outdrive reservoir going dry

[bashr52]

What would cause the outdrive reservoir to leak dry from sitting? Alpha 1 gen 2. Boat sat for sale for a year before I bought it. Reservoir was dry when I first looked at it, mechanic topped it off before I bought it, water tested it and everything went ok. It will slowly leak down to almost dry after about a week. No signs of leaking into the bilge, or puddles on the ground beneath the boat.

 

[NHGuy]

Did any one remove the drive? The fluid is either displacing air or there's a leak. I'd get the drive off and pressure tested. Seals are way less money than the entire drive assembly. Don't go for a ride yet or you might cost some extra $.
If you pull the drive and find a good amount of stinky gear oil in the drive bellows it could be from the front upper drive seal where the power from the engine enters.
If it's questionable test the drive with about 12 lbs of air pressure. It should hold for half an hour.
But conversely if it's relatively dry in there you might have bought a boat where the previous person filled the drive wrong and left air in the top of the drive. In that case you'd just fill it from the bottom, fill the reserve again and drive it til it burps again.

 

[tpenfield]

I had a boat w/ reservoir mounted on the transom. It would slowly leak through tiny cracks in the bottle (which became brittle) and flow down the transom into a small area on the side of the engine bay . . .never made it into the bilge.

The only way I found the source of the leak was to put a few paper towels under and around the bottom of the bottle . . . and wait a few days.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Or there was no oil in the drive to begin with and the res is slowly filling it.

 

[wahlejim]

Agree with this ^^^^

Change the drive oil properly, fill from the bottom up. Top off reservoir and see if problem persists.

 

[enginesilo]

Lots of good things to check already posted. This may very well NOT be your problem, but figured I'd add it into the mix of possibilities. Mine was dropping last year a little each outing. I took the drive off and pressure tested and found the shift shaft bushing was bad. Since changing that I haven't lost a drop.

 

[bashr52]

I'll be pulling the outdrive this fall before I winterize the boat to change the bellows and check/replace gimble bearing. I will check for apparent leaks/bad seals, and replace as necessary and change the oil. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[enginesilo]

I'll be pulling the outdrive this fall before I winterize the boat to change the bellows and check/replace gimble bearing. I will check for apparent leaks/bad seals, and replace as necessary and change the oil. Thanks for the ideas!

Its a good thing to do every once in a while. I've never replaced bellows yet, but from what I understand its definitely an involved job, so working on the outdrive i'm guessing won't be as much of a headache. While you are in there, change out the impeller if you haven't in a while, along with the other seals. The cost is low, but the headache saved from not needing to redo it in a year or two are well worth it. Good luck on all of your projects!

 

[bashr52]

Quick Update. Ran the boat this weekend. Checked the fluid before it went in the water Saturday, it was down slightly. Topped it off and ran it most of the day Saturday and Sunday fishing, swimming and even pulled a tube for a bit. Reservoir level dropped only slightly below the full line. Took it out fishing Monday morning, and I had an oil sheen on the water. Moving the boat from fishing spots I could smell gear oil. My mother-in-lay was sitting on the back and happened to notice there was a bubble of white oil (likely milky gear oil) that would slowly ooze up on occasion. It appeared to be coming from near one of the top 2 outdrive mounting bolts. I checked the reservoir, and it was nearly dry again. I topped it off again so I could move the boat over to the launch to pull it out, and when it was on the trailer I checked the reservoir and it was wet with oil all over the top and sides. It almost appears the reservoir was pressurized from the gear case, and blew the oil out the top?

Is there an easy procedure for pressure testing the outdrive somewhere so I can try and narrow down what's going on before I just start blindly throwing parts at it? I'm also getting water leaking into the bilge and filling up to around the level of the exhaust, so there is obviously a leak somewhere that needs to be fixed.

 

[enginesilo]

Quick Update. Ran the boat this weekend. Checked the fluid before it went in the water Saturday, it was down slightly. Topped it off and ran it most of the day Saturday and Sunday fishing, swimming and even pulled a tube for a bit. Reservoir level dropped only slightly below the full line. Took it out fishing Monday morning, and I had an oil sheen on the water. Moving the boat from fishing spots I could smell gear oil. My mother-in-lay was sitting on the back and happened to notice there was a bubble of white oil (likely milky gear oil) that would slowly ooze up on occasion. It appeared to be coming from near one of the top 2 outdrive mounting bolts. I checked the reservoir, and it was nearly dry again. I topped it off again so I could move the boat over to the launch to pull it out, and when it was on the trailer I checked the reservoir and it was wet with oil all over the top and sides. It almost appears the reservoir was pressurized from the gear case, and blew the oil out the top?

Is there an easy procedure for pressure testing the outdrive somewhere so I can try and narrow down what's going on before I just start blindly throwing parts at it? I'm also getting water leaking into the bilge and filling up to around the level of the exhaust, so there is obviously a leak somewhere that needs to be fixed.

Pull the drive and pressure test it. I tested mine with the upper and lower connected, and I then tested them separately. My shift shaft seal was leaving and causing my reservoir to drop just a little bit each outing. I also noticed when on land I had oil dripping out of one of the weep holes on the side of the outdrive. The nice thing about these drives is that there are a few seals inside you can change yourself that aren't that hard, or expensive and a simple pressure test will tell you if you've solved the problem. There are a few major things that can go wrong that aren't as easy to DIY, but my guess is that its the shift shaft seal, drive shaft seal, o-ring, or something else related. Good luck.

 

[bashr52]

Is there a write up somewhere that talks about how to pressure test the outdrive?

 

[JASinIL2006]

Is there a write up somewhere that talks about how to pressure test the outdrive?

From the stickies at the top of this forum: http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...oard-engines-outdrives/537689-od-presure-test