Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told me

[Navigator_Victory]

Took boat in to have it de winterized
Thought I would be nice and give them some extra business so I had them do an oil change does $95 plus parts for an oil change sound right?

Anyhow I digress they told me as part of the de winterize process they pop the plug on the lower unit and when they did they found it had water in the lower unit and further they say 8 hours labor plus parts to fix the upper seal

How difficult will it be to do this myself?

It sat in a slip most all summer last year and could the water have slowly leaked in?

Their pressure test was to spray soapy water.....my thought is take out and run it for thirty minutes and pull the plug and see how much water comes out......thoughts ?

 

[Don S]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

That is why you should change the gear lube when winterizing, not de-winterizing. Now your drive has been sitting all winter with water in it.
Where is it leaking? That would determine how much it would cost to repair. Had they drained it and pressure tested it they could have told you where the problem was. I doubt the complete drive needs resealed. Was the bellows checked for water?

The oil must be drained to do a pressure test.

 

[Navigator_Victory]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

When they (Marina) winterized I did ask and was told they do not empty lower unit but, you would think they would have checked it.
They say the upper seal is leaking
They replaced the bellows last season
he said he drained the oil and pressure tested he showed me a pan of lube and you could see it was milky looking.
He said he pressure tested by spraying soapy water on certain places which, he showed me and he said it did not bubble so that leads him to believe it is the upper seal but, he did not sound totally confident. Is that how you pressure test soapy water?

I let them winterize because the guarantee if the engine block cracks they will replace it plus I did not have time when it needed to be done.

 

[Don S]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

They say the upper seal is leaking

There are several upper seals. They still need to check the bellows for water, if installed wrong and water gets in the bellows, there is no way to keep it out of the drive. The input shaft seal is not designed to keep water out, only oil in.
Another common leaking area on your drive is the shift mechanism. Which can be replaced in less than an hour without having to take the upper gear box or the drive off.

 

[Navigator_Victory]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

Don you give me the steps one or two at a time and I will get started......as you can see the marina is not exactly the best place
or point me to another post if this has already been covered

 

[Don S]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

Drain the gear lube, pump the drive up with about 15 psi of air and spray your soapy water on everything that moves and every place things get bolted together. Disconnect the bellows from the drive and listen. If it's leaking in there, the input shaft seal is leaking, but if there is no water in the bellows, then that isn't where the water came from.
You also have to remove the back cover and expose the shift linkage and spray everything back there too. That is a common place on the upper to leak.

Go up to the top of this forum and click on one of the stickies (they are both the same) there is a section on pressure testing, and a Volvo section you might want to check out.

 

[Navigator_Victory]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

Thank You

 

[Navigator_Victory]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

When I pulled the plugs I noticed the upper plug gasket was very worn and the the lower had a plastic gasket which did not fit properly so first things first I am thinking having the proper gasket is probably important and along those lines would it be ok to use form a gasket on these?

 

[Don S]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

ok to use form a gasket on these?

No, get the proper orings and gaskets (Get several of each) and replace them each time the are removed.

 

[Navigator_Victory]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

working on finding the part numbers and while I am looking found the links you have for engine but, not sure which one is right for the engine.....figured I might as well get all my parts list in a row for later use
Service Manual Download links

 

[Don S]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

None of the ones you had listed were the correct ones. That was the list for up to 1993.

Go back to the list and look at the 1994 to 2000 manuals. You have an MD model engine.

 

[Navigator_Victory]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

DP-D, DP-D1, DP-D2
http://www.4shared.com/file/85931397/45d46aa9/DP-D.html

Is this the right one for my out drive?

 

[Don S]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

No, not if you have a DP-C1 try the one that says 280, 280-DP, 285, 290, 290-DP, SP-A, SP-C, DP-A, DP-B, DP-C

 

[David Ferguson]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

When they (Marina) winterized I did ask and was told they do not empty lower unit but, you would think they would have checked it.
They say the upper seal is leaking
They replaced the bellows last season
he said he drained the oil and pressure tested he showed me a pan of lube and you could see it was milky looking.
He said he pressure tested by spraying soapy water on certain places which, he showed me and he said it did not bubble so that leads him to believe it is the upper seal but, he did not sound totally confident. Is that how you pressure test soapy water?

I let them winterize because the guarantee if the engine block cracks they will replace it plus I did not have time when it needed to be done.

This is my first of 7 years as original owner that the gear oil was drained and milky. I had milky oil in the bellows, but when I looked further, when the installed the new drive shaft last summer, they tore the shaft seal, so didn't hold any oil back. After a new seal, pressure and vacuum tested OK, so only thing left is bellows. Bellows was new with driveshaft, but if they couldn't slide a shaft through a seal without damaging it, I suppose they could screw up a bellows too! I just don't know whether to replace the gimbal bearing (also new), as it may have become compromised.

 

[Don S]

Re: Pressure Tested drive and found upper seal to be bad-------what wrench just told

Dave, welcome to iboats. If you have a problem, please start a new thread of your own. Again, you have a different drive than the original poster. His drive doesn't even have a gimal bearing.