My two year old pro qualifier is screeching while casting now. It's my buzzbait reel and thus has endured many a violent strike from pike and bass. 

 

First I tried a complete cleaning and re - lubing, including flushing the bearings. That didn't help at all. Then I tried changing the two spool bearings. That didn't help either. I'm going to have to send it in, but any ideas as to what could be the culprit?

Brakes?

Brakes would be my guess. 

I concur. Check the brakes for loose pins, worn or corroded drum. Turn around is pretty quick as of today if you want to send it.

I would also say it is the breaks, my suggestion would be to put a very light coat of oil on the break race ( the metal ring on the inside of the palm side of the reel) then use a Q-tip to remove most of it. I have seen this issue most often in my quantums, and the light oil seems to do the trick...

 

Mitch

Oil the breaks.

I'm having the same problem with a new Abu Revo SX.

 

 

 

Most casts it's fine. But every once and a while it makes a really loud whistling sound. It usually does it twice in a row and then not for another  50 to 80 casts. Weird. And this reel is basically new.

I'll try oiling the outside of the brake.

The sx mag brakes don't make noise. A deep cleaning will take care of the noise. There are a couple points on that model that can need a little special attention

I oiled the centrifugal break drum. Helped a little bit but not totally. Going to send it in come sub 50 degree water. Break drum might need replaced.

Oiled the ring on the magnetic break, palm side too. Going to see if that helps. Still plan on sending it in.

Based on the price of the PQ, you might wait to until Spring and trade it in at BPS's big sale.  I would venture a guess that shipping, a professional cleaning, and the replacement parts would be quite expensive.  Below is a review from BPS's website to drive home my point......

 

"I bought 6 of these reels over the past 3 years. I bought these reels with the hopes that they could be used for years and years but that has not turned out to be the case. I have purchased two of these reels every year for the past 3 years and if you lined them up you couldn’t tell which ones are new. The reel cap are discolored, not a big deal but they look like antiques versus reels that are newer style. Another issue is that all 6 reels went to BPS reel repair and all came back with parts that need to be replaced. Not a big deal but 2 reels were 9 months old. I don’t know which ones but regardless the bill was $198.00 for 5 reels to be repaired. So my point is expect that 25-30% repair expense per reel to keep these going. I attached a picture of one of the "newer" ones but they all look like this."

Sound Advice from FishTank.. Unless its under warranty.. I say buy a new reel...

The cost of servicing is less than $20 for members here. Of course I can't say for sure without seeing it but I'd be surprised if that reel needs to be junked

It just started doing it, the reel is 3 years old. I have had very minimal problems with all my PQs and I've had them for four years. The only servicing I had on one reel before was due to operator error.