HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

I have an 1988 Mercruiser Alpha One MR. I have resealed the upper and lower short of the prop shaft seal and seal on the shaft of the ujoint. When I pressure tested, I sprayed soapy water on these seals and did not see bubbles. I've pressure tested (held 14 psi for 2 days) and vacuum (6" mercury for 24 hours) with the unit empty of oil. Yes I also turned the shaft by hand when testing. haahve made sure I put the washer in when assembling the upper and lower. After a couple of hours on the water I had the oil turn a light tan color in the aftermarket oil addition reservior. Could it be this is not water but is just aerated oil instead? I am at a loss on this one, is there anything else that I could be missing here?

Re: HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

The first thing maybe to do is drain a little gear lube out from the fill hole into a clear container and see if any water comes out first or if what comes out is also milky or still the fresh-from-the-bottle color.

Just be quick with the hand or screw driver to tighter the fill plug back up once a little has drained out.

I do this mid-season on my drive just as a check and catch a problem before the full drain/fill at the end of the season.

Mark

Re: HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

Thanks for this. Can someone confirm that the seals in the upper gearcase for the lower driveshaft are both supposed to face lips/springs up? I followed the manual directions to a "T" on this, but I am thinking this is where I am likely pulling water in. I would have thought that the top oil seal should face lips up and the lower oil seal in the upper face lip down, but this is not the way the manual had it. I am assuming that the water cavity is pressurized with the water pump running, so this is the only way that I can see the pressure test results I've seen with the amount of water that came through.

Re: HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

The area under that lower seal only feels the effects of the exhaust gas/water mixture going past it. It does not feel any pressure from the water pump, as this fluid is being pumped to the engine. The book is right about how the seal faces. The upper seal is the "oil" seal. The lower seal is pretty much a seal to keep grease in the splines and keep exhaust/water out of the splines. (Also, by construction of the seal carrier for the lower seal, the only real way to properly install it is the way the book shows...otherwise, you'll damage the carrier.)
On my 1990 alpha I, I pressure test each half of the drive specifically to check the upper seal. Then pressure test the assembled drive to check all the seals. Sounds like you are holding good pressure on your test. Have you drained the oil to check for water, or still only see "something strange" in the reservoir?
Also...word on the street is to leave the O-ring off of the vertical shaft. It was originally there to also keep the grease in the splines and the water out of the splines, but it really ends up just becoming a nuisance during re-install, and often damages the lower seal. So much so that Merc did away with the O-ring groove on the later drives. (if you did your drive "by the book", then you put that O-ring in?)

Re: HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

yep, I did install the oring but the seal was not damaged (sprayed soap on this during the pressure test).

I am going to let the water settle out for a few days and see if the oil cleans up. I honestly don't know what to try next here.

Re: HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

Did you drain all the oil out to check for water? Or just a sample?

Re: HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

small sample from the quart bottle pre-settling, nothing from the outdrive yet. Will check this tomorrow morning.

Re: HELP: Mercruiser Alpha One Outdrive Water After Reseal

it was just aerated, the oil is flat with a light amount of tiny metal shavings collecting on the outdrive magnet. I will try to run it and drain the lower portion of the oil. I know that these are coming from the lower as I just had the upper apart. Does anyone make a larger aftermarket magnetic oil drain?