Flapper Valves and more

[Jax96]

Just joined, but looked at this forum for months,, Great. Two questions, I have a used 96 5.0L SX and pulled for the first time, the out-drive to grease the ?U? joints and check the gimbal bearing. I found a lump of plastic in the exhaust passage in the drive? Is this the remains of a flapper valve?, plastic? This may explain the small water leak in the bilge from the holes left in the exhaust pipe. Second, how hard is it to replace the input shaft seal in the upper gear housing? I found oil in the bellows. I have rebuilt my old AQ290, so understand out drives.
Thanks:
Jax96

 

[danond]

Re: Flapper Valves and more

It's probably a flapper valve. According to Mercruiser, you don't need it, mainly because they do what you've experienced.

There's a service bulletin about that somewhere around here...