Leak when outdrive is up Merc 3.0 Alpha 1

[BruceHe]

Probably no way to know for sure without taking things apart, but maybe someone has the experience to diagnose the cause of this leak. Thanks. On a 1993 Sea Ray 170, with 3.0 Mercruiser Alpha One, when the boat is in the water: if the outdrive is up water accumulates fairly quickly and the boat would probably sink within a day without a bilge pump. But if the outdrive is down there is very little to no water getting into the boat.

 

[Chris1956]

Gee, check your driveshaft bellows. When was the last time it was changed?

Also, why are you tilting the motor up, when the boat is in the water? Usually, the outdrives are underwater tilted or not, giving no advantage to tilting them, but tilting them is real hard on the bellows.

 

[Bt Doctur]

as stated , main bellows and shift cable bellows.
shift cable bellow only can leak water, main bellow leak can destroy the gimbal bearing and outdrive from water intrusion

 

[BruceHe]

Gee, check your driveshaft bellows. When was the last time it was changed?

Also, why are you tilting the motor up, when the boat is in the water? Usually, the outdrives are underwater tilted or not, giving no advantage to tilting them, but tilting them is real hard on the bellows.

Probably no way to know for sure without taking things apart, but maybe someone has the experience to diagnose the cause of this leak. Thanks. On a 1993 Sea Ray 170, with 3.0 Mercruiser Alpha One, when the boat is in the water: if the outdrive is up water accumulates fairly quickly and the boat would probably sink within a day without a bilge pump. But if the outdrive is down there is very little to no water getting into the boat.

Geeee...Already checked driveshaft bellows...appears to be in good shape. Raise to load or unload and when anchored in shallow water -(not operating when raised).

 

[Grub54891]

Had a friend that had that issue. Turned out his other buddy installed new bellows and accidentally poked a hole in the bellows with a screwdriver. I had to change the bellow for him. Sometimes its hard to see the hole.

 

[BruceHe]

Had a friend that had that issue. Turned out his other buddy installed new bellows and accidentally poked a hole in the bellows with a screwdriver. I had to change the bellow for him. Sometimes its hard to see the hole.

THANKS TO EVERYONE !!!!! I found the leak (or at least a leak). Looking closely at the shift bellows did not reveal the problem. However, by feel, there is actually a small crack very near the "transom-side" clamp that only opens up when i pressed on it with my finger. So, hopefully that is the issue. The other bellows look like new, so the previous owner must have replaced them as this is an older boat. Thanks again to everyone who replied to this thread: it helps get on track to hear other people's attitudes, opinion and experience. Another thing that is helpful to know, is that it is also important to keep the outdrive down as much as possible so the bellows are relaxed not always stretched -just don't forget to trim it up before loading or trailering as that can be extremely damaging and costly.