Leaking water help!!!!!!

[EBBTIDE182]

hey guys last year about this time i put bellows and gimble bearing in my 92 ebbtide 182 with a 4.3lx merc and alpha 1 gen 2 out drive. everything went smooth and worked just fine all tho i will probably never do it again. any ways when i got the boat to the lake last year i have noticed that it has started taking on water. now it never leaked (that i know of before i installed the bellows). But where the leak is coming from is right under the y pipe of the exhaust and it trickles in and then runs right down the transom to the bottom of the boat. it dosent gush in and its not running in on the pipe and dripping its hugging the hull right on the transom. I have done everything i know of the find this leak and cant pin point it at all. we had a boat shop put silicone on the outside of the transom thinking maybe the seal was bad but that didnt stop or slow it down so i dont think that was the problem. we also had another boat shop tell us that the y pipe was bad. Im still not for sure about this one but i guess it could be possiable. my local shop told me to fill boat up with water up to the point where it was leaking in and then get out of the boat and see where its comeing from on the outside and well i did that and there wasnt a drop of water leaking on the outside. Now this is where it gets tricky because when the boat is in the water if you turn the lower unit to the right it stops leaking but when it sitting straight or to the left it leaks. is it possiable that there is a small hole in the exhaust bellow that when its straight its showing up but when its to the right it closes it up? this thing has me confused and we went ahead and ran it last year and it was fine we just had to keep an eye on it and run the bilge. Maybe one of you guys have had this problem and can help me pin point it.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Leaking water help!!!!!!

Sounds like the drive bellows may not be seated or has a small hole in it. The exhaust bellows is not even needed and will not leak into the boat except thru a bad Y pipe.
The Y pipe can leak into the boat if it has a hole in it. That would most likely be from the flapper pin wearing a hole in it, but not be better or worse when turning the drive.

The other thing it could be is the shift bellows or cable. The drive bellows shouldn't leak when on plane. A bad Y pipe will leak either in the water or with the engine running.

Maybe your transome bracket is loose?

 

[EBBTIDE182]

Re: Leaking water help!!!!!!

I checked all the bolts on the transom they all were tight. the only problem i have with it being a drive shaft bellow is that the leak is down at the bottom of the transom and the drive shaft is all the way at the top. its not running down the transom from the top its coming right in the bottome just what probably 3 or 4 inches above the plug and running down. I think thats where they were thinking its a y pipe. it dosent leak when you have the muffs on it so i dont think its a y pipe but im not an expert on boats either

 

[ericp501]

Re: Leaking water help!!!!!!

I checked all the bolts on the transom they all were tight. the only problem i have with it being a drive shaft bellow is that the leak is down at the bottom of the transom and the drive shaft is all the way at the top. its not running down the transom from the top its coming right in the bottome just what probably 3 or 4 inches above the plug and running down. I think thats where they were thinking its a y pipe. it dosent leak when you have the muffs on it so i dont think its a y pipe but im not an expert on boats either

Run it on muffs.. If it leaks it prob the y pipe if it doesn't its something else. Maybe the shift cable bellow? I had my bellows redone and still had a leak, turns out the guy that did it put a small slit at the narrow end to help the cable through, the slit opened up under the clip and was letting in a little trickle. I replaced the shift bellow and now no more trikle.

 

[EBBTIDE182]

Re: Leaking water help!!!!!!

no it does not leak on the muffs. that was the first thing we did. im still in question about the bellows. to me it sounds as if one is leaking but like i said if you were to get into the boat and look right under the y pipe its trickeling out in the center there just right on top of the transom and then runs right down into the bilge area. and i figured if it was a bellow it would be coming from up around the drive shaft where it goes through the transom. if i can get to a lake in the next few night i will try to get a picture or video of it and post on here or i can take a picture of it where its dry and give you guys the general area. i have put that sealant that comes with the bellows on every spot that i thought looked bad on a bellow and it hasnt fixed any thing yet. Now this was last years problem and it wasnt fixed when i put the boat in storage. i havnt had it out yet this year so maybe the leak fixes it self but i imagine not.

 

[Deese566]

Re: Leaking water help!!!!!!

Under the transom assembly you'll see a manifold where the 4 trim hoses connect. I dont think you would have a mercathode syst on this boat ,probably just the big zinc. Anyway remove whatever ya got by removing the two 1/4-20 bolts and you'll find this trim hose manifold i'm refering to. There is a gasket between this manifold an the transom assembly. This would be a leak under the Y-pipe however it realy would'nt matter the location of the drive. Check your shift cable bellows ,if you had a hole in the stb side of this boot it would slow or stop leaking when ya turn the drive to the right. Worth taking a look at.

 

[EBBTIDE182]

Re: Leaking water help!!!!!!

I've checked the bellows but just a physical look at them. If it leaks when in the water isn't my local shop right that if I fill the engine compartment up it should leak out of the hole? I have done this but making sure I didn't get it to full to get into he gimbal housing but no leak appeared on the outside of the boat