jwilson_46143
Cadet
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2002
- Messages
- 20
Greetings all and thanks in advance for any advice you can provide for my problem.
Here's the basics with further detail and questions below:
Boat is a 2004 Chaparral with Merc 5.0 and Alpha I drive. A few weeks ago I took it to the shop for a preventative impeller change. While changing the impeller they also found the bellows had become detached, so I obviously had them reattach it. I do not believe the replaced any seals during this work.
When picking up the boat from the shop, there was a significant amount of gear lube under the drive and still on the drive. The tech said they just spilled some while removing the drive components for the impeller replacement and bellows reattachment. Gear lube continued to drip from drive for a week or so, but could have just been spillage working its way out. Meanwhile, gear lube monitor level had dropped to bottom of container. I refilled gear lube myself with pump from bottom of drive (accidentally left monitor cap on during most of refill). Filled monitor to just above upper 'operating range' line but 1/2" or so below the top of the container. I checked for any gear lube leaks for 2 weeks on the trailer and found none on the outdrive and the monitor level stayed constant.
First run of the year yesterday and ran at 3500rpm for 20-30 minutes. Pulled up on the beach and started smelling gear lube after a few minutes. Opened the hatch and notice monitor had lube on top of it and some had clearly leaked out of the lid. Monitor level had gone down 1/2" or so to just below operating range line. There was some gear lube in the bilge floating on top of the small amount of water in the bilge. The amount of lube in the bilge appears to be more than the amount lost in the monitor, but hard to estimate obviously. I also started looking closely at the outdrive in the water at the beach. Small oil slicks were appaearing from the drive area. I raised the drive to the trailering position and the oil slick seemed to get worse. Trailered the boat and there is no observable gear lube leak on the outdrive. Monitor level is holding constant and no sign of milky color. Possibly some oily residue on the upper portion of the outdrive, but can't say if that is new.
So now for the questions:
Did I simply have a lube expansion in an overfilled monitor that pushed oil out of monitor and spilled into the bilge?
During impeller and bellows work, could the mechanic have damaged a seal or improperly reassembled?
Could water be entering the lube system and displacing oil?
What is the source of the oil slicks in the water near the drive?
On a scale of 1-10, how serious would you rate this problem? Seems it could be as simple as an overflow of the monitor, or as bad as water incursion into lower unit.
Your advice is greatly appreciated!
Here's the basics with further detail and questions below:
- 2004 Chaparral 220ssi Merc 5.0 Alpha I
- No History of gear lube leaks
- Recent Impeller replacement and bellows reattachment at shop
- Refill of lube monitor to just above upper operating range line
- No lube leaks from lower unit while trailered
- First run of season produced lube leak from top monitor cap
- Lube observed in bilge
- Oil slicks appearing on water from lower unit area
- Lube level in monitor decreased about 1/2" during short run
- No observable lube leaks after trailering boat
Boat is a 2004 Chaparral with Merc 5.0 and Alpha I drive. A few weeks ago I took it to the shop for a preventative impeller change. While changing the impeller they also found the bellows had become detached, so I obviously had them reattach it. I do not believe the replaced any seals during this work.
When picking up the boat from the shop, there was a significant amount of gear lube under the drive and still on the drive. The tech said they just spilled some while removing the drive components for the impeller replacement and bellows reattachment. Gear lube continued to drip from drive for a week or so, but could have just been spillage working its way out. Meanwhile, gear lube monitor level had dropped to bottom of container. I refilled gear lube myself with pump from bottom of drive (accidentally left monitor cap on during most of refill). Filled monitor to just above upper 'operating range' line but 1/2" or so below the top of the container. I checked for any gear lube leaks for 2 weeks on the trailer and found none on the outdrive and the monitor level stayed constant.
First run of the year yesterday and ran at 3500rpm for 20-30 minutes. Pulled up on the beach and started smelling gear lube after a few minutes. Opened the hatch and notice monitor had lube on top of it and some had clearly leaked out of the lid. Monitor level had gone down 1/2" or so to just below operating range line. There was some gear lube in the bilge floating on top of the small amount of water in the bilge. The amount of lube in the bilge appears to be more than the amount lost in the monitor, but hard to estimate obviously. I also started looking closely at the outdrive in the water at the beach. Small oil slicks were appaearing from the drive area. I raised the drive to the trailering position and the oil slick seemed to get worse. Trailered the boat and there is no observable gear lube leak on the outdrive. Monitor level is holding constant and no sign of milky color. Possibly some oily residue on the upper portion of the outdrive, but can't say if that is new.
So now for the questions:
Did I simply have a lube expansion in an overfilled monitor that pushed oil out of monitor and spilled into the bilge?
During impeller and bellows work, could the mechanic have damaged a seal or improperly reassembled?
Could water be entering the lube system and displacing oil?
What is the source of the oil slicks in the water near the drive?
On a scale of 1-10, how serious would you rate this problem? Seems it could be as simple as an overflow of the monitor, or as bad as water incursion into lower unit.
Your advice is greatly appreciated!
