OutDrive Leaking ?

[mike456]

1992 Alpha I Gen II. I replaced impleller, shift cable, gimbel and all bellows 2 years ago. Everything has been fine since. Was winterized correctly and outdrive was left on over the winter. Just strated, for the first time this spring on, muffs. All was fine for about 5 minutes then I saw small amount of water spraying from the seam of the plate at the top of the drive. The plate is at the very top, held on by 4 bolts and the drive lube dipstick is in the middle of it. I shut down immediatly. Checked oil on dipstick and it did not look milky but did seem to have very small air (?) bubbles in it. I suspect this is not good news. You guys (esspecially Don S) have helped me out in the past. Let me know what you think. Thanks

 

[mike456]

Re: Water Leaking from top of upper unit ?

Re: Water Leaking from top of upper unit ?

I check a manual that I have and a drawing of upper unit seems to show a small cavity at the point where the water was getting out of the seam between the plate and the top of the upper unit. The drawing is not very clear so its hard to tell what the space is. I'm wondering if maybe water from the cooling system is supposed to be running through that cavity to that part of the Upper unit. Wishful thinking on my part perhaps
Does anyone out there know if water is supposed to be that far up in the upper unit?

 

[Don S]

Re: Water Leaking from top of upper unit ?

Re: Water Leaking from top of upper unit ?

The cap covers the water passage. There is a rubber plug that fits in the housing just under the cap that may be leaking. You can pull the cover with a 12 point socket. But you need a new oring for the upper cap if you take the cap off.
Personally, I would be wondering why there is enough pressure to cause water to pass the rubber plug and "spray" out the seam.

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

I remove the plate to see whats going on. Hopefully its as simple as the plate has come slightly lose allowing the water out.
Is a 12 point socket something I can get at Sears or is this some special Merc tool? Is there a specific size for the bolts or are they just called 12 point?
I wonder why they don't just use standard bolts?
Thanks for your help Don. As always you are an amazing resource who helps keep boating fun for us all!

 

[Don S]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

About all sockets can be purchased as either 6 or 12 point and most sets you buy are 12 point. The one you need is a 3/8" size, and yes sears has them.

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

I removed the top plate, cleaned it, replaced o-ring and re-installed it putting gasket cement at the designated points. let it set for 24 hours and restarted with same result. the seam is leaking although not sraying like it did the first time. First time it was leaking only on one side. Now its a slow leak from both sides and the back. Oil on dip stick still looks fine. The plate did have some deterioration on it. Possibly the frist time it was removed since new in 1992. Removal was fairly easy but I did have to pry a little to loosen the old gasket cement. I cleaned the plate as best I could and both surfaces seemed pretty smooth before re-installing although not perfect.
As always, Don's intuition questioning the cause of the preasure was correct.
Do you have any thoughts about why there would be more preasure than normal? The impeller was new 2 years ago and everything has been fine since. I suppose it could have been leaking last year and I did not know and didn't notice when flushing it at the end of the year. So long as the O-ring is keeping water out of the upper gear housing it seems the leak would not really impact anything. I'm stumped about what to do next vs do nothing an hope for no problems. As always your advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

just realized that Don's prior note makes reference to a rubber plug under the plate. Mine did not have a rubber plug and the drawings I have do not show one. I used gasket cement as noted. Could I be missing a part? Do have a drawing that shows the plug? Its a 1992 Alpha I Gen II. Thanks

 

[Don S]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

Look at item 5A.

http://dougrussell.com/partscatalog...90,30,200,40,130,150,0,180,170,160,140,10,120

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

Thanks Don. It seems rather odd that my drive did not have the rubber plug. Now I'm wondering if maybe it came lose and fell down into the cavity of the drive. When I pull the plate to replace it I'll be sure to look down in there. I did not think to do that the first time.
As always, you are a life saver !!!!

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

Got the rubber plug today and tried to install it. It fits nicely into to cavity of the upper unit but does not fit into the cavity of top plate. The cavity in the top plate is clearly smaller by about 1/4 inch at front (rounded parts that face the bearing) and its about 1/16th of an inch too wide. Unless there is some special trick to installing it it seems there is no way I could make it fit. Have you ever seen that before or have any idea what that may be about? Could I have a top plate that is not original to my drive? I suspect the differnet sizes may be why there was no plug in it to begin with.
If I can't figure this out do you have any suggestions. Could I make some sort of paper gasket? Do you know of any know of a really strong gasket sealer that might work? Thanks for any help

 

[Don S]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

Push the plug down till it's flush with the top of the upper housing.

NO, NO, on the paper gaskets. you have to have contact with the housing for the shimming to work for the bearings and gear lash. Have you considered duct tape around the leak???????

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

The plug has a rib that runs around the outter edge of it at exactly 1/2 of its witdth so I just assumed that 1/2 fits in the upper unit and the other 1/2 fits into the cavity on the top plate. Your instructions about pushing it all the way down make sense but it sure seems odd that the upper plate is desigend with similar size and shape cavity in it. I suppose the guys are Mercury know some things that I don't! Will let you know how I make out.
As always, thanks for sharing your expertice.

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

I still have a very slight leak. small drips of water and sometimes small air bubbles are still coming out the back and side of seam. I suspect the bubbles are caused by small amounts of the gasket sealer coming out. I used Evenrude Johnson gasket seal compound (that is a few years old) insted of Quicksilver Perfect Seal as noted in the manual. The guy at the parts shop told me the 2 products are the same. Could that have anything to do with it? I waited about 12 hours after installing it befor starting it. It seems like maybe that seal just isn't strong enough. I note that the gasket sealer says that its not intended to fully harden or dry out but that it withstand preasure and heat. Any suggestions on what to try next are greatly appreciated.

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

In addition to my note above I also just remembered that my local parts place told me that the plug part number 821564 (shown on the link above) was superceded by part number 861738 (which is what he sold me). I note the Doug Russell Marine site shows the availablity of both part numbers. Do you know any way to verify whether or not these are the exact same parts? Now I'm wonderning if maybe I have the wrong plug. Any advice is much apprecaited.

 

[mike456]

Re: OutDrive Leaking ?

I used an automotive gasket sealer (Great Stuff from NAPA), let it set for 24 hours and everything is fine.
Boat went in ther water yesterday. The season has begun. Yahoo!!
Don, Thanks again for your help