Alpha One Gen 2 Outdrive Mystery

[Mark R.]

Boat sat in storage for months last year, and then one day, gear lube just started leaking out the water inlet grate.
I thought that meant the vertical driveshaft double seal had failed, so I replaced it and all the other upper unit seals, along with a Speedi sleeve on the yoke surface, and a new gimble bearing.
I did not mess with the lower half at all, because it had passed the pressure test.
I reassembled everything and at that point, the entire outdrive passed the pressure test.
So I launched the boat, and it ran GREAT.! I parked it on my dock lift, up out of the water, and didn’t touch it for a month (we went on a long international trip).
A week after we got home, it all of a sudden puked out gear lube again.(!), leaking out through the water intake grooves again.
What in the world could possibly be causing that to happen..?!?
BOTH times, the boat was totally fine just sitting for a long period of time, and then without even being touched, it just all of a sudden started leaking.!
REALLY scratching my head over this one…
I have not had a chance yet to haul it out and pull the outdrive again.
Just wondering if anyone has any ideas about what could possibly be happening here…

 

[alldodge]

Is a weird one but with lube coming out water intake holes I would look at the water pump housing

 

[Bondo]

Is a weird one but with lube coming out water intake holes I would look at the water pump housing

Ayuh,..... Or the shift shaft seal,....

 

[Pmt133]

My shift shaft seal "passed" a pressure test until you simulated shifting, then it started to leak.... very slowly. Definitely worth checking both of those.

 

[JonBoat55]

All oil seals need to be under pressure and have shift/shaft motion at the same time to pass. These leaks can be sneaky