water in bellows alpha one gen 2 outdrive

[dlogvine]

I was going to remove the engine of my 1993 bayliner capri yesterday. So i thought it would be a quick job to remove the oudrive by myself first and then my friend would have helped me with the engine. However, the task appeared a little more difficult then expecter, after removing prop and trim tabs and then 6 nuts, i jerked the outdrive for a while with no progress. Since the trim pump is not operational, power line was rusted out and this repair was going to be done later i could not use them to pull the outdrive with a wooden wedge. So i tried it for a while, used a wooden bar between the outdrive and the gimball trying to use it as a lever. No luck. So i ended up spraying everything with pcw blaster and soaking it overnigh. today i was going to repair the trim pump, but lucky me, the outdrive peeled of and it was pretty easy to remove it. What i found upon removal was a little rusted shaft, which was most likely stuck and little rust on the outdrive gears. When i started cleaning the boot from old grease i found a decent amount of water there. The question is, is it normal to have water inside there, and if not, which is my guess, what could have caused it there, bad seals, bad gaskets, any other sourse of leak? Looks like the engine compartment was flooded so is it possible the water soak3d from there? And how could i check for the source of water before putting the engine back in? Thx

 

[achris]

Not normal to have water or oil in the bellows. Oil is usually from a leaking drive seal (big one in the front of the drive), water is usually from a tear or split in the bellows themselves, or from water in the engine compartment that was high enough to leak through the gimbal bearing. In which case the gimbal bearing is shot too...

You'll need to give the bellows a thorough looking at. Turn the steering hard to port and check the starboard side of the bellows, moving it with your hand, then turn hard to starboard and check the port side. Also give the bottom a good feel and looking at too.

Chris......

 

[tpenfield]

Is this boat new-to-you? Tell us more about the engine compartment looking like it was flooded. . . If the water was high enough, then yes it is possible for water to go int the bellows from there, but in order to do that the engine would be immersed pretty well.

More probable that it is the bellows themselves that are leaking, but maybe posting some pictures would help.

 

[dlogvine]

When I bought the boat there was no water in the engine compartment but I can see a bunch of dried up oily spots on the floor of the engine compartment and debris looking like old dried up soaked papers. The engine is also very rusty, in particular the intake, thermostat housing area and all the lower accessories, starter and alternator are gone all corroded. So my assumption was there was some water damage in the engine compartment possibly from flooding or heavy rain exposure. Yesterday I looked and more importantly touched the rubber boot, did not find any damage, but will check today in bright light again. Also I noticed that the oudrive gasket was pretty much gone in some places, but what really confused me is that it looks like there were TWO gaskets in this joint. Would it make the gap two wide so that the rubber seal in the water intake would start leaking into bellows? I'll make photos today and post them.

 

[Bt Doctur]

For the small cost I would replace the bellows ,and shift cable bellows. Water enters from a hole, crack, rodent or a very high bilge level.Meaning if it was up to the center of the crank pully is was high enough to get into the bellows from inside the boat.