Mercruiser outdrive with water in it

[lea]

I have a alpha one gen two that has a leak in it someplace. I changed the oil in it and the old oil was more of an emulsion than oil, I didn't have the proper setup to pressure test it so I replaces oil and did a sea trial, well as you can probably guess more emulsion. So I took the drive pff and found the drive shaft bellows full of emulsion to, upon closer inspection I found the retaining nut loose on the drive shaft, I figured tighten it up and problem should be solved. Am I missing something in my assumption ? Then I got to thinking if oil was leaking out of the front of drive it would be straight oil, but this is a well mixed oil water emulsion , so there must be water getting in from somewhere else. The bellows was right full of this , there is no leaks in the bellows
I guess to figure it out I will have pressure test, my question is to what pressure and for how long
Thanks

 

[Bt Doctur]

oil leakage found in the bellow comes from the inputshaft carrier seal.. That happens because water was in the bellow from outside leakage or a high bilge water level at some point.Whoever worked on it last did not torque it to 200Ft/Lbs.

 

[Scott Danforth]

drain it, pressurize to 15 psi. I like to go overnight

 

[Grub54891]

If that driveshaft nut was loose, it may have damaged the gears in the case also. A trip to a good rebuild shop should be the next step. Unless you are mechanically inclined and have the proper tools/manuals to check it out yourself.

 

[lea]

I agree with all your responses, but I also have the same emulsion in lower unit. How would water get in there?

 

[Fishermark]

The upper and lower are connected and share the same oil.

 

[lea]

Should I assume I have two problems? Oil leaking out of front of drive and water entering lower unit somewhere else?

 

[Alumarine]

Should I assume I have two problems? Oil leaking out of front of drive and water entering lower unit somewhere else?

Maybe, but in any case you need to pressure test it.
You can build a tester for free/cheap depending on what you have around.
A bicycle pump, a gauge and some fittings will do it.

Here's a link to some help.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...ves/537689-od-presure-test?t=524743&p=5509236

 

[nola mike]

Should I assume I have two problems? Oil leaking out of front of drive and water entering lower unit somewhere else?

Not necessarily. Water in the bellows can make it past a healthy input shaft seal. However, you may have 2 problems if the retaining nut was loose,,,not sure what/if any damage that would cause. Sounds like you're dodging a lot of bullets so far.

 

[enginesilo]

Like everyone said, sounds like a seal somewhere. Your best bet is to pressure test it and see if it holds. If it doesn't spray a soapy water solution and see if you can find bubbles. I had a shift shaft seal leaking on mine a season or two back and I found the problem by splitting the drive, pressure testing, and spraying it to find where it made bubbles. These drives aren't all that hard to work on and while you have it split apart I would consider redoing your impeller while its all accessible if you haven't done it in a while.

 

[lea]

This morning I put the two halves of the unit back together and dropped it off at the dealer because of time constraints on my part. Of course I haven't heard from them ,and probably won't for a week..... I guess I'm just stupid. I should have known better when they asked if I could leave it for a hour

 

[Grub54891]

You may hear from them, sometimes they are busy, an hour isn't long. Call them the next day and see.