OH NO! Water in the oudrive.

Some of you might recall I had some shifting issues last summer. My season ended early when my daughter had a bad bike wreck and then my dad suddenly passed away. I have not seen my boat since the end of August. Anyway, I went today to do my usual start of the year routine. When I drained the outdrive (VP 290 DP), out came the water and then the terrible burned smell from the oil. Not good. What is the most likely cause of this. It was not a case of bad or missing o-rings on the fill cap or the plug at the bottom. What are the chances I did permanent damage? How will I know? What do you recommend? Thanks for your help in advance.

Re: OH NO! Water in the oudrive.

I'm not a VP guy but there are a couple questions that could still help.

Was it winterized and did it freeze?
How has it been stored for hte last several months? in water, on trailer etc.

Also, you might want to pressure/vacuum test the drive to identify leak points.

Re: OH NO! Water in the oudrive.

180 - I'll try to answer your questions. Yes it was winterized but I am not sure what they winterize on the drive. I also have to take a bullet here. When I called my mechanic to winterize was when he was behind the 8ball and everybody was calling because a big cold front was coming to north GA. I thought he got it in time, but in his winterization service order it noted that it was 26 degrees when he did it. Hopefully I was not too late. I guess my thought is that the engine was at risk - not the drive. FWIW - I changed the engine oil today, too, and it was water free. If you ask me a more specific question I might be able to get a more specific answer. I am just not sure what you are looking for.

It has been stored since August on a trailer in a three sided building structure with a roof. I also put a cover on it when it is not being used. When I pulled the cover back today it looked just like it did 8 months ago.

Re: OH NO! Water in the oudrive.

Check the drive bellows.

Re: OH NO! Water in the oudrive.

Not sure if you would have really done perminant damage as I used to have a boat 10 years ago and I didnt know as much about boats as I do now and every time I drained oil in the drive it was milky and stunk!

The drive never had problems though in the time I owned it so lets say you ran one season like that and the drive was fine when you stored the boat. Id say now that you cought the water leak now you need to track it down and fix it. Once you fix it you may or may not see the boat run any differant.