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Fluid leak from lower unit help

Z

Zpayne08

New member
First off this is my first boat and it's a 1988 glassport runabout with a 3.0 mercruiser

i started my boat for about 10 seconds to check things out and when I shut it off and got out noticed a puddle of bluish green oil below the lower unit. Here's a pick of where it's coming from. Hope it's not too big of a fix!

 
Hope you had cooling water hooked up, especially if an ALPHA one drive! Only takes seconds to trash the water pump impeller in the drive if run dry, especially if the drive has sat for a while.
 
Looks like the shift shaft seal......but the pic is only a pic.

The only true way to tell is to drain the outdrive and pressure check to 15 psi (no higher) and see where the air leaks out...........
 
leakage from red or green arrow
335F9D9A-83FD-49B1-AD68-C1C195B66F0C_zpsd59cbc1f.jpg
 
Green. At first I thought it was the red arrow but it's dripping from the green one onto it. My buddy that's a boat mechanic is gonna look in about an hour
 
Pull the drive and you will find the gear oil in the bellows.The carrier seal is bad and maybe the yoke is grooved.
Repairs are not that expensive
 
Ok great. My bud used to be head mechanic at the boat dealership before they closed down couple years ago so he said he'd fix everything for a good price
 
my bud says its the upper shift shaft seal and possibly the bearing. hes gonna replace the impeller while hes in there, gonna order parts at the only boat shop left in town. there is no marina where im at anymore on the Ohio river in ky. it was part of the Executive in before they tore it down, was pretty small anyways but theyre supposed to build a new one in a few years. the dealership sold boats, PWC, atvs, motorcycles, etc but they quit selling boats back in 09 and shut down in 2010 bc they were crooks (more than just the business end). the rumor around town is they got in trouble for fraud, which the other dealership that they "bought out" did get shut down bc of insurance fraud and embezzlement so id say it happened again. hopefully i get this thing straightened out in the next couple weeks and can get back out on the water.
 
Zpayne08 said:
my bud says its the upper shift shaft seal and possibly the bearing. hes gonna replace the impeller while hes in there, gonna order parts at the only boat shop left in town. .
Click to expand...

If he did not do this then he does not know exactly what is at fault.

""""""The only true way to tell is to drain the outdrive and pressure check to 15 psi (no higher) and see where the air leaks out..........."""""""

With out pressure checking the unit there is no absolute way to tell what is leaking....No other way!!
 
Actually you need to pressure test and vacuum test that drive.

When you get this unit apart after testing, Inspect the upper unit for corrosion where the lower seal is for the input shaft of the lower unit. I have seen more than one with a rot hole right next to the seal.
 
I left out doing a vacuum check as he has a leak of oil out of the drive vs water leaking in.........
 
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