Am I leaking gear oil?

[wpg manitoba]

I didn't have my propeller on as it was being repaired because of rock damage. And I was running it on water muffs today. Late this evening I noticed very thick oil coming out where the propeller is supposed to be don't know the name/term used. Does it need a new seal? does having the propeller on help seal things? is there a chance that the rock damage permenantly ruined the bottom end of this outboard?
The bottom fin is sheared off but there is no cracks that I can see, and all the gears seem to work okay.

 

[TripleB]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

these guys can weld a new fin on for you and fix up any crack you may have. I have used them before and they do good work, most boat dealers in the city sub this type of work to them so you can cut out the middle man and go right to them yourself .......

Madigan Repair Service Propeller Repairs
456 Main St Selkirk, Manitoba R1A 1V7
204-482-8437

 

[wpg manitoba]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

Well, i am just going to leave the fin as is for now, otherwise i know where to go, thank you, but most important I guess is the seal which looks like it needs a new one. Is it hard to replace the seal? is it expensive?

 

[mr 88]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

Were you running a SS prop hen you bottomed out ? There is a good chance that if you were the prop shaft is bent.So if you replace the seal and the shaft is bent it's just gonna start to leak again in the near future.Might want to mic out the shaft or even look at it while it's running in gear to see if there is any wobble.

 

[wpg manitoba]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

Well here is a picture of the damage. It looks like it is leaking from farther back in which I assume means more serious damage.

 

[chum1]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

That looks like black goo from inside the leg, ( unburned gas oil mix) and not to be confused with the gear oil. If there is no water intrusion in lower end oil don't mess with it and save yourself some money as there is nothing wrong with it.

 

[mr 88]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

X2 ...

that looks like black goo from inside the leg, ( unburned gas oil mix) and not to be confused with the gear oil. If there is no water intrusion in lower end oil don't mess with it and save yourself some money as there is nothing wrong with it.

 

[wpg manitoba]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

yes your right! I emptied the gear oil and it was in great shape. Just exaust buildup/sludge.

 

[schematic]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

check if the housing is split or the retainer nut is out of place. I don't like the space shown here

 

[dkellington]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

I would love to pipe into this thread as I just noticed the same kind of goo leaking from the prop exhaust outlet on my 1996 Merc 8hp kicker. When I first saw the goo, it had leaked a large amount out onto my garage floor. I "assumed" that the oil injector was pumping too much. The next time the boat went out (about a week later) very little goo came out and I figured the oil injector was "correcting itself". Today, I came back and more goo is coming out, but now it is milky!! I will look immediately at the lower unit gear oil and follow up with the results, although I don't think that what I am seeing is a seal leak.
my other suspicion is that the injection system used on this motor is "stuck on". In other words, it is making the mixture much richer than 50:1 and what I see is the residual oil. Hard to say as the engine runs great and doesn't smoke as if it were running too rich. I don't know, just thinking outloud.
As this motor is new to me, can anyone point to me to some documentation on the oil emulsion system this engine uses.

 

[wpg manitoba]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

I bet your gear oil will be fine. Mine uses premixed gas/oil in it and it still did that. I think your engine is should be okay.

 

[HittinSteel]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

I recently had a plug fouling episode after trolling for 4+ hours. When I changed the plugs and fired the motor up in my test bucket, I had some black sludge in the water. It was the unburnt mix blowing out the hub.

 

[dkellington]

Re: Am I leaking gear oil?

I really appreciate the feedback!
Didn't get a chance to inspect the gear oil, but will do that today. I also think that changing the plugs is a cheap and easy test to see if they are contributing to the problem.
According to my manual, the NGK plug number is BP8HN10. This is a standard gapped plug and I am wondering if NGK makes the equivalent plug in the gapless variety. I used a gapless in my older Johnson 25hp and they worked great. From what I see, the jury is very mixed on their opinions of gapless plugs.