www.iFourWinns.com

I am getting leaking from my outdrive. Prop has been off all winter and oil is puddled in the bottom. Never lost any oil last season and changed the outdrive oil when I winterized in September.

Any ideas on the leak? Of course I am hoping for an o-ring or other seal around the drive shaft.


Thanks.

I nearly had the same thing a few years ago. My case it was the drain plug o-ring for the drive oil (B1). I must have dropped it when putting the plug in after re-filling. Luckily when it was in for other service, the shop caught it, fixed it and topped the oil for no charge.

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Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

What drive?

Mostly likely the plug o-ring, but could also be a damaged shaft seal.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Thanks. the leak was internal and leaking out of the shaft area. I did pull the drain plug and the flat o-ring was here.

When you were missing the o-ring, was it leaking from the drain plug (external) versus from the prop shaft area.


Anyone replaced a shaft seal?

Mine was leaking from the drain plug, which on the B1, happens to be just below the shaft seal.

You never stated and I haven't looked into your history...... is this on a Merc (Alpha/Bravo) or one of those grey ones I keep hearing so much about?

_________________
Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

Walt, how's that drive shower coming?

_________________


Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Well verdict is is on leaking oil out the back of out drive. Definately an upper seal issue where water/anitfreeze entered the oil chamnber. $1300 to completely re-seal the upper and lower units.

Also going to get the entire outdrive sandblasted and re-finished for another $400 while is it apart.

12 year old drive and the paint was completely gone. Oh well. Should be good for another 10 years.

Which drive do you have?

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

volvo Sx 2000 my

Sounds like you already have people looking into it... but, once the drive oil is drained... it is cheap and easy to apply 4-15 psi pressure to the drive cavity with a bike pump, and then make use of a free loaner vacuum tester from an auto parts store to apply similar vacuum pressure and find the leak... did your drive oil come out with water (milky oil)? you can use the fitting from one of those cheap oil pumps to do it... the o-rings for all 3 plugs (dipstick, vent plug, and drain plug) should be inspected and changed if flattened or damaged... these are cheap at a marine store... I hope you don't pay big $$ if its just a plug oring....

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2007 FW Horizon 200 5.0GXi/SX-A

Thanks. The shop did the pressure and vacuum test and it failed the vacuum test. I did not notice the oil as milky but I guess I am not sure what it should look like after running all year. It did look consistent to how it looked 2 years ago (prior year I had the same shop do the winterizing and no issues were identified.


Thanks for teh help.

I've had to get my Cobra re-sealed a couple of times in the past, and now I replace the sealing washers for the drain and fill holes every time I change the gear oil...
What I found was that if you drain the gear oil and let it sit for a day or two, you can actually see the water layer on the bottom of the container, so there can be water in the gear oil that's not immediately obvious...
One of the new features of the Volvo Ocean X drive are water sensors, one is in the bellows and one in the drive, if this works well it could be a great feature for sterndrive owners because you will get warning of problems that can really cost you. Most people don't pull the drive each season to check the bellows for water or do a pressure/vacuum test...although we should....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

the gear oil is 15 bucks a quart... it almost makes sense to drain it and put the same oil back in if it still looks new (most of the time mine has looked new coming out... except for the year i overtightened the dipstick and stripped it out... but that was easily fixed ).. the main benefit to changing this oil is checking for water contamination... i bet it takes a long time for this type of oil to degrade enough to do any damage to your parts... it is similar to transmission and axle fluid, and how often do you change that in your vehicle?...

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2007 FW Horizon 200 5.0GXi/SX-A

Well that's the issue, if you ran a 4x4 through water crossings, even if you relocated the vents, you'd still want to change the gear oil much more often than a street driven 4x4. An outdrive is like that, always in the water, and that makes it necessary to be vigilant about gear oil. If you had a boat with a Velvet drive (straight inboard) then yes, with the transmission IN the boat, no need to change it yearly unless the trans cooler leaks, which can put water in the gear oil too...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Well finally got the boat back. Outdrive failed the vacuum test so result was a complete reseal job of both the upper and lower. $1000 including parts and labor.

Interesting is that my neighbor has the same boat/year/outdrive and he needed a reseal job this off season also. (2000 H180, 4.3L GL, Volvo SX)



Also put in new U-joints and had him completely refinish the outdrive which now looks great and it looked like crap before.

Trying SCATT this summer to try to prevent growth...we'll see.