84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

doral1985

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 19, 2011
Messages
107
Resealed my 800 this past spring and all was good, no water intrusion, while winterizing I greased the fitting on the front of the lower unit and after the second shot of grease I heard a pop and it sounded like a little gush of air in the lower unit. Anyone had this experience? I have a feeling I have to pull the lower off this winter and pressure test to see.
 

Nivekt

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
481
Re: 84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

Hmm. That's odd. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say you either blew out the rubber portion of the seal on #56 on the diagram below or it was just an air pocket in your gun hose and you have nothing to worry about. No way to know until you take her apart. Good luck man.

convert-3.png
 

doral1985

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 19, 2011
Messages
107
Re: 84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

Hmm. That's odd. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say you either blew out the rubber portion of the seal on #56 on the diagram below or it was just an air pocket in your gun hose and you have nothing to worry about. No way to know until you take her apart. Good luck man.

convert-3.png


Yes I think your right on, that seal would be the one to that would flip with the grease pressure, next time I will be more delicate with the grease gun, thats a hard fitting to get on to. When I tear it down to fix the seal I may put a extension on it to make it so you can actually see when your on it. tks for reply.
 

Boomyal

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Messages
12,072
Re: 84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

FWIIW, I just talked to the local OMC Guru. He stated that applying grease to that zerk fitting was very unlikely to mess with the seal.
 

floattest

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
104
Re: 84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

Maybe it's not neccesary to add on, but I agree with Boomyal. The 2 seals back to back keep oil in the lower (lower seal) and grease in the swivel housing (upper seal) the other one, seal 55, keeps water out of the swivel housing. When I pulled apart my original outdrive there was a lot of grease in this area (outside the swivel housing) around where the exhaust housing fits over the swivel housing. Excess grease will just go past the seal #55 without hurting it or flipping it. IMHO. Here's a picture of mine when I was replacing this seal.
swivel-housing2.jpg
 

Nivekt

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
481
Re: 84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

Maybe it's not neccesary to add on, but I agree with Boomyal. The 2 seals back to back keep oil in the lower (lower seal) and grease in the swivel housing (upper seal) the other one, seal 55, keeps water out of the swivel housing. When I pulled apart my original outdrive there was a lot of grease in this area (outside the swivel housing) around where the exhaust housing fits over the swivel housing. Excess grease will just go past the seal #55 without hurting it or flipping it. IMHO. Here's a picture of mine when I was replacing this seal.
View attachment 174387

Good info. Thanks. How did you go about removing and replacing that seal? I picked up a spare complete drive a month or so ago and I need to replace that upper seal(#55).
 

Boomyal

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Messages
12,072
Re: 84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

I've got water intrusion into my lower unit. The seals pictured above are one possible entry point. The other is the prop shaft seal and the prop shaft support o-ring. I'm getting set to pressure test the unit. I hope that one of the latter is the culprit. That can can be remedied without pulling the drive.
 

run2car

Seaman
Joined
May 5, 2009
Messages
65
Re: 84 Stringer 800 lower unit seal popped

A split in the shift cable will also alow water to enter the lower unit.
 
Top