unknow liquid in first aft crease in bellows

[ziggy]

don't know if i got a problem.

removed my drive to store in basement a few weeks ago. did some bellows inspection from the inside after drive removal. found lots of gimble brg. grease (green in color) up by the gimble brg. that didn't surprise me, i lub it probably more often than needed. found some blue spline grease up by the gimble brg. that didn't surprise me, i run an alignment check pre and end season + lub up the shaft with spline grease too. so that don't surprise me. what did surprise me was brown liquid in the most aft crease of the bellows. just that one crease. it looked like semi dirty motor oil. no water for sure. bellows look serviceable though i believe them to be getting out there for to much time on them. 5 years. drive always stored down, drive removed for winter layup w/bell housing covered. i use mercruiser high performance gear lub. the aqua green stuff. just inspected my gear lub today in the drive. drive lub was right at the bottom of the vent hole, just like i left it pre season this spring. still green. removed drain plug and let a little drip out. darker green than came out of the bottle, but no water, no metal fragments.

so....

any ideas on the brown, motor oil looking liquid in my aft crease of my bellows? just that last crease...

my idea is that it's 2-4-c that's separated. i use plenty of that too on the drive snout, shift shaft slide, shift shaft slide cavity in the drive, shift shaft lever. so my notion is that i don't have any issue. thought i'd run this across the board and see if i'm thinking proper though. or other ideas as to what the liquid may be. point of the above description is. i don't use any brown liquid in my drive, short of 2-4-c. but it's not liquid. the color of this liquid is about that of 2-4-c though.. sorry no photos in this case.. i blew that part..

 

[John_S]

Re: unknow liquid in first aft crease in bellows

No water and it was not gear oil. The only thing that leaves is seperation from grease from over the years. Maybe from the mixture of different types? I'd wipe it out and not worry about it. In fact, outside of checking closely for water, just wipe as much gunk off the inside of the bellows as I can. Never tried to analize the gunk. See what others say.

 

[ziggy]

Re: unknow liquid in first aft crease in bellows

No water and it was not gear oil.

that's true.

The only thing that leaves is seperation from grease from over the years.

that's the way i'm seeing it. except that it gets fresh grease yearly. this is the first year i've seen this fluid.

I'd wipe it out and not worry about it

that's where i'm at too, but thought i'd ask the question as it's been nagging at me to know...

In fact, outside of checking closely for water, just wipe as much gunk off the inside of the bellows as I can.

yep, that's what i did.

Never tried to analize the gunk.

me either. but then i've never had brown fluid in my bellows. and what kills me is that i don't have any brown fluids in my drive. short of 2-4-c, which isn't a fluid.

thanks for the feedback John_S..

 

[Fishermark]

Re: unknow liquid in first aft crease in bellows

I'd wipe it out and not worry about it.

The only thing I would add to the above is the word "try."

TRY not to worry about it!

Seriously though, I know you are meticulous with your maintenance, etc. If you are sure the bellows are good and not getting cracked etc. I too wouldn't worry too much about the oil / grease. If the bellows are not deteriorated by the oil - getting soft, etc. I would just recommend keeping an eye on things next season and see what happens.... and try not to worry.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: unknow liquid in first aft crease in bellows

Just a quick obvious follow up - it wouldn't be a bad idea to pressure test the drive since you have it off anyway to verify it isn't leaking. I know you say you have nice clean green fluid, but who knows what color it can turn into if there is dirt, other contaminants in the bellows. It would certainly help with your peace of mind over the winter.

 

[John_S]

Re: unknow liquid in first aft crease in bellows

Another thought that that came to me was u-joints. On mine they are sealed bearings. Given your much older drive, I'd think you have grease fittings on them, but didn't see that listed above.

 

[ziggy]

Re: unknow liquid in first aft crease in bellows

TRY not to worry about it!

i'll TRY... thanks for the extra feed back though.

Just a quick obvious follow up - it wouldn't be a bad idea to pressure test the drive since you have it off anyway to verify it isn't leaking.

agreed. i usually pressure test prior to impeller replacement. which i do mid winter which is also when i drain my gear lub out. after impeller replacement, i pressure test again to be sure i got it all sealed up.

I know you say you have nice clean green fluid, but who knows what color it can turn into if there is dirt, other contaminants in the bellows.

no contaminants noted in the bellows, other than to much grease on the gimble brg which splattered all over. and the unknown brown liquid. i don't know that i'd say the lub was like new. i'd say it looked a little darker. but i beleive this to be ok. certainly no water intrusion into the drive. lub level was same as i left it in the spring (right at the bottom of the vent hole, mc-1). i've only let a few drips out of it (via the drain plug) as of now making sure that i didn't have water intrusion or metal shavings in the gear lub. which i don't...

Another thought that that came to me was u-joints. On mine they are sealed bearings. Given your much older drive, I'd think you have grease fittings on them, but didn't see that listed above.

yep, good call, looks like i missed that. my u joints are oem replacements when i got the boat. they are greaseable. i lub them yearly with 'green' mercruiser gimble brg and u joint grease.
the gimble brg. ujoint grease most certainly separates imho. every time i get out my grease gun out, green liquid has run down the side of the grease gun. but it's not the same color liquid i found in the aft crease so don't believe it to be that.. good idea though