Good and bad news...

[nola mike]

Well, good news first:
Got the boat in the water the other day, and was running pretty well overall. Flushed coolant, changed oil, painted/cleaned exhaust manifold/riser and replaced gaskets/flapper. Got an electric polisher and went to town on the gelcoat with some cleaner and wax, and oiled up the teak, vacuumed--came out looking incredible. Can't believe how good the outside looks.

Bad news:
1. hesitation when accelerated hard from low speed is worse this year. carb accelerator looks ok; noticed my timing was pretty far off. i'll play with the dwell next weekend and give it a proper tune up before i blame the carb.

2. my "new" outdrive is leaking--after about 5-10 miles in the water, I have some milky oil. i kind of had a feeling that was coming (http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=378457), you were right chris. i did get some water in the bilge before i noticed a leaking exhaust elbow, so i'm hoping that's where it came from, but i'm pessimistic about that. thinking about biting the bullet and buying and sei drive while i repair this one. i'm guessing that a) there's another leak aside from the input drive shaft, and b) a vacuum test is more important than a leak test

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: Good and bad news...

No you are not gonna get oil in the drive from a leaky exhaust elbow. You are talking about the drive and not the engine, correct? A vacuum test is just as important as a pressure test, I rank them equal. 'nutcase

 

[nola mike]

Re: Good and bad news...

no, i'm talking about the outdrive. if the water somehow made it from the bilge, past the gimbel bearing, then through the input shaft seal...yeah, unlikely.

 

[Don S]

Re: Good and bad news...

If you got water into the gimbal bearing because the bilge was full, that means the starter was completely underwater. The water level in the boat would have been as high as the shaft going into the coupler. I somehow doubt that happened.

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: Good and bad news...

You must do both tests. There are double seals that are placed against each other in a couple places in the drive. One seals faces each direction. one keeps oil in, the other keeps water out.
The reason for this is because a drive, when put into the water or after use, starts to cool creating a vacuum. While a driv in use gets warm and pressure builds.
Oh, just a quick question, did you have the drive apart? could you have forgotten (or knocked out) the quad ring for the oil passage when assembling?

 

[nola mike]

Re: Good and bad news...

Oh, just a quick question, did you have the drive apart? could you have forgotten (or knocked out) the quad ring for the oil passage when assembling?

yes, i did both tests. pressure seemed ok, vacuum i got a leak above 3 in Hg or so at the input shaft. since that seems to be an unlikely source of a water leak, i must have another somewhere else--which will be difficult to test for until i replace the first seal. ugh. if by "quad ring", you mean the little o-ring on the oil passage between the upper and lower halves, then yes, i replaced it. definitely.

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: Good and bad news...

There is another double set of seals in the upper unit, as well as the drive shaft seal in the lower, the shift rod seal too.
When you pulled the drive off after finding water in the drive oil, was there water in the u-joint bellows? if there was, that seal leaks, there is the problem. When the boat is in the water, all that is submerged. Get water in the bellows, it gets sucked right into the drive as it cools down. Remember, it take very little water to turn the drive oil milky.
Are you using the premium gear lube, or the high performance? Use the HP gear lube, it resists emulsification.

 

[nola mike]

Re: Good and bad news...

There is another double set of seals in the upper unit, as well as the drive shaft seal in the lower, the shift rod seal too.
When you pulled the drive off after finding water in the drive oil, was there water in the u-joint bellows? if there was, that seal leaks, there is the problem. When the boat is in the water, all that is submerged. Get water in the bellows, it gets sucked right into the drive as it cools down. Remember, it take very little water to turn the drive oil milky.
Are you using the premium gear lube, or the high performance? Use the HP gear lube, it resists emulsification.

Using HP lube. Haven't pulled the drive yet this time, but I guess that would be best case. Although I replaced shift and U-joint bellows last year, and they weren't leaking at the end of last year. So despite all my searching, I'm still at a loss as to how many seals need to be replaced on the outdrive, and what kind of a job/special tools it involves. If someone could be so kind as to point out the aforementioned seals on the pics, i'd appreciate it...

 

[nola mike]

Re: Good and bad news...

just an update, i pulled the outdrive. no water in the bellows. i'm embarrassed to say that i forgot to torque down the upper gear housing cover. also noticed that the rear nut was finger tight on there, though i may have loosened it after i pulled the drive (don't remember). since i split the drive a couple of times though, who knows. anyway, i plugged the oil passage with a rubber cork to pressure test the halves separately--this worked well, and eliminated the lower half as a source of leaks. it also gave me access to the shifter. the upper half i can now say is leaking from the input shaft/yoke under both vacuum and pressure. there was no gear lube coming from there though, and it seems unlikely that this would be the source of my leak. more likely my own stupidity (see above). but WTH, i might as well fix it.

1. looks like the PITA factor is directly proportional to whether you have the "small" spacer or not. i assume i won't know till i get in there...either way, it doesn't look too bad to replace. is it harder than it looks?
2. what parts, exactly, need to be replaced? is it the seal and o-ring? please point it out on the attached pic if possible...