Pitting in gasket surface.

Trubattleax

Recruit
Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
4
I replaced my trans shift cable and notice some pitting on the gasket surface of the pivet housing, around the water hose fitting. It's all on the inside of the rubber seal. Could this be a potential problem? If so is there a way to repair it? I don't want to put the drive back on and have to take it back off again. Thanks.

https://goo.gl/photos/9SLftRMCrzvpuQwn9
 

Trubattleax

Recruit
Joined
Oct 17, 2016
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4
Sorry I should have mentioned before it's a 1993 Four Winns Freedom 180. With a 4.3l OMC Cobra.
 

wrvond

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
597
Any corrosion is a potential problem. If nothing else it can push mating surfaces apart allowing leaks to develop. An emery cloth wrapped around a sanding block will dress the surface nicely.
 

Trubattleax

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Oct 17, 2016
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Should I use some jb weld or some kind of epoxy to fill the pits and then sand it even with the rest of the mating surface?
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
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Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,417
Should I use some jb weld or some kind of epoxy to fill the pits and then sand it even with the rest of the mating surface?

JB weld will do the trick. Large flat file would work better than "sanding"
 

wrvond

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
597
Should I use some jb weld or some kind of epoxy to fill the pits and then sand it even with the rest of the mating surface?

What I initially saw as corrosion upon closer inspection, now looks to me like an aluminum surface that somebody scraped gasket material off of and gouged the surface in the process.
I'm going to stick with my earlier recommendation to simply smooth the surface as much as possible while removing as little material as possible. Remove too much and that surface is going to be too far away from the mating surface for the gasket to fill the gap. On the other hand, I don't see those gouges being deep enough to hold any added material. Could be wrong about that, but my experience (using JB Weld) is it doesn't stick very well and ends up causing more problems down the road.
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
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Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,417
Could be wrong about that, but my experience (using JB Weld) is it doesn't stick very well and ends up causing more problems down the road.
Don't under estimate the usefulness of JB weld in this kind of situation. The trick is to get the area perfectly clean before applying.

My experience with JB and outboard repairs. Salt had eaten into the block pretty badly in the area of the head gaskets. Couldn't keep a head gasket on the motor for more than a couple of outings.

Out of desperation, I cleaned the head surfaces thoroughly with lacquer thinner and a brass toothbrush. Blew everything off and cleaned it again. Skimmed the entire surface with JB using a putty knife. Let it dry over night and skimmed everything again. This time I covered the area with plastic wrap and let it setup a bit. Removed the plastic wrap and had a perfectly smooth surface to work with. A bit of work with heavy duty flat files of varying roughness and the job was complete.

I put another 75 hours on the motor before I repowered. As far as I know, that motor is still in still in use today
 

Trubattleax

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Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
4
Here's another pic of the pitting. You can see around the bottom left corner a channel of pitting. I bought this boat about a year ago I have been working on it, getting it ready for the water. Someone had caked some kind of sealant or silicone all around the area of the pitting. I think it was their way of keeping it from leaking.

https://goo.gl/photos/YtgFSY9sDuwpoGVq6
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,417
Here's another pic of the pitting. You can see around the bottom left corner a channel of pitting. I bought this boat about a year ago I have been working on it, getting it ready for the water. Someone had caked some kind of sealant or silicone all around the area of the pitting. I think it was their way of keeping it from leaking.

https://goo.gl/photos/YtgFSY9sDuwpoGVq6

Wouldn't bother fixing it. A little gasket adhesive and you wouldn't know any different
 

MRS

Commander
Joined
Jul 10, 2005
Messages
2,555
Use gorilla snot on it (3M yellow stuff) and you will be good to go.
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
I would clean it up the best I could, apply some RTV on the gasket and happy boating. I don't see anything that would cause any issue myself. But then again not being there and seeing it in person, that is only my $0.02 cents worth. Doesn't look bad to me from the two pictures. JMHO
 
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