recurring gear lube leak

[rcarden]

I have a 99 Mercruiser Alpha I Gen II that has been leaking a small amount of gear lube out of the water drain hole of gear housing shortly afyter I replaced my water pump impellars. After much reading from iboats' forums, I have done the following:

Took gear housing off and pressure tested to find worn and leaking shift shaft seal. Replaced all seals in lower gear housing and pressure tested with success. Put back together and no leak until several days had passed when lube began leaking out of stbd side weephole.

Took lower off again and pressure tested lower gear housing and no leaks. Checked quad seal and slinger seal and everything looks right. Are there seals in the upper drive shaft housing that can allow this to happen? Am I still missing something in the lower part of the unit?

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me!!!!

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: recurring gear lube leak

Welcome to iboats......
There are oil seals on the upper gear case where the drive shaft in the lower couples with the upper.....
The lube will leak down into the exhaust cavity & out that hole....​

 

[rcarden]

Re: recurring gear lube leak

Thanks for your reply, Haut Medoc.

I figured that I must have been missing something in the upper gearcase. Are the oil seals in the upper gearcase hard to access and replace. The Mercruiser manual I have shows the seals you are referring to, but they do not go into detail about replacing them.

Can they be replaced without pulling off the drive? Do I need any special tools?

Thanks again for your help...I appreciate it!


Robert

 

[tommays]

Re: recurring gear lube leak

If the seals in the upper are leaking it requires a COMPLEAT teardown to replace as they get driven in from inside the houseing after the shafts are removed


Tommays

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: recurring gear lube leak

They are below the driven gear, not an easy fix, complete tear down....
Look in manual #6 section 3a, pages 10-15.......
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/mainmenu.pdf​

 

[rcarden]

Re: recurring gear lube leak

Thank you guys for your help. Looks like I am heading to the Mercruiser dealer.

Allow me to say that this is an incredible website that has been a great source of information me for several years. It's great to see people willing to help out perfect strangers.

 

[rcarden]

Re: recurring gear lube leak

It's been harder than I thought to get a hold of a marine mechanic to replace my upper seals. I have spent some time looking at the Mercruiser service manual and it looks like something I can do myself. My only concern is whether I can get the necessary tools.

I read on another post that the only tool that is a must-have for this job is the U-joint retainer tool. Can I get by without the 'drive tool' used to place the oil seals correctly? Does removing/replacing the outdrive require any special tools?

Again, thanks for your help with this as well as in the past.

Robert

 

[tommays]

Re: recurring gear lube leak

Other than some freak acccident like fishing line around the porp

IMHP once one seal is leaking it time to reseal the compleat drive upper and lower as the seals get hard with age

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/14/14notice.pdf

Service manual go down to the ABC links and each section will open and go over the how to of the seals


Tommays