Water in outdrive Alpha1

[Hunt]

I have water/milk on the shaft just above the oring where the shaft enters the upper gearcase. Feeling around up in there with my fingers I was able to pull a seal from the upper case. I am going to order a seloc manual, and just wanted to know how hard of a job this is going to be, on a scale of 1-10. Will this require pulling the uppercase? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

Order mercruiser manual #6 if your drive is Gen 1. Seloc is a waste of paper. If you have water intrusion in your drive, you need to pull off the upper as well to see if you have water & gear lube in your bellows. I think the issue is more than one seal. There a many special tools and techniques involved in dis-assembling an out-drive, if you never have done it before you will probably be in over your head. You need to pressure test both upper & lower cases to isolate leak. The drive should be dis-assembled, cleaned, replace any worn parts, and re-sealed. Reccomend you have a pro do it.....J

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

I'm assuming the gear oil was milky too?

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

I don't have a clue to what your talking about or where you are reaching, but if you have milky oil leaking out, it means you have milky oil in the drive. Drain it all out and pressure and vacuum check the drive for leaks. Pull the drive off the boat and check the bellows for water. If there is water in the bellows, that is a sure way to get water in the drive. Check out the link below, it may provide some help.<br /><br /> http://www.mercstuff.com/howdoi.htm

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

Thanks for the quick reply...<br />The lube that came out was discolored but not milky like the top of the shaft. I just removed the upper case and the bellows seem ok, no indication of water. Do I need to pull the gears out of the upper to change that seal, or can it be changed from below? I am sure I am in over my head, but then I have been there before. There is about a month wait just to be able to take my boat to the mechanic. All of the guys around here have full lots, so its either wait 2 months to get on the water or takle it myself. Do you have a link to purchase #6 manual?

 

[Don S]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

Here's a link to the online Merc manual for your drive (If you actually have an Alpha I, you don't give a year)<br /><br />Just run your cursor over the page to find the links on the main page and the index page.<br /> http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf <br /><br /><br />You can buy manual here.<br /> http://mercruiserparts.stemtostern.com/Mercruiser/mercruiser_service_manuals.asp

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

Thats great Don thanks I will study that link. The seal that came out of the upper case was removed from where the shaft from the lower enters the upper. Its a small rubber seal with a spring around it.<br /><br /> The upper unit will not hold 20 psi. Once I get to 20 and stop pumping it drops to about 12psi and stays. I did not leave the presure on it to see if it drops below 12. The lower does hold 20, once again I did not leave the presure on it for more than 5 minutes.

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

OK, it looks as though this is going to require pulling everything out of the upper to replace the seal that came out, which appears to be item 5 on section 2 page 8 of the techs handbook. Is this correct?

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

It appears as though the seal/peice of seal that I pulled out is the upper drive housing lower seal. Would this seal be the reason for the water intrusion and failure of the presure test?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

Yes.

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

I am going to take this into my mechanic and have him reseal the upper housing. I have been looking at prices for seals, and it looks like the upper seal kit is about $40, but man, the tools are expensive! Could any of you give me an idea what its going to cost to have the upper resealed? My mechanics rates are 75 per hour.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

Should be 2-3 hours + parts.

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

I got my upper housing back from the shop. After re-installing I noticed that where the shift linkage comes together between the upper and lower housings there is a space. " the rod from the lower does not come up all of the way to rest between the fork on the upper" When shifting from the remote the fork turns but does not engage the lower shift shaft. Any suggestion? Thanks

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

The rod I am refering to is part of the upper housing. It connects to the shift shaft in the lower and and should rise up to rest between the fork on the upper. sorry I didnt think I explained it clearly

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

I think you left out the washer that sits on top of the shiftshaft(lower case).The fork (on the gimbal ring), (boat side) must engage with the shift shaft (out drive side), it can only have a tiny bit of play (up & down) . If it has more than say about 1/4", you have left out the washer that sits upon the shift shaft. Unfortunatly, you will have to separate the cases to install that washer......J

 

[Hunt]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

That is exactly what I did. I just got it back together and was going to explain. Whew! Thanks for the help. I should have it on the muffs this evening. <br /> By the way the upper reseal cost $308. and they changed one of the ujoints. The fact that I only took the upper in got me in sooner and probably saved me 1/2 of what it would have cost. I think this price was very reasonably. Ready for fall walleye season!

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Water in outdrive Alpha1

Well, alrighty then! We fish for salmon & halibut in the salt pond....J