omc 800 series uppers

[fendersfender]

have 2 omc 800 series drives that were resealed last spring. Today I pulled boat out of water to fill up with gas (WHEW!!)...anyway, i thought i may as well drain gearcases and fill with fresh oil. Well,,,,both lowers were fine, and intermediates were fine, but...both uppers had water. One had a tablespoon of water along with milky oil, the other had only water, no oil.........now I realize that a reseal job is in order, but here's the kicker...the upper with only water had so much pressure that it blew the screw out of my hand when undoing it. How the hell can it hold pressure and not oil??????? I will order seal kits along with new steering shaft bushings. I will do the job myself...any hints??

 

[lilmandavis]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

id check those bellows?

 

[KaGee]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

id check those bellows?

Um.... no bellows involved here. 8)

The upper that had all the water... is that the one with the steering gear??

The pressure thing is weird. Something was done wrong or missed the last re-seal.

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

The water pump pumps through the upper housing....... A crack can cause water to enter the gearbox under pressure.

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

both have steering gears and both impeller assemblies were replaced, including housings.....I will know further upon dissasembly...I may pressure test beforehand to determine cause......OMC's never again....this will go for sale after fixed...thats for sure

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

it seems to me that even if impeller housing was cracked, it shoudnt biuld enough pressure to force oil out, unless the oil was pumped through cooling system...but, i cant see a problem with sealing, due to the gearcase holding pressure....I ran the boat 45 minutes before refueling and finding the problem......guess i'm lucky i didnt tear it up, although i had a tore up gearset last spring and had no idea before the reseal...drive made no unusual sounds or anything.....who knows.....oh, and by the way, I wasnt the one who resealed these drives....I will surely be in contact with the mechanic, probably wont do any good, its been over a year now.

 

[KaGee]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

The reason I asked Scott is that a worn bushing on the steering gear shaft is a know trouble source for intrusion. When resealing, most overlook the steering gear shaft. To have that much water, I think you will find a major failure somewhere.

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

Kagee, I've read here that the steering bushings are a problem....I will definitely replace those also. I plan to do the job myself. Can anyone post something about how to put together a pressure tester. thanks in advance.

 

[69slickcraft]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

the reason the upper that held water and had presure is really quite simple its called biology, the water started to grow bactiria and began to build pressure, was the oil blackish in color compared to milky white? is this reply O.K. with you don?

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

water was clear...looked drinkable haha.......boat is used quite often

 

[69slickcraft]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

sounds like you were sc___d! do the words maintenance schedule mean anything to you, haha? oh, my, god, Im turning into a don!!

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

hey slick.....maintenance is everything, i've probably got the best maintained boat in the harbor...if it was'nt for maintenance, I probably would have tore up the thing....I was looking for some advice not mart-*ss comments. have a nice day

 

[KaGee]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

I also have one of these...
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39522

Both are useable on any outdrive.

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

I wasn't talking about a crack in the impeller housing.. that wouldn't fill the gearcase. I meant crack in the gearcase from the water passage to the oil compartment.
Could also be a hole corroded through , if not cracked.
That's the only way the thing could be completely washed out of oil....

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

hystat,,thanks for the info....i guess ill find out when dissassembled.....if what you say is true, i'll probably need a new upper gearcase

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

good news!!!!!!! got outdrives off boat today...the upper that was full of water has bad sttering shaft seal (thats the only leak I found when pressure testing it).....the other upper has no apparent leaks, it holds pressure, even when turning ball gear and steering shaft. how it had water I dont know (it had only a teaspoon of water). My seal kits and steering bushings will be here today or tomorrow....I will update when done and back together again. hopefully it will be back in water tomorrow, so I can finish my vacation on the water.

 

[KaGee]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

Wouldn't get too worked up about the tblspoon of water... a leaky vent screw seal can do that easily.

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers......HELP

Re: omc 800 series uppers......HELP

well, put together outdrive I thought was ok and put back on boat and fill with oil....i hooked her up to hose and ran for 10 minutes....everything looked and sounded ok.....i let sit for a while and thought i better recheck oil level in upper.....when i pulled dipstick out, my fresh oil was milky and under pressure..so i left dipstick out and ran on the hose to see what happens...while running oil was pouring out of dipstick, so i shut it down and pulled bottom plug out to find a mixture of oil and water.....does this mean i have a cracked water passage? and if so, why would this gearcase hold pressure? remember, this was the gearcase that had little water in it.......this probably means that other gearcase has same problem, as there was NO oil, just water in it...water pressure probably pushed oil out bad steering shaft seal??????? the only thing I can think happened is that last fall i did not run anti-freeze through it...i just drained block and manifolds...will these drives hold water to freeze and crack them?????????

 

[fendersfender]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

ok, next test was to pressurize drive on boat (gearcase empty)..drive held 15 psi. started boat with no water momentarily..no change in pressure, hooked up water and ran for 20 seconds...no change in pressure....unhooked pressure gauge and left bottom plug out and ran with water....and low and behold, water started to run out of plug hole...so.....cracked housing or something wrong with water pump assembly???

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: omc 800 series uppers

Inspect the threaded bolt holes. A lot of uppers crack there when the w/p bolts are overtorqued. I think you'll find a crack there.
OMC says to coat the bolt threads with permatex...I think that is suggesting as well that porous castings are inevitible.