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Alpha I Gen II Upper Stern Drive Cover Supper Hot Too Touch

H

houchie

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I own a Bayliner 1995 3.0LX with an Alpha I Gen II stern drive. Earlier this year, the temperature shot up to 250F. The engine was hot and the cover plate on the upper drive was so hot, you could not touch it. Water was steaming off it. Yelp, my water pump in the lower drive was bad. I took the stern drive completely apart and check everything. I replace the water pump and all gaskets, o-rings, and seals. I specifically checked closely the upper unit carrier assembly. It looked OK and was tight and smooth when spun. I also checked the drive shaft bearing and race. It too looked and felt OK. I put everything back together and filled with lube. Yesterday, I had the boat out for the first time. It ran wonderfully for about three hours. Then suddenly while cruising about 30 mph, the engine started feeling like it was dragging every 15 sec or so. The temperature was fine. I shut down the engine and checked everything out. All seemed fine except the cover plate on the upper house was very hot again. I let things cool off and started the engine back up again. The upper stern drive cover plate remained cool, so I went on. Everything ran fine for another two hours, and then while cruising at 30 mph, the engine started intermittently dragging again. I immediately checked the cover cap on the upper housing and it was very hot with water steaming off. I quit for the day. I figure the problem is the drive bearing. Does anyone think differently? To replace the bearing and race, I see there is a shim(s) that need to be installed. From what I read, to determine the correct amount of shimming, one has to determine the torque required to turn the drive shaft after assembly. If it is not 6 ft-lbs, then the race has to be pulled, replace the shim accordingly, reassembled, and torque test again. One has to keep doing this until the 6 ft-lbs is achieved. Is this correct? Is there an easier way?
 
I don't know much about the details of the innards of MERC drives, but if that drive has an oil pump or oil slinger to get lube to the top of the drive, I'd check that.
 
no, no spirial oil feed like the outboard lowers.I would remove the drive, split the drive and remove the inputshaft. Now try to spin the vert shaft by hand,you should be able to A trick to check the setting is wrap a string around the shaft a few times and connect it to a small spring scale and reads the pounds as you pull the scale
 
WHat you are referring to is called ROLLING TORQUE.

If it were me I would take it apart and see what the bearing looks like. Just remove the top cap of the drive and it will be in your hand.

If it is blueing then it is shot, Maybe it spun in the cap?
Also there is a lower bearing under the short shaft that the cap bearing fits on......maybe just bad bearings? You have to look.

If you can get the ujoint assembly out of the upper (be carefull of the shims and keep an eye on them) then you can remove the short drive shaft in the upper

Typically if you have a bearing issue it should be a bit loud (whining maybe or a grumble)

So if you don't have the correct tools not sure what to say other than either pay someone or not.
 
WHere are you located?

If you added that to your profile and we could see it and if you maybe are close to one of us we could help.........info...info...info...
 
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