Water in upper gearcase OMC 800 stringer ??

[ekmanspiral]

I drained the upper gearcase last night and found mostly water in there. Where is it likely that water would enter? I was looking at the manual and it looks like the water pump pumps the water up to the upper gearcase and then out the sides where there are diagonal passages connecting to the pivot caps - is this correct?

I filled the gearcase with 30w to soak everything and when I checked it this morning it didn't seem to be leaking. Of course its a different story when the shafts are turning and the water is pressurized.


All the seals visually look fine. Any idea of the likely source of the water?

Thanks,
Neil

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Water in upper gearcase OMC 800 stringer ??

common places:

1. trucourse steering shaft seal

2. top exhaust housing cover o-ring failure

3. top exhaust housing cover o-ring not sealing because the upper clearance is not right - wrong number of shims

4. horizontal (ball gear) shaft seal

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Water in upper gearcase OMC 800 stringer ??

it looks like the water pump pumps the water up to the upper gearcase and then out the sides where there are diagonal passages connecting to the pivot caps - is this correct?

yes

 

[Cuyose]

Re: Water in upper gearcase OMC 800 stringer ??

When this happened to me, it was the ball gear shaft seals. They can be a bugger to get out, but many times you can tilt the drive up and visually inspect it to see what it looks like. That's not a 100% but can at least give you an idea if you can visually see the seal is torn up.

 

[full stringer]

Re: Water in upper gearcase OMC 800 stringer ??

somebody might have forgotton the two cork seals in the pivot housing or possibly they didn't remember to coat the impeller pump housing bolts with permetex # 2 before installing and water is leaking out through the bolts. this is a very common mistake

 

[wire2]

Re: Water in upper gearcase OMC 800 stringer ??

I had a shaft seal fail and leak some water in, back in the days when I didn't meticulously check the oil for water every fall. It froze, the expansion cracked the gear case wall where the water passage runs, allowing more water in.

I took it to a marine "master mechanic" who knew that water had entered the gear case, he just replaced all the seals and bearings, ignored the plainly visible 2" long crack.
It cost me $650 to find out he was incompetent. Zim's Marine, in Buckhorn, Ontario, Canada.

 

[studdy05]

Re: Water in upper gearcase OMC 800 stringer ??

It matters not which seal is leaking. Unless the upper has been fully resealed in the last six months, the only safe thing to do is get a reseal kit and sleep soundly at night. That's fifty bucks if you DIY. Those gears go poof from lack of oil and you'll be looking at $500 and the fifty dollar reseal kit to boot.