Volvo SX-M prop shaft seal leak

JR6424

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
41
Hi everyone, big thanks to all of you who share your knowledge here, I’ve learned quite a bit from just lurking around. I’m sorry to ask a question as my first post but I’m hoping you all can help me decide what to do here. While winterizing my new to me ‘03 Blue Water Sportfisher I found water in the outdrive oil. I pulled the leg to take a closer look and found evidence of water in the driveshaft bellows (surface rust on the shaft/u-joints), but no actual water or oil. I decided to replace both bellows since I don’t know when they were last done and pressure test the drive while it was off the boat. The outdrive is a 2003 Volvo Penta SX-M 1.60 mated to an ‘03 VP 5.0 GL-C. The low pressure test revealed no anomalies but during the high pressure test (18psi) I could hear a faint hissing from the prop shaft. Despite this leak my gauge indicated that the drive only lost about 1/2 psi over 3 minutes. I proceeded to the vacuum test and it held both the low and high vacuum without any loss. So given this info what would do? It technically passed the pressure test but I definitely heard a faint hissing coming from the prop shaft and we know the oil was full of water. I suppose the water intrustion could have come from a bellows leak (although I did not find water in there or any obvious damage to the bellows) or it could have been one of the o-rings that I replaced when I did the oil change, all 3 were pretty suspect looking, but it could also be one of the prop shaft seals. I’m a halfway decent shade tree mechanic, but I do not have the carrier bearing removal tool. I found a video online about how to make one that looks like it would work great for removal, but I have no idea how you would use it to torque the thing back down after replacing the seals. Thanks in advance for your help.
 

dypcdiver

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
1,016
Soapy water around the suspect areas whilst under pressure will help identify the area where it is leaking.
It takes quite an amount of water in the belows to leak there, and some would be sitting in the belows on disassembly. I would be inclined to concentrate on the P'shaft and drain plug.
 

JR6424

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
41
Thanks for the reply, I’ll try that tomorrow and report back. I just changed the o-rings on the drain, level, and dipstick plugs so I’m leaning toward the p’shaft unfortunately. If it’s the seal toward the back of the bearing carrier would you be able to see it with the soapy water? Also, considering it “passed” the pressure and vacuum checks time wise (as far as the manual is concerned) despite this leak, would it still be the potential cause of this milky oil or do I need to be looking elsewhere? Thanks for the help.
 

dypcdiver

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
1,016
Check the gear selector area, they have been known to leak there.
 
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