next ? about my mercruiser (update, at home , drive off)

[stevenj]

while down at the boat yesterday waiting for wife to arrive with her sister and brother in law, I decided to warm up the engine and inspect choke further
(see mercarb choke ?) A small water drip caught my eye ,been watching everything real close as we just put the boat into a dock for the last few weeks of the season.good news is no water intrusion thru hull at all.(tinny)

Any how, while having the engine cover off and running the engine I noticed
a slight spurt of water coming in thru a small 3/8" hole to the port side of the
inlet fresh water hose connection of the transom assy. the amount of water I see coming in is only a small drop every 5-6 seconds or so. very minimal
amount ,cannot see any build up in the bilge area at all. Nothing while engine
is not running, has been in the water 3 full days now.
I do know that I want any and all lake water to stay outside my boat,
What am I seeing?

Thanks Steve

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Post a pic.J

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Could be a leak starting in the main bellows, wouldnt hurt to pull the drive and inspect before the U joints and gimbal bearing decide to "go south"

 

[stevenj]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

will do, coming out of water tomorrow, (monday),will try and get photo of spot, the hole i am talking about is about 1 inch or so to the right of the
3/4 cooling water line connection on the interior of the transom plate assy.
and maybe 3-4 inches up at the 2 o'clock position of the drive shaft.
steve

 

[45Auto]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Sounds like you're talking about the drain hole that goes through to the drive shaft bellows cavity. Not good news, means your drive shaft bellows is leaking and is full of water. Means you need a new bellows and probably u-joints and gimbal bearing, and possibly a new upper shaft for the outdrive if it's rusted on the seal surface.

You need to pull the drive and check the bellows. You also need to check the oil in the outdrive and make sure no water has gotton past the upper seal.

When is the last time the bellows was changed?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Actually there are 2 holes thru the housing ,one on each side if the bearing.

 

[stevenj]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Thanks for the input and photos guys, going by those photos and my bad memory the hole i am talking about was to the right of that 45degree flanged water line connection at the same level, maybe a design variation on my alpha 1, I do remember thinking that it appeared to be higher than the bellows, but could be drilled and ported higher. the design must be intended
for venting pressure build up in the bellows, because, do you really want to drain water out at a higher point of a critical area you do not want to see moisture. I am going to go down and study this a little more and try to get photos and better info.

Thanks again
Steve

 

[45Auto]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

do you really want to drain water out at a higher point of a critical area you do not want to see moisture

The small square hole you see at 6 o'clock directly below the gimbal bearing hole also drains the bellows area, from a low point. You said your leak was up by the water inlet so I didn't bother to label the lower drain.

 

[stevenj]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Went down this morning, and today I have some water in the bilge area, didn't check last night in the dark, Going to pull out today instead of tomorrow. will try and pull outdrive today and post back. hopefuly will be able to dodge a major bullet. Set some money aside to have a top made, looks like the top may be on hold till spring.

 

[jtybt]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

The thing is, there's no factory hole where you stated. You would have water coming in from the lower drain hole if it was a leaking bellows. Hopefully you dodged that bullet but may be showing corrosion issues to your whole transom assembly.

Look to see if the area of leak has white corrosion around the leak. That can be cleaned and JB welded closed if small enuff.

Time to inspect the whole transom assembly. Especially around the bottom of the Y pipe.

 

[stevenj]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

should have stated, that yes, the spot where I saw said water is in fact the upper hole as pointed out in the photos, my eyes and memory failed me from yesterday,. sorry for any confusion.

 

[jtybt]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Had to check! That means you have a bellows full of water. Can't say as I've ever come across that before. It usually starts leaking from somewhere lower. Lower drain hole must be filled with grease.

 

[45Auto]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

Re: next ? about my mercruiser

The lower drain hole is right in front of the grease seal, I've seen a lot of them full of grease.

Like jtybt says, never seen one so full of water that it comes out the top hole though!

 

[stevenj]

Re: next ? about my mercruiser (update, at home now)

Re: next ? about my mercruiser (update, at home now)

Boat at home now, pulled the outdrive and found that when previous owner
installed the outdrive , the seal ring around the input shaft housing got pinched and cut, when I pulled the outdrive the seal fell out in two pieces.
I also found the cooling water O-ring pinched and not fully in place. Found no signs of water in outdrive oil. No rust at all on bearings, So I am going to order a transom seal kit with gimble bearing, a trim limit switch, trim sender, since they are innoperable, new lower shift cable, and might as well get U-joints andwill go ahead and get water pump impeller kit too.all will be new and good for a few years at least. will get an alignment bar to check alignment. will borrow a puller to remove gimble bearing. Did I miss anything? I will get OEM
shift cable, should I get OEM seal kit or is sierra a good way to go? Also
can I replace the u-joints without removing the input shaft from the drive?
Steve