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Alpha Gen 2 Lube Oil in Exhaust Bellow

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ceeg52

Contributing Member
I removed my Alpha Gen2 sterndrive and found about an ounce of lube oil in the exhaust bellow. It was pure lube oil (not milky) not mixed with water. The upper and lower unit were pressure tested to 15 PSI and it held for over 2 hours. Any ideas what I should be looking for or any other test I should perform?

Thanks for any help!
 
ceeg52 said:
I removed my Alpha Gen2 sterndrive and found about an ounce of lube oil in the drive shaft bellow. It was pure lube oil (not milky) not mixed with water. The upper and lower unit were pressure tested to 15 PSI and it held for over 2 hours. Any ideas what I should be looking for or any other test I should perform?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
 
Are your Ujoints and Gimbal bearing sealed or greasable?

99% of the time if Gear Oil is found in the Ujoint bellows the issue is the Carrier seal. When prsssure checking the upper gear case when gear oil has been found in bellows, once upper is pressurized you must rotate ujoint/drive shaft by hand to see if seal or sealing surface has issues.

Do you have any idea how old the drive is or any history.
You neglected to post anything other then a Alpha Gen II....that could go back to 1990....
 
kghost said:
Are your Ujoints and Gimbal bearing sealed or greasable?

99% of the time if Gear Oil is found in the Ujoint bellows the issue is the Carrier seal. When prsssure checking the upper gear case when gear oil has been found in bellows, once upper is pressurized you must rotate ujoint/drive shaft by hand to see if seal or sealing surface has issues.

Do you have any idea how old the drive is or any history.
You neglected to post anything other then a Alpha Gen II....that could go back to 1990....
Click to expand...
The drive is only 3 years old. I pressure tested the upper drive to 15 PSI and rotated the by hand and sprayed soapy water to check for leaks. No leaks detected.
 
kghost said:
Are your Ujoints and Gimbal bearing sealed or greasable?

99% of the time if Gear Oil is found in the Ujoint bellows the issue is the Carrier seal. When prsssure checking the upper gear case when gear oil has been found in bellows, once upper is pressurized you must rotate ujoint/drive shaft by hand to see if seal or sealing surface has issues.

Do you have any idea how old the drive is or any history.
You neglected to post anything other then a Alpha Gen II....that could go back to 1990....
Click to expand...
The drive is only 3 years old. I pressure tested the upper drive to 15 PSI and rotated the by hand and sprayed soapy water to check for leaks. No leaks detected.
ceeg52 said:
The drive is only 3 years old. I pressure tested the upper drive to 15 PSI and rotated the by hand and sprayed soapy water to check for leaks. No leaks detected.
Click to expand...
 
Give some details on maintenance YOU do for/to the outdrive.

Also is your Gimbal bearing and Ujoints, Greaseable OR are they sealed?

It is not uncommon if excess grease is present it can somewhat liquefy and appear to be gear oil in he bellows. The Ujoint whip it up pretty good when spinning if its excess grease

How sure are you it is Gear oil?

Mercruiser HP gear oil is or should be purple/green. Most grease will be brownish.
 
ceeg52 said:
I removed my Alpha Gen2 sterndrive and found about an ounce of lube oil in the exhaust bellow. It was pure lube oil (not milky) not mixed with water. The upper and lower unit were pressure tested to 15 PSI and it held for over 2 hours. Any ideas what I should be looking for or any other test I should perform?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Retest at 5 psi and turn and try to wiggle the drive shaft to see if it holds.

Testing at 15 psi can help the seal stay sealed
 
AllDodge said:
Retest at 5 psi and turn and try to wiggle the drive shaft to see if it holds.

Testing at 15 psi can help the seal stay sealed
Click to expand...

An Alpha drive produces ~ 7 psi so I am not sure 5 psi will do much.

he could do a vacuum check to test but that typically reveals leaks when water is present in gear oil. But it also may reveal a weak seal.

Also possible is gear oil leaked into bellows from gear lube check ball location if there were difficulties installing drive all the way...
 
kghost said:
An Alpha drive produces ~ 7 psi so I am not sure 5 psi will do much.

he could do a vacuum check to test but that typically reveals leaks when water is present in gear oil. But it also may reveal a weak seal.
Click to expand...
Agree is another good method, but my point is the more pressure is place inside the drive helps hold the lip seal against the shaft tighter. So using less can help identify if there is a weak spring inside the lip
 
AllDodge said:
Agree is another good method, but my point is the more pressure is place inside the drive helps hold the lip seal against the shaft tighter. So using less can help identify if there is a weak spring inside the lip
Click to expand...

If the carrier seal is worn, 15 psi will show this. At least thats my experience.

I suspect some grease liquified.
 
kghost said:
An Alpha drive produces ~ 7 psi so I am not sure 5 psi will do much.

he could do a vacuum check to test but that typically reveals leaks when water is present in gear oil. But it also may reveal a weak seal.

Also possible is gear oil leaked into bellows from gear lube check ball location if there were difficulties installing drive all the way...
Click to expand...
That's an interesting point. I has some trouble taking the drive off. Had to lift and drop the drive about 5 or 6 times before it separeated. Is it possible for the gear lube ball leaked oil into the bellow? The one thing I failed to mention is that when the drive was removed, I noticed that the gimbal bearing had to be replaced.
 
ceeg52 said:
That's an interesting point. I has some trouble taking the drive off. Had to lift and drop the drive about 5 or 6 times before it separeated. Is it possible for the gear lube ball leaked oil into the bellow? The one thing I failed to mention is that when the drive was removed, I noticed that the gimbal bearing had to be replaced.
Click to expand...

You need to answer my question regarding greaseable ujoints and Gimbal bearing or not greaseable.

Gen 1 Alpha drives all has greaseabke gimbal and ujoint. It was very common to find liquified grease in the bellows. The ujoints were over greased as was the gimbal bearing and that excess grease would get wipped up by the spinning ujoint assembly and it would look like gear lube
 
Ok. Now we know its not excess greaae.

I have a 1987 alpha one gen one. Greaseable gimbal and ujoints.

My gimbal is still original.

It appears the sealed non greaseable gimbal bearings actually dont last....
 
ceeg52 said:
That's an interesting point. I has some trouble taking the drive off. Had to lift and drop the drive about 5 or 6 times before it separeated. Is it possible for the gear lube ball leaked oil into the bellow? The one thing I failed to mention is that when the drive was removed, I noticed that the gimbal bearing had to be replaced.
Click to expand...
If there was no rust on the drive shaft or bearing, then the engine alignment needs to be checked and most likely adjusted. Drive should come off at end of each season when changing lube, but at least every second season.

Pickup a alignment bar, put thin coat of grease on it and see if it can be inserted with 2 fingers all the way in and pulled back out with 2 fingers. If unable need to adjust front motor mounts

While the drive is off, look closely at the engine coupler to see if the splines are straight and square. Look for cracks in the rubber coupler around the spline coupling
 
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