New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

tenmile

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
41
Hey all -- looking for some opinion and advice.

I have a 2 year old Bravo III Seacore drive. The Drive, and Transom Assembly were all replaced in May 2011. The Seacore drives have a 4 year warranty.

Noticed some water dripping into the bilge this weekend from the back of the engine, so took the boat over to my local Mercruiser service center. Was there when they pulled the drive off and there was obvious water inside the U-Joint bellows. This is the first time the drive has been removed since new. Boat is stored year round in the water in the PNW and I rarely trim it up.

Found some oddball things upon inspection. First, it appears that when the drive unit was fitted into the bellows, the installer used some sort of black sealant between the bellows ring and the drive. The senior mechanic at the shop was summoned to inspect and found this to be of concern as it appears to be some sort of "field repair" and certainly not normal.

Next, he found that the drive lube check valve seal was squished and it appears that the drive was not aligned with it properly when installed.

Finally, we found a tear in the bellows -- but the tear appears to have been made from the inside of the bellows as there is scoring and then the cut that can be seen from inside. The tear itself is perpendicular to the bellows folds (it cuts across the folds rather than parallel with them). It's obvious that something has cut the bellows and it appears to be from the inside (e.g. maybe something that flung off the u-joints). The bellows themselves otherwise appear to be in good shape -- they are soft and the c-clamp was in good shape -- nice and tight.

Anyhow, looks like a new gimbal bearing, u-joints, oil change and bellows change are in order. I am hoping that Mercruiser covers this under the warranty and I can make the case that the cut in the bellows was internal not external.

We have pics, and the service guys have bagged and tagged all the parts. Any thoughts?
 

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
17,620
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Sounds like it may have been issues from improper installation. So, it could get interesting between Mercruiser and the installer.
 

Grub54891

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
5,908
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Since it is a warrenty thing,be carefull of advice,don't just throw out all of what is said here or there. Not saying the advice is bad but consider it carefully,the advice here is usually spot on.That being said,we would like to see the pics!
Grub
 

tenmile

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
41
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Here are some of the photos. I couldn't get a good one of the inside of the bellows.

Here are the U-Joints -- note the sealant around the housing.

photo.JPG

Here is the gimble bearing -- standing water inside the bellows:

photo.JPG

Oil check valve -- note how it seems to be misshapen:

photo.JPG
 

Grub54891

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
5,908
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Who did the install? I see the large o-ring is missing a good sized chunk,it has to be intact to seal the water out. Also, sealer shouldn't be needed if the surfaces are flat as they should be. Someone didn't do it right,even damaging the check valve,I've never had that happen. Not shure how ya could if it's on the stud's straight. Well I suppose ya could if it was installed with the drive trimmed up,which makes it hard to line up/slide in.
Grub
 

h2odick

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Messages
194
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Shouldn't this drive have been pulled last year for regular maintenance? In which case, all of these items could have possibly been found before doing any damage?
 

tenmile

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
41
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Shouldn't this drive have been pulled last year for regular maintenance? In which case, all of these items could have possibly been found before doing any damage?

Plan was to pull the drive this coming fall. I did the leg oil last November and it came out clean. This time there was obvious water in the oil so it is more than likely any damage/leak has occurred between November and now. My typical maintenance cycle is to change the oil annually and pull the drive every 2 seasons in the fall. Honestly, until the senior tech pointed out the sealant and damage to the check valve, I wouldn't have known to look.

The install was done by a certified Mercruiser shop in the PNW -- won't mention names. Grub1Grub2, can you point out where you see the chunk out of the O-ring -- do you mean the one around the oil valve?
 

Grub54891

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
5,908
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Yeah,the first pic looked like the o-ring when I first looked at it,upon looking at it and blowing it up it just looks like the paint on the yolk coming off. Oops...
Grub
 

tenmile

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
41
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

That first pic -- the "paint on the yoke" is actually the sealer they used. It's like a line of black caulk. When they pulled the drive, some came off.
 

TilliamWe

Banned
Joined
Dec 21, 2004
Messages
6,579
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Wow, that's a botched install!
But there is no excuse for the drive not being removed annually. You're going run into warranty problems for that very reason.
 

tenmile

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
41
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Wow, that's a botched install!
But there is no excuse for the drive not being removed annually. You're going run into warranty problems for that very reason.

Looked up the service interval. This is a Bravo III Seacore with Horizon system. The service interval for inspecting the bellows is 3 years or 200 hours. I'm below both. http://www.boatingwithtr.com/members/PDFs/1b_28.pdf

Couple more pics -- here you can see the cut on the outside of the bellows:

photo.JPG

Here's the inside -- harder to see but there is actual scoring and a flap missing from the rubber inside the bellows so it sure seems like something made contact inside the drive.

photo.JPG
 

TilliamWe

Banned
Joined
Dec 21, 2004
Messages
6,579
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Don't know what your link is, is it to a Mercruiser manual? If not, it might not mean much.

Wonder what DonS knows about yearly required maintenance on a SeaCore drive?
 

tenmile

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
41
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Yes, it's a link to a copy of the Mercruiser manual. Service manual #28.
 

h2odick

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Messages
194
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Not to beat ya up or anything, but annual inspection is for a lot of reasons, bellow inspection just being one of them, drive/engine alignment is another. If it had been pulled last year, you would have had to realign everything upon reinstallation, and probably would have seen some of these other issues as well. If I was Mercruiser, I wouldn't warranty any of these items. I would tell you to call the dealer who did your (poor) installation.
 

TilliamWe

Banned
Joined
Dec 21, 2004
Messages
6,579
Re: New-ish Bravo III - Water in U-Joint Bellows

Not to beat ya up or anything, ... If I was Mercruiser, I wouldn't warranty any of these items. I would tell you to call the dealer who did your (poor) installation.

My thoughts exactly. Best of luck with your warranty claim. You do need to pursue one, but don't get upset if/when it's denied.
 
Top