HELP..Oil Leak.. Mercruiser

[achris]

Re: HELP..Oil Leak.. Mercruiser

The shift shaft seal is a likely candidate however you can useually see this problem with the drive trimmed up an a good flashlight. You will see most of your oil dripping off the back of your cavitation plate ,or the big flat zinc thats mounted there. the prob they had with s/s seals was the pressure would push this seal up out of the seal carrier. you could replace the assembly however on sat afternoon in a pinch i have cleaned the oil off an apply a thin coat of red loctite around the outside of the seal an push it back into the seal carrier an never have a prob with it again. But from what your describing i think whoever mentioned drive shaft seals may be right on. There is a cone shape plastic seal carrier under the water pump plate that contains two seals ,an when they go bad gear oil will collect in the cavity around the water pump an seep out of the small drain holes on the side of your drive. I have also seen the upper drive shaft seals go bad an oil will run down the drive shaft an onto the top of the water pump hsg an into the same cavity an out the same weep holes. My guess is its gonna be the seals under the water pump. Drives that have hardly no paint left on their skegs typically is a sign that this boat has been beached alot , therefore has pumped a good bit of sand through it witch is rough on this particular set of seals. If you just bought this boat ,it would be a good idea to put a fresh impeller in that drive an will be a good opportunity to inspect this area an i think you will find a heavy build up of sand an gear oil. Good

[size=+1]NO, NO, NO![/SIZE]

This is all just guessing... Let's stop all this NOW, and get the drive off, drained and pressure tested... THEN, and ONLY then, will he/we know FOR SURE where the leak is... The other option is we strip the drive and replace ALL the seals... THAT would certainly fix it.... and is about as useful as tits on a chook!!! :facepalm: