Water intrusion into drive oil (pics)

[DoubleWasp]

Glastron 25'
Mercruiser Bravo III Outdrive

Noticed one of the drives being drained had some odd looking fluid coming out, typical of water contamination. Milky, nasty, brown. Real typical.



Look at the gimbal ring made it obvious where it was getting in.



How does this happen? Well, you just remove an outdrive, paint the whole thing, including the old o-rings, and slap it back together. Then, the salt water just comes right into everything.




Don't know who the owner paid to destroy his $9,000 outdrive, but I sure hope it at least came cheap.

 

[Donald]

What about the seal at the prop shaft? Mercruiser gear lube starts out snot green.

 

[DoubleWasp]

It's a possibility as well, but the entire drive is going to be disassembled, inspected, and have all bad parts replaced anyway. New seals all around.

Cavity for the drive oil reservoir is full of rust and scale, so it was at least getting into the drive from there.

 

[Doog]

Time for a rebuild.

 

[4wheeldog]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp

Don't know who the owner paid to destroy his $9,000 outdrive, but I sure hope it at least came cheap.

"It is obvious that whoever did this, did it himself!"

Line I heard from an old mechanic I knew, when someone would hint that a third party had screwed the pooch.

 

[Donald]

After its done, before any gear lube, both a pressure and vacuum test by someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[DoubleWasp]

I don't let any of my guys play with these. I have a very good relationship with a certified Mercruiser tech of 36 years who does all of our outdrive internal work. Most of the best offshore guys in our area rely on him.

 

[BigCahuna]

From the looks of it you have several things going on there. It's possible they used the wrong paint on the aluminum out drive. Either no zincs or they painted over them. A bad seal on the prop shaft that's letting water in. Probably from fishing line wrapped around behind the prop.They might have tried to reused the out drive gasket. And the bellows may not have had the right sealant used if they replaced it.An electrical issue may be causing a electrolysis condition. Not too many other thing left to check.,,

 

[DoubleWasp]

They painted over everything, barnacles and all. New bellows are on the list, and grounding cables are being replaced. New Zincs all around too.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
They painted over everything, barnacles and all. New bellows are on the list, and grounding cables are being replaced. New Zincs all around too.


Painting an aluminum outdrive is not all that easy.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Telling me. It's a royal son of a B, and doesn't come cheap. Once you add the soda blasting to get all of the old trashed out paint off, it adds up quick.