Greetings All,
I've searched around the forums and can't seem to find an exact post with my same problem, but I'm hoping some of the knowledgeable people around here can help:
When I hooked up my flush muffs to my drive (Mercruiser Alpha One, 3.0 in a 1987 Wellcraft 180 Classic), I noticed a small trickle of water coming out of the gasket where the gearcase bolts to the gimbal housing. No pics unfortunately, but imagine the 6 main nuts that bolt the gearcase to the gimbal housing. The water is leaking from the gasket, on the right side, between the lower two nuts (bottom right and middle right), right next to the shift cable.
This is the first time I've ever noticed water there when running on muffs, and the gimbal bearing and bellows are relatively new. I'm not getting any rattling, squeaking, or shifting problems, so I'm hoping it's just the gasket that has dried out in the off season and sprung a leak. My concern is that the water is running out the right side of the gasket, when the cooling water flows through the passage/o-ring on the left side. Does this mean that water has likely invaded my new bellows/bearing, or could it be flowing through the exhaust passage, etc? I've never pulled the drive before (PO had shop do previous repairs), but it seems relatively straight forward based on my online research. Is it a huge PITA to re-insert the shaft? It appears I need an alignment tool, do I just need to buy one?
My plan so far is to purchase a new outdrive gasket kit (http://www.sterndrive.info/mercruiser-parts-bell-housing/outdrive_gasket_kits.html), pull the drive, replace gaskets and washers and see if that does it. Does anyone else have any advice/experience about what else could be causing my water leak, or things that it could have damaged in the process?
Thanks,
Chris
I've searched around the forums and can't seem to find an exact post with my same problem, but I'm hoping some of the knowledgeable people around here can help:
When I hooked up my flush muffs to my drive (Mercruiser Alpha One, 3.0 in a 1987 Wellcraft 180 Classic), I noticed a small trickle of water coming out of the gasket where the gearcase bolts to the gimbal housing. No pics unfortunately, but imagine the 6 main nuts that bolt the gearcase to the gimbal housing. The water is leaking from the gasket, on the right side, between the lower two nuts (bottom right and middle right), right next to the shift cable.
This is the first time I've ever noticed water there when running on muffs, and the gimbal bearing and bellows are relatively new. I'm not getting any rattling, squeaking, or shifting problems, so I'm hoping it's just the gasket that has dried out in the off season and sprung a leak. My concern is that the water is running out the right side of the gasket, when the cooling water flows through the passage/o-ring on the left side. Does this mean that water has likely invaded my new bellows/bearing, or could it be flowing through the exhaust passage, etc? I've never pulled the drive before (PO had shop do previous repairs), but it seems relatively straight forward based on my online research. Is it a huge PITA to re-insert the shaft? It appears I need an alignment tool, do I just need to buy one?
My plan so far is to purchase a new outdrive gasket kit (http://www.sterndrive.info/mercruiser-parts-bell-housing/outdrive_gasket_kits.html), pull the drive, replace gaskets and washers and see if that does it. Does anyone else have any advice/experience about what else could be causing my water leak, or things that it could have damaged in the process?
Thanks,
Chris
