Small leak when outdrive is up

[timg19]

Tonight I notice a very small amount of water in the bilge and could hear a trickle of water. I had the outdrive way up in the trailering position. I put the drive all the way down and it stopped. Any ideas?

Just bought the boat a month ago from a marina. Has a alpha 1 gen 2 outdrive and mercruser 4.3 mpi

I'm not sure if this is related, but the steering is pretty sloppy too.

A lot of friends and family were planning to ride it this weekend. Any reason that shouldn't happen? I'm taking it in to the shop first thing Monday.

 

[achris]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Tonight I notice a very small amount of water in the bilge and could hear a trickle of water. I had the outdrive way up in the trailering position. I put the drive all the way down and it stopped. Any ideas?

Could be a leaking bellows.

Just bought the boat a month ago from a marina. Has a alpha 1 gen 2 outdrive and mercruser 4.3 mpi

Any sort of warranty?

I'm not sure if this is related, but the steering is pretty sloppy too.

Sounds like it's been neglected..

A lot of friends and family were planning to ride it this weekend. Any reason that shouldn't happen? I'm taking it in to the shop first thing Monday.

As long as they are all good swimmers, and you take enough life-jackets for each person, no reason at all.... If the leak IS the bellows, you could get quite a lot of water in the boat...

Chris.....

 

[timg19]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Thanks Chris! So far no more water, after a few hours of boating today. I haven't had the guts to trim up much though. Everything stopped once I trimmed down...

 

[achris]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

If you have water in the bellows, all your doing is more damage....

Taking a boat out on the water KNOWING it has a leak... Not wise my friend.

I certainly hope that you're not taking children on board...

 

[timg19]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Does anyone know how check if the bellows are leaking?

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Can you see where the water is entering the boat from? Use whatever means necessary, flashlight, mirror, cell phone pictures/video. If it's the bellows, I would not risk it.

A small tear can get big awful quick. The only way I would know to check for a bellows tear is to physically inspect the bellows both outside and inside (by pulling the drive off), look for cracks in the rubber.

If it is the bellows, then the u-joints, and gimbal bearing are getting wet and that's not a good thing either.

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Yep better fix it before any more boating. It will get more expensive and more dangerous every minute you are running it.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Does anyone know how check if the bellows are leaking?

Yeah raise the outdrive with the boat in the water, if it starts leaking that is a pretty good indication (done that right?). Look for water coming in through the driveshaft opening in the transom.

 

[dubs283]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Does anyone know how check if the bellows are leaking?

pull the boat out of the water

trim the drive all the way up and check for holes in the u-joint bellows and shift cable bellows - those are the two bellows that will leak directly into the bilge

as stated earlier, you should stop using your boat, find and fix the issue - you are only risking further damage to your boat and risking the safety of all on board your boat

 

[timg19]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Thanks everyone. No more leaks since Friday (3 days), and its been in the water all 3 days. I had my friend take a look at it too and he didn't think it was the bellows. I also played with the trim and did not see anymore water.

So Ill be interested to hear what the mechanic says tomorrow.

 

[Hoosmatroos]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Could be a leaking bellows.



Any sort of warranty?

If you bought that boat one month ago they should be fixing this in my opinion.

 

[timg19]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Just heard back from the mechanic. Shift cable bellow was leaking a little water when the engine was up in trailering position. So Commander, you were right on. They are replacing all of the bellows and I'm getting an auto bilge pump put in since i keep it in the water.

In the future I would like to change the bellows out myself. Does anyone know of any good posts to do that for a Alpha 1 Gen 2?

Oh, and Hoosmatroos, you are right. The Marina I purchased this boat from should be the one fixing this (for free) but it will cost me more money and time to drive out there then to just have it fixed 15 minutes from my house. I am going to email them about it though, so they know they sold me a boat with issues.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

You shouldn't have to worry about installing new bellows for a while now. If you've never done them before It can be quite the process to do so. You do have a Gen 2 which does make it easier. It requires special tooling, patience, and genuine Mercruiser parts to do it. Good job on installing the auto bilge especially since the boat stays in the water. I take my drive off during the winter and others leave the drive down to prevent less stress and memory. Glad you had it looked at because I've seen it too many times when people push it and turns a good weekend bad! I would have taken it back to the marina though. That's a pricey job to swallow! Best of luck!

 

[timg19]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Thanks jthor3277. Just to be clear, the boat is new to me, but used. It is a 2003 Rinker 192, so it wasn't expected to be perfect... but also wasn't expected to have leaking bellows. I'm going to contact them to see if they can do anything for me.

 

[achris]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Could be a leaking bellows.

Chris.....

Just heard back from the mechanic. Shift cable bellow was leaking a little water when the engine was up in trailering position. So Commander, you were right on. They are replacing all of the bellows and I'm getting an auto bilge pump put in since i keep it in the water.....

So glad someone picked it as the bellows....

 

[timg19]

Re: Small leak when outdrive is up

Last update. I emailed the marina about the issue and they payed for 1/2 of the repair, even though they didn't need to. Was really nice of them. Thanks for your help everyone!