

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Dcamacho said:
Velvet V drive. Dipsticks different lengths. Dipstick reading cold. When the trans is "HOT" Slightly below half on hot line. The shorter stick does don't read at all. The shorter stick looks like original stick. Both transmissions read the same when hot or cold with the longer dipstick. I am afraid of overservicing the units. On the other hand scared of not having enough fluid. Confused as to how to service these units. Can you suck out most of the fluid from the dipstick port? How much fluid in the unit?​
Click to expand...

Both of my dipsticks look like the one on the right.
The manual says 4.5 quarts is the capacity.
The recommendation in the manual is to drain by disconnecting the lowest cooling hose.
Others might have some input on sucking the tranny fluid out of the fill tube
 
I agree with Mike, My trans dip stick looks like the one on the right. Not sure what the deal is with the joggled piece on the rights. I extract trans oil out of the dip stick hole. It is a pain in the butt and you have to pay attention so you can get to the bottom of the V-drive but it can be done. I usually only get 3qts out of the trans using this method so I only have to replace the three qts. The inverse to this is I change all fluids religiously at 50 hours. Which yes I know is very excessive but I'd much rather pay for oil then a transmission.
 
Jason, about how many hours a year are you putting on Aftica?

90 days till the boat show :smt038
 
This year I didn't do so well... I think I ended up with 32 this year. It's usually 50 a year. she had 300 hours on her this is my 7th season she's at 640 when I put her away. It just depends. Realistically I change fluids every fall...
 
I'm doing the fall routine as well with about the same hours....
 
Pyrojodge said:
I agree with Mike, My trans dip stick looks like the one on the right. Not sure what the deal is with the joggled piece on the rights. I extract trans oil out of the dip stick hole. It is a pain in the butt and you have to pay attention so you can get to the bottom of the V-drive but it can be done. I usually only get 3qts out of the trans using this method so I only have to replace the three qts. The inverse to this is I change all fluids religiously at 50 hours. Which yes I know is very excessive but I'd much rather pay for oil then a transmission.
Click to expand...

I checked the manual and it calls for the shorter stick 10-06-559-001, this is for 72C V Drive. The shorter stick part number was replaced by part number 10-05-559-001. This stick has a higher level on the Check hot line. I got the correct dipstick. I added 1/2 Qt on each trans. I run up the engines, shut down and check. Levels good but one transmission is clear and the other has tiny little bubbles all over the dipstick, basically looks "Foamy". Both transmissions the same level and added the same amount. What could cause this????????
 
Hey Guys,
Hope you are all well. I'm looking at swimplatforms.com to upgrade. They quoted $2200. Good? bad? The functionality of the new one 39 inches vs stock 22 inches is really attractive. thoughts?
 
I know Jim (Mopar) has been thinking about this as well. I too would like to have the extra space but I don't want to loose my teak trim pieces. I think eventually when I get some free time I will make my own like 390x made his for his 390. I think that $2200 sounds reasonable is that including shipping? If I remember that is the real killer. Best of luck MMG...
 
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