1988 35HP Force gear housing problem (oil leak, air bubbles, water in oil)

[JEFF MURRAY]

So I had my boat out today, ran real good, after being on anchor for an hour or so, I fired up the motor, walked back to make sure the tell tale was peeing and noticed a pretty large oil slick behind the boat, after a closer look I noticed a constant stream air bubbles rising from the gear housing in the area of the front gear housing attachment bolt, after I got the boat back on the trailer I saw a stream of water soaked gear oil streaming down the gear housing from the area of that same bolt I noticed the bubbles coming from, after I returned home I tilted the motor and took a closer look only to see a small (1/8"-3/16") hole next to the bolt, I have a 1992 force 40hp parts motor also and went to look to see if it had the same hole and it does, so its there for a reason, so my questions are (1) anyone know why air bubbles and gear oil is spewing from this hole ? (2) whats the purpose of the hole ? attached you'll find a pic of the problem area. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: 1988 35HP Force gear housing problem (oil leak, air bubbles, water in oil)

The hole is a drain for the lower unit housing and belongs there. The bubbles were probably exhaust. The stream of water was the housing draining. Are you sure the oil was lower unit lube? It could have been unburned oil that collected in the midleg. Lower unit lube smells like sulphur. Unburned oil smells like gasoline.

 

[JEFF MURRAY]

Re: 1988 35HP Force gear housing problem (oil leak, air bubbles, water in oil)

thanks very much for the reply, the bubbles we definatly coming from the drain hole (they were rather large), what ran out of that hole after it was on the trailer was water and oil (smelled like gear oil) also, I drained the gear oil (again) just did it a week ago and it had water in it also. now, I do run my motor rich maybe to rich and excess fuel is running out of the drain hole ? but what about water in the gear case (again) ? Thoughts ?

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: 1988 35HP Force gear housing problem (oil leak, air bubbles, water in oil)

If you are getting water into the gear case, then it is a bad seal. In your case, since the gear oil id coming out the drain hole the first seal I would suspect is the shift rod seal. when you remove the lower unit, if the shift rod is loose in the seal and can wiggle around in it, then either the seal is bad or it is too loose. This particular seal CAN be tapped into the casting further so it is tighter around the shift rod. The rod should have no play, and should be snug. It should move smoothly with some resistance but not be so tight that it takes a lot of effort to pull and push it by hand.

Other seals to check are the drive shaft seal under the water pump, The propeller shaft seal, the two drain and fill screw seals, and I believe there is an O-ring seal under the front retaining nut.

 

[JEFF MURRAY]

Re: 1988 35HP Force gear housing problem (oil leak, air bubbles, water in oil)

Thanks for the replys, I bought a seal kit and will replace will replace them all..

 

[JEFF MURRAY]

Re: 1988 35HP Force gear housing problem (oil leak, air bubbles, water in oil)

Thanks again for all the replys, it was the shift rod seal, it was wasted, I replaceed all the seals, and ran the motor yesterday and today, drained the oil again. No water !!