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Water in bellows

D

dhyams

Regular Contributor
"Upon pulling the stern drive,

"Upon pulling the stern drive, there was a little pool of water in the bellows that the U-joint is in. Funny thing is, I *think* it was the pink stuff that I poured into the cooling system to winterize.

I'm still learning here, so I wanted to make sure; this is a big problem right? I need to replace the bellows + seals around it?"
 
Daniel:

It shouldn't be

Daniel:

It shouldn't be there. Replace all three bellows and the molded water inlet hose. Examine the u-joints for rust and repair/lube as needed. Use "BELLOWS ADHESIVE" and prep per instructions or it won't hold long.
 
"Thanks Guy. I'm kind of

"Thanks Guy. I'm kind of grr'ed at this because when the previous owner sold me the boat, a positive point for it was that it had "just" had the bellows replaced and sealed. Come to find out that this was actually in winter of 2004.

Is it common for a bellows/seals to fail so fast?"
 
might have been improper insta

might have been improper installation. the mating surfaces where the adhesive goes needs to be pretty clean.
 
"How would pink antifreeze get

"How would pink antifreeze get into the driveshaft bellows? There is no communication from the cooling water system to this set of bellows. It is more likely to be water that seeped in thru a leak. Water leakage into the bellows quickly causes U joint corrosion and failure, so it needs to be fixed.

Having said this, 3 years on a bellows set is not bad. They normally last 10+/- years before needing replacement. There is no need to replace them unless cracking, leakage or other deterioration is evident.

Rod"
 
"I agree on the pink stuff; th

"I agree on the pink stuff; the only thing I can think of is that during the winterizing, I spilled some antifreeze into the bilge, and it sat that way for a few days...could it have drained from the bilge into that area?

[And I don't mean to say that there was a *lot* of antifreeze in the bilge; I had the drain plug out, so most of the a-freeze drained into a bucket that I had set up to catch that kind of thing]"
 
I think it would have to have

I think it would have to have come from the inside of the engine compartment; like a spill or leak into the drive coupler area. Take a good look at the bellows for cracking as Rod said. If there is nothing wrong with the bellows then I would suspect an inadvertent splash or if you filled it while running the engine it may have leaked from an exhaust coupling. Look at the rear of the engine (heads)with a bright light and mirror for seapage or leak.
 
"An update on this; I did the

"An update on this; I did the best I could to examine the bellows, and all three look just fine to me; and they are still nice and rubbery (not brittle). The U-joint itself appears to be in excellent condition; it moves well, and there is only an extremely small amount of rust on the joints themselves (certainly less than I would have expected for 10-yr old joints). And the splines on the drive shaft are in very good condition too.

Heck if I know where that water came from, but I'm continuing to investigate."
 
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