"63 40HP Electric Shift With Water In Lower Unit

[Grain Boat]

It has been a pleasant few years since I've posted here because the boat has been running quite nicely. Today however, I took it out for the first time and the engine ran great but the lower unit was slipping. I propped the motor up and could see water running out of a small hole in the bottom-most horizontal gasket/housing just above the prop shaft. Even I know that there shouldn't be any water or anything coming from that location. What am I looking at here? Just a simple gasket replacement or something really involved? I've already drained the lower unit and the contents were a caramel colored mix of water and remaining lube. I see evidence of a previous repair from some oozing sealer and I also see a little bit of the casting chipped away. Do I need to completely disassemble and clean things up or can I just separate the pieces and throw in a new gasket? Is the casting completely hatched? I can post pictures if you like. Thanks,

Grain Boat

 

[lindy46]

Re: "63 40HP Electric Shift With Water In Lower Unit

Not sure what you're referring to regarding a small hole leaking water. There is a small hole in the lower unit just for that purpose and it is normal to see water/oil seeping from that hole. But if there is water in the lower unit, you have a bad seal. Pressure testing the L/U will pinpoint the leak. Hopefully it is just a bad nylon washer/seal on the drain plug or vent/overflow plug. If it is anything else, you most likely will need to remove the lower unit to replace the seals. The prop shaft seal is the next most likely problem area as fish line tends to get in them and compromise them. Then you have a driveshaft seal below the water pump, and there is a small shift rod seal which is a PIA to remove without a proper tool.

 

[Grain Boat]

Re: "63 40HP Electric Shift With Water In Lower Unit

Thanks Lindy,
As you can see from the photo, it would appear that the casting is chipped away right where the gear housing meets the lower unit. I've yet to disassemble things since my Seloc manual is at a friend's house. My question now is, do you think I might be able to get creative with some JB Weld or epoxy to make this seal back up once it is apart? I've flushed what remaining water was in the lower unit with some motor oil to keep things from rusting for now. I'm also fairly certain that there was mostly gear lube in the unit over the winter. I ran it for about 5 minutes on the lake which was just long enough for the problem to manifest itself. I will of course be putting in a new prop seal and impeller as well. Now I just have to remember how to drop the lower unit since it has been a long while.

 

[lindy46]

Re: "63 40HP Electric Shift With Water In Lower Unit

I would definitely pressure test without removing the L/U to see if that spot is indeed leaking. If it is, you could try some JB Weld, but may want to think about looking for a used L/U. You should be able to find one for a reasonable price on Ebay or post a want ad at AOMCI, here:
http://www.aomci.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=Webvertize

 

[Grain Boat]

Re: "63 40HP Electric Shift With Water In Lower Unit

Oh it is most definitely leaking from that spot. It was quite visible in the water and on the landing. I may also have a "Plan B" as I happen to know a guy who is a very skilled aluminum welder. I don't know how feasible that would be though.

 

[Grain Boat]

Re: "63 40HP Electric Shift With Water In Lower Unit & Now Disassembly ?'s

Re: "63 40HP Electric Shift With Water In Lower Unit & Now Disassembly ?'s

Got the lower off without too much trouble. To separate the prop hub from the top half do I just remove the 2 large nuts or is there more involved? I want to break it down to inspect and make it easier to bring into work.