small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

arighi

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May 13, 2012
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So, I have a volov sx outdrive and there seems to be a leak coming from the front lower left of the lower unit. I would like to know what would have caused this and what I need to do to repair it. If anyone has any info that could help, I would appreciate it.

I am little concerned since I did just buy this boat and found a lot of lower unit oil on the floor after I took it home. Not sure if I got ripped off... certainly hope not, but if I did, I will repair and go on from there.

The hole is tiny, but there was quite a bit of fluid that leaked out.

thanks... help...
 

Augoose

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

Pics?
 

Don S

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

There is a cavity drain on the, but only water should be coming out of it. If you have gear oil, it could be the large oring around the strainer port or leaking oil. Best to drain the oil and pressure test the drive to be sure of the leak. I have never seen one of those drives leak at that point. Any water in the gear lube.?


SX Drain.jpg
 

arighi

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP


Well, that is exactly the hole that I was referring to, but I am getting gear oil out of that cavity hole. I just bought this boat and decided to put it in the water last weekend to make it ran. I just opened up the drain hole and the gear fluid is milky, so I am certain that I have a leak.

I am going to drop the lower unit to take a closer look, but would like to know how I go about doing that? I see the four bolts, but from what I have read, there are two more? And then I read something about making sure that the unit is in the forward position? Is this true? I am a little lost, but would like to take care of this myself, since I like to learn about these things as I go along. this is my second boat, so I am not a complete noob..

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

2012-05-15_17-37-42_488.jpg
 

Don S

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

Don't start taking things apart before you do some testing, or you will have no clue what you are looking for.

Like I said before, drain the gear lube and pressure check the drive.
 

arighi

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

Don't start taking things apart before you do some testing, or you will have no clue what you are looking for.

Ok... so I see some pretty scant threads on pressure testing... what is the right way to do this? I take the drive unit off of the boat and then pressure test from where? the dipstick?

just need a little more information so that I can be confident about doing this.

I am assuming that the unit is pretty heavy... how do you support it? man... have a lot to learn here.
 

Don S

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

Here is from the manual.

PVtests.jpg
 

arighi

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

Thanks so much for the manual page.

So to do this test, the outdrive needs to be pulled from the boat?

I just looked at the back and see a lot of different nuts and bolts and not to mention the pistons... all that has to be undone to remove the outdrive, and then it needs to be supported and then I can do the testing? Also, I am assuming that when I do this, I have the whole unit together and if I have a pressure leak I start spraying the unit with soapy water?

I know that I am asking a lot... but I truly appreciate all of the help!!
 

Don S

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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

You do realize that Volvo makes service manuals. Without so much as a model number or serial number for your engine who knows what you have. Volvo SX doesn't mean much since they have been around since 94.

In general, remove the trim ram pin from the back of the drive. Remove plastic cover from the back of the drive. Remove the brass connector that hooks the shift cable to the drive linkage.
Remove the 6 nuts holding the drive to the pivot housing and pull the drive off.
 

arighi

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May 13, 2012
Messages
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Re: small hole at bottom front of lower unit, on the left side. HELP

You do realize that Volvo makes service manuals. Without so much as a model number or serial number for your engine who knows what you have. Volvo SX doesn't mean much since they have been around since 94.

In general, remove the trim ram pin from the back of the drive. Remove plastic cover from the back of the drive. Remove the brass connector that hooks the shift cable to the drive linkage.
Remove the 6 nuts holding the drive to the pivot housing and pull the drive off.

Again, I would like to thank you in advance..

I have a volvo penta sx 1.60 ratio lower unit, I was looking at the seal kits and was wondering why not just replace all of the seals if I am going to remove the unit? Is this a pretty big job or is it fairly straight forward to do? And is there any electronic manuals on this site that can help with this? If I need to buy a manual, is there a manual that is better than others? And are there special tools needed for the job?

If I was to take this to a service shop, any ball park estimate what the repair would cost?

again... thanks.
 
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