CableGuy1978
Seaman
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
- Messages
- 66
Hello all,
I had noticed this drive leaking oil at the end of last season. It was coming out of the hole on the starboard side and close to the front of the lower gear case. I drained the gear lube, separated the upper from the lower, and pressure tested them both to 15lbs. The upper was tight, but the lower had a leak at the shift shaft bushing. I replaced the seals, bushing and shift shaft itself. I pressure tested after, and it held dead on.
I put the drive back together and slipped it back on the boat. Everything went back together perfectly and easily. I filled the drive with the usual high performance lube and left it for a few days, inspecting the the driveway for oil drips, and it was dry. I finally dewinterized the engine a few days ago, and had it running on the muffs. I shifted through forward reverse and neutral and everything works fine. This morning I was out replacing my battery cables on the engine, inspected the driveway for oil and it was still dry. I was hoping to get it out to try it under load soon..
Then tonight, after being away all day since this morning, I checked it again and there was oil there. A patch of oil roughly 3x4" or so. It was coming from the same hole it was prior to changing the shift shaft seals. Definitely a kick in the pants after a week of no oil leaking at all even after running it in the driveway for a half hour and letting it sit for a few more days.
At this point, I am planning on draining the oil, and pressure testing again. I thought I would throw this out there to see what some experts have to say on it. Perhaps I did something wrong when I did this repair as this was the first time I have done this particular repair. I have a Clymer, Seloc, and the original Mercruiser shop manual that came with the boat when I got it, which I used for reference. My parts and special tools are Quicksilver, ordered from a marine shop locally. I opted to replace all the parts of the lower shift shaft/bushing assembly to eliminate any possibilities of having this leak afterward. I'm puzzled that it passed the post repair pressure test and held its oil for nearly a week in the driveway until now.
The only difference today was it was actually substantially warmer than it has been, and the drive sits in direct hot sun most of the time. Could it have warmed up enough for expansion to happen that would put a lot more pressure on the drive? That's the only thing that makes sense to me. When I reinstalled the bushing and seal, I rubbed a bit of gear lube on them first so I wasn't fitting then together dry, same as I do with engine oil filters. The seals aren't really that expensive so I'm not overly concerned about the cost if I have to replace them again, but I am very concerned about the drive maintaining a proper gear lube level.
Thanks for taking the time to read through and especially for any advice/info you can share.
I had noticed this drive leaking oil at the end of last season. It was coming out of the hole on the starboard side and close to the front of the lower gear case. I drained the gear lube, separated the upper from the lower, and pressure tested them both to 15lbs. The upper was tight, but the lower had a leak at the shift shaft bushing. I replaced the seals, bushing and shift shaft itself. I pressure tested after, and it held dead on.
I put the drive back together and slipped it back on the boat. Everything went back together perfectly and easily. I filled the drive with the usual high performance lube and left it for a few days, inspecting the the driveway for oil drips, and it was dry. I finally dewinterized the engine a few days ago, and had it running on the muffs. I shifted through forward reverse and neutral and everything works fine. This morning I was out replacing my battery cables on the engine, inspected the driveway for oil and it was still dry. I was hoping to get it out to try it under load soon..
Then tonight, after being away all day since this morning, I checked it again and there was oil there. A patch of oil roughly 3x4" or so. It was coming from the same hole it was prior to changing the shift shaft seals. Definitely a kick in the pants after a week of no oil leaking at all even after running it in the driveway for a half hour and letting it sit for a few more days.
At this point, I am planning on draining the oil, and pressure testing again. I thought I would throw this out there to see what some experts have to say on it. Perhaps I did something wrong when I did this repair as this was the first time I have done this particular repair. I have a Clymer, Seloc, and the original Mercruiser shop manual that came with the boat when I got it, which I used for reference. My parts and special tools are Quicksilver, ordered from a marine shop locally. I opted to replace all the parts of the lower shift shaft/bushing assembly to eliminate any possibilities of having this leak afterward. I'm puzzled that it passed the post repair pressure test and held its oil for nearly a week in the driveway until now.
The only difference today was it was actually substantially warmer than it has been, and the drive sits in direct hot sun most of the time. Could it have warmed up enough for expansion to happen that would put a lot more pressure on the drive? That's the only thing that makes sense to me. When I reinstalled the bushing and seal, I rubbed a bit of gear lube on them first so I wasn't fitting then together dry, same as I do with engine oil filters. The seals aren't really that expensive so I'm not overly concerned about the cost if I have to replace them again, but I am very concerned about the drive maintaining a proper gear lube level.
Thanks for taking the time to read through and especially for any advice/info you can share.
