gear oil leaking-gctid388175

[Guest]

Hello, guys I have a pretty bad gear oil leak on my 94 Bayliner 2252 with alpha one gen 2 outdrive. It has a remote reservoir inside the boat. The leak is evident where the lower unit is bolted to the upper unit. Is it as simple as dropping the lower unit and resealing the joint where it meets up with the upper? I'm afraid the leak may actually be where the upper unit bolts to the transom housing. I had trouble with that gasket when I did my gimble, and ended up having to put RTV on the gasket. Could some other part be leaking and it come out at the joint of the upper/lower units?

Boyce

[itsabowtime2]

There are O rings between the upper and lower units. One could be bad.

[Guest]

Sending out a plea for help here! OK so, I bought an impeller kit, and replaced it along with the quad seal. Reassembled everything and still have a gear oil leak. Took a closer look, and found the gear oil coming out of three places. First, coming out of the left and right speedo water intakes(?) and also, coming out of a weep hole at the vertical shift rod casting. I took the complete outdrive off and found gear oil in the bellows around the driveshaft. I have found no mixing of water and oil by the way. I did not have another gasket, so I put on a thin bead of good RTV, and reassembled it. Still I have a leak. What am I missing? Is it possible to just do away with the remote reservoir, and fill the upper and lower units with gear oil? I guess that won't help because that's not the problem. Could it be the swiveling "head" or whatever it is called is cracked internally allowing the gear oil to leak, or am I just unlucky enough that the gasket is still leaking? This fluid is only under atmospheric pressure (gravity) so why is it so hard to stop the leak? I really dislike removing this outdrive! BTW, FWIW I do not remember having a gear oil leak before I replaced the gimball bearing.....

[Guest]

oh, and one more question that just occurred. I got out most of the gear oil from the bellows, but should I really clean it out to perfection? Concerned about the oil lying in there softening the bellows....

[MidnightSun]

No probem with not cleaning the belows out to perfection. Sounds like the leak is from the drive shaft seal. Not an easy job and even though I am quite good with tools I leave this to those who have done it before.

[Guest]

yikes! Boy looking at the exploded view of the gearcase, I agree, that is a job for a pro. I wonder though, since we are now talking spending some real dough if a mechanic in a bottle(stop leak) would help? I have even heard of putting diesel in a engine or gearcase to swell rubber seals....

Boyce

[Guest]

Defiantly sounds like the drive shaft seal,

Take your outdrive to a qualified service center and have them fix it, had mine done a couple of years ago, cost like $200

I am pretty handy, but you need special tools to get that apart.

Steve

[driz]

I would just say "uncle" , give up and remove the drive and take it to a mechanic. There is way too much expensive stuff inside that gearbox that can turn into metallic hamburger in a few seconds if that thing gets too low on oil. I wouldn't remove the oil tank either. Mine didn't have one and I put one on so I can watch for signs of leakage. You never do know when you will find a piece of monofiliment fish line that will cut your lower seal. Taking one of those even slightly apart is a simple job for a well equipped mechanic but it is a big deal for us shade tree guys. Besides, it should be pressure tested afterwards . Better safe than sorry with those rather expensive drives and then you don't have to worry about it all Summer. I just farmed mine out last Fall due to a tad of water in the oil at the end of the season. It needed to have the shaft pulled to dress nick and didn't set me back too much, $430. Especially with an older drive with ??? hours on it I prefer someone with lots of hands on experience checking it out .

[itsabowtime2]

That is one project I would not get into myself. Get an estimate from a marine mechanic. If it cost rises due to other issues look into replacing the unit. There is a company called SEI, out of Canada I believe, they make a complete replacement A1 drive and I believe it is $1500 dollars.

[Guest]

Thanks guys! I'm going to weigh my options here. This boat was a saltwater boat, and has a fair amount of rust and corrosion on the outdrive, especially the driveshaft/joints. Considering the cost of repairing a almost 20 yr old unit, I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off buying another upper gearcase, either used or new aftermarket? I saw some online for about $750. As far as I know my lower unit is OK. Opinions?

Boyce

[itsabowtime2]

Check this out:

http://www.sterndrive.cc/

I replaced both the lower 1/2 of my units with their units. No issues.

[Guest]

I just went through this last week. So I talked to a mechanic and the conclusion was, if you have a remote resivore when you take the line off the lower unit and pull it off to work on it the line will leak oil in the case unless you drain it first. I did not so with everything back together it was leaking out the hole on the right side. I kept track of the levels and pulled the drain plug and no mix of water in the lower unit and levels remained the same.If you keep a eye on these two things and all is good I think it is just excess oil that got in the case mixing with water

[Guest]

Well guys it is 4th of July, and after replacing the upper unit with a SEI unit, I still have a frickin leak! Life is fun aint it? Seriously though, I don't feel awful about buying the upper as the joints and shaft were real rusty from exposure to salt water (leaking boot). I had gear oil in the boot after replacing the gimbal and boots, so I thought it had to be the driveshaft seal leaking. Made sense to replace the upper unit. Well, woke up this morning and went out to check for leaks and yes there was gear oil on the drive.

So, upon inspection, I found all of the gear oil apparently coming from the lower unit area, with no signs of oil above the lower unit joint. Everything that previously was wet with the old unit is dry. I removed the lower unit, and the quad seal area was dry, but the area around the shifter rod/plastic housing was wet with oil. While looking it over, I glance back at the upper unit, and NOW gear oil is dripping from the weep hole in the upper vertical shift shaft casting in the bellhousing(?)! Good grief! The only thing that changed was I raised the outdrive to get the lower off. So what now? Should I remove the upper to see if I have gear oil in the boot again?

I took the shift rod plastic housing off the lower unit, and found the 1"(?) O ring around the bottom of the plastic housing is broken. So no doubt that is the biggest part of the leak....but....

Boyce

[Guest]

a pressure test of the leg would have been the first place to start.

[Guest]

well heck guys I thinks I finally got it! I replaced that O ring on the plastic shifter rod housing in the lower unit, and knocking on wood, I think that did the trick. I felt good about it since I finally found something that said hey look at me, and the acid test I guess will be putting it back in service to see what happens!