Outdrive filled w/ water! Drive oil is in Bilge

I noticed after my last outing that my bilge had a lot of oil in it. I checked the engine oil, and it was full and clean. I pulled the screw out of the bottom of the drive, and about a cup of water drained out!! It was followed by a rather small amount of chunky sludgy super dirty drive oil. It seems to me that the drive has sprung a leak, and all the oil leaked out through the transom coupling area into the bilge.

What part of the drive system would have sprung a leak like that into the bilge?



I pulled the drive and took a peek inside. The rubber driveshaft boot was filled with drive oil.



Other than the driveshaft area, no other areas of the drive mating surface looked dirty or damaged. I don't think the gasket was leaking.

Something else worth noting: THe prop shaft is slightly bent, and it might have contributed to the drive filling with water.

Re: Outdrive filled w/ water! Drive oil is in Bilge

The input shaft seal is leaking . Normally it wears a groove in the yoke and causes it too leak. The water contamination is something else. Also could be that the drive overfilled from the water and blew past the easist seal it could. Could be getting water from a lot of different places. I would start by re sealing upper drive and water pump base seal.

Anybent shaft need to be addressed immediatly. That will ruin bearings and seals

Re: Outdrive filled w/ water! Drive oil is in Bilge

I just pulled the drive apart, and IMHO, it's shot. The vertical Shaft (sorry I don't know correct terminology) that runs through the impeller assy into the bullet has over 1/4" of play in it once I pulled the impeller housing and seals off. The impeller seals weren't perfect either.

Which seal is the input shaft seal? Is that the soft black rubbery one aft of the gimbal bearing and bellow? If so, I have a theory:

The bent prop shaft allowed water to enter the bullet. The water stayed at the bottom of the drive, and the oil rose to the top. When the drive got hot after continuous use, the water expanded and forced the oil out of what I believe to be the input shaft seal. THe bellow, immediatley in front of the rubber seal, was filled with oil.

Re: Outdrive filled w/ water! Drive oil is in Bilge

the input seal is the one behind the big castle nut right by the u joints. im pretty sure my drive had the same play in the vertical drive shaft with everything disconnected. it uses the upper to push down the bearing and support it which is why the splines dont get greased. mine was getting the water contamination from the seals in the upper gear case.

since you have a 1990 you prob have the alpha one gen one drive.



the yoke is number 34. seal kit is sierra# 18-2648 if you do NOT have the gen II drive. if you want oem quicksilver the kit runs about 60 bucks or so. i bought the sierra yoke off iboats. Its fine for the price and stopped the leak.

the drive oil got int he bilge because there is a small hole that vents the u joints bellows.

Re: Outdrive filled w/ water! Drive oil is in Bilge

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...64651258&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEBOFFX:IT

I just made an offer on this reman drive. I was thinking about taking the boat to a mechanic instead of just throwing parts at it hoping it would fix it, but I had a change of heart.

It currently has a terribly bruised up outdrive with a severely bent prop shaft, so I really think that installing a whole new drive will solve all my problems. I just need to find a nice 4 blade prop to compliment it all.