Help on "Weird" water leak --'73 165HP OMC Fiberform

nieuwBoater

Cadet
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
17
Hey All!

Tiffany here again...newbie boater with a '73 Fiberform (18') with a 165 hp (250 Chevy) OMC. First the good news...with the kind assistance and expert advice of several great folks here, I managed to replace my leaky transom seal! It took me a lot longer than some of you to do (about 5 1/2 hours), but I took the boat out yesterday, and it worked great! Thank you!

Now...the problem du jour: In inspecting the seal on the inside of the engine compartment I found a rather large and "weird" leak...not in the seal... but through a small (appx. 1/2" diameter) circular hole where the back of the engine mounts to the outdrive. The hole is on the port side, a little under the curve of the mounting housing on the engine, and I can't see it clearly, but there is an electrical wire that runs through the hole, presumably to the outdrive. There was water running through this hole and into the bilge at a pretty good rate... I could hear it trickling and splashing, so I found the "leak" and stuffed a plastic bag and a small wire nut in the hole to work as a kind of cork for the day. Leakage was slowed to almost zero, but I'm thinking that there must be a leak in the water side of the outdrive (aft) that I need to fix. I can stop the water from coming in by putting some marine sealant (3M 4200) in that hole, but I'm thinking that's fixing the effect rather than the cause.

Any idea where it could be coming from? What does that electrical wire do?
Just as a further note, there is a little rubber boot at the top of the outdrive that has a tear in it...could this be the source of the leak?

Thanks to all!!!! I'm getting this fixed little by little with everyone's help...

Tiffany

P.S. The engine runs like a top now! : ) Full tune-up plus some Heet and some carb cleaner...probably got it up to about 35-40 mph yesterday with good response froma dead stop...almost ready to drag a skier or tube around!
 

futz

Banned
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
180
Re: Help on "Weird" water leak --'73 165HP OMC Fiberform

without a pic i would say you can plug that hole with the wire in it with #5200 permetex, any napa, or auto store will have it, i have even seen it in home depot, wal-mart.
 

mlkx4

Recruit
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
2
Re: Help on "Weird" water leak --'73 165HP OMC Fiberform

Those are the wires for the electrical shift. There should be a plug like piece that goes in from the outside that needs some silicone or permatex to help seal it.
 

nieuwBoater

Cadet
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
17
Re: Help on "Weird" water leak --'73 165HP OMC Fiberform

Hey Futz and mlkx4,

Thanks so much for your thoughts on this. I'm just trying to figure out how water gets into that hole to start with! I can definitely plug that hole with sealant, but I get the impression the water shouldn't actually REACH the hole to start with? Any thoughts?

Thanks to all!

Tiffany
 

itsonlymoney

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
31
Re: Help on "Weird" water leak --'73 165HP OMC Fiberform

The reason water is running into the hole is because the cable isn't sealing like it should. Under the O/D on the outside of the boat you'll see the cable coming out of the intermediate housing and into the O/D. Pull it a bit from the hole and you'll notice a bulbous portion of the cable that will fit into the hole.

This is designed to seal off the hole the cable passes though. The usual fix is to apply sealant into the hole (just a bit) and add a dab cover the hole where the cable comes out.

If you put in too much sealant there is a chance that the cable will be too difficult to remove during further service so care in how much sealant is used should be considered.

Just a little should do it.
 

nieuwBoater

Cadet
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
17
Re: Help on "Weird" water leak --'73 165HP OMC Fiberform

Hi itsonlymoney!

Thanks for the help...just to clarify, though, there is an electrical wire (not a cable) tha passes through the hole on the fore side of the transom (in the housing that bolts to the O/D.

Knowing this, is your reply the same? I'll defintiely look for such a hole!

Thank you!

Tiffany
 
Top