Well, I took my boat in today to find out what the noise from the outdrive was. Everyone that heard it said they thought it was the u-joints. So, I get a call a little later telling me they have some bad news for me, they said the u-joints are fine, but when they opened up the top of the drive, there was metal everywhere. No problem, I tell them, it's under warranty from Mercury.
They say great, because I'm probably looking at around $2,000.- Ouch, whew, thank goodness for the extended warranty.
Well, all is good right? Not. I get another call a little later telling me Mercury denied warranty due to customer abuse. WTF!!! They say I must have been out wake jumping, as that is what would cause the loading and unloading that would break the gears. Keep in mind, this is a deckboat with a stock 496HO motor.
It's war. The original purchaser paid $5,049.- for the extended warranty which was transfered to me (I paid to have it transfered). Mercury said my resolution would be to pack up the drive, and send it to them, and they would examine it, and do metallurgy tests on the gear set to determine if it was part failure or not.
I spent the better part of the day trying to be nice and kiss enough ass up the ladder to get them to agree to fix it......
We'll see......