The only place I've found drips are in the red circled area in this image.
You make a good point that water can be pushed UP. I didn't consider that.
Also, I think that your suggestion to find the leak before ripping things apart is a wise one. I had the same thought - what I tore it all down...
I'm going to try to rule out the penatrations as you suggested.
Y-Pipe is good - I've put a bore scope there and didn't notice any leaks. In fact, I've put the scope on all the areas called out and haven't noticed water leaks. That said, I'm going to do the paper towel approach just in case I'm...
Thank you so much for your detailed post this helped, especially the diagram. It inspired my to make my own to clarify my leak location.
Below is a mock up of the leak location. This is not my actual gimbal housing, just something I found online and mocked up.
Given the location of the leak...
I checked the shift cable bellows, no leak coming from that. (I updated my last post to make that clear)
Also, it's clear that the leak is coming from between where the black plate is intersecting with the white transom (see video in prior post). How could that be from a bellow?
Update: I was able to find the source of the leak.
Here's what I did prior to my testing:
Drain plug issue fixed - new plug, same housing, new 3M 4200 all around.
Sealed the perimeter of the outdrive with 4200
Dunked the boat back in the water.
Drain plug is good
However, I'm still...
I have an extra macerator that screws on to my waste outlet outside of the boat. I have had to thread the macerator on to the outlet and run a tube on the output side of the macerator into a 5 gallon home depot bucket which I then dispose of into the sewer drain.
I run the macerator with an AC...
I pulled the plug housing and it doesn’t seem rotted in that area - although I cannot be 100% positive. Everything I can see looks like laminated fiberglass (I can see what look like layers)
The white is just 3M 4200 adhesive that I was cutting out
Update: I put the scope back around the hydraulic lines going through the gimbal housing and the water that has collected previously is now gone (maybe went to the bilge?).
(The video flickers FYI - not sure what's going on with that)
But there is quite a bit of either "gunk" or corroded...
I cannot get to the hydraulic well with my hands. I could barely get to it with the borescope - took quite a bit of finagling, so I'm not sure how I'd get line chaulk in there. How were you able to do that?
I also tested the Ypipe - I filled it with water with a hose as you suggested. I didn't...
Took the boat back down to the water with a borescope to see if I could narrow down what's going on.
Drain Plug
At first I didn't see anything, but I did notice the small amount of water in the bilge had a ripple. I spent a while trying to find where it was coming from before finally putting...
Is there always wood in the transom? From what I understood, we're straight fiberglass, but I suppose I could be wrong about that.
UPDATE: Never mind - looks to be wood transom https://www.maxumownersclub.com/forums/f18/transom-question-4975.html
1998 MerCruiser 5.0 with Alpha 1 Gen II
I have a slow-ish leak through the transom. About every 5 seconds I'll get a quick, thin stream of water. I can take the boat out for 3 - 4 hours and I'll have about 3/4 inch of water in the V of my bilge.
Ideas on what this might be? I checked the...
