gear oil leaking from prop area, HARD FIX????

[gride830]

Motor sat for about 5 years and i've brought it back from a long time off.....ran it for the first time last week on the muffs and put it back in the garage.....a couple days later, there was a puddle of gear oil on the ground....closer inspection: coming out from bottom side of prop.....Im guessing its some sort of shaft oil seal......
looked at a book to fix this problem and there were a lot of specialty tools.....what i want to know is how hard is this fix????how long should it take and should i try it myself or take it to a shop.....
45hp mercury 1986 classic fifty

 

[blazer81.6]

Re: gear oil leaking from prop area, HARD FIX????

Just took my 200 EFI lower unit apart without any special tools. For my first time it wasn't too bad, disassembly was about a hour. I would do it myself, go ahead an install the seal kit.

 

[BoobieBouncer]

Re: gear oil leaking from prop area, HARD FIX????

I replaced the prop shaft seals on my lower unit by myself and it was a pain in the butt...

I didn't have any of the specialty tools so each step was a lot harder than it should be.

If you don't want to buy the tools then you should take it to a shop...

 

[jtlee]

Re: gear oil leaking from prop area, HARD FIX????

i was in same case as you are my 25hp sat for 4+ years. once i got it started
i ran on muffs for 20 or 30 min after a carb rebuild and when i put it back in the shop i noticed oil puddle on the floor under prop. consulted with local
boat mech and for 3 beer minimum labor charge he stooped by to look and told me it was unburnt 2 cycle oil (through hub exaust)from running at low rpms on the muffs. i have had it on the lake twice now and have had no problems. but i have been checking the foot oil each trip to see if any water intrusion or low oil and have not noticed any.

good luck to ya maybe yours will be simple too

 

[BoobieBouncer]

Re: gear oil leaking from prop area, HARD FIX????

That's a good point.

Check your lower unit oil and see if water got in.

If you didn't run the motor in the water check the amount of oil in lower unit.

 

[sparkncarl]

Re: gear oil leaking from prop area, HARD FIX????

I tried getting to my seal on a 75 Merc 9.8 and busted part of the casing. Cast aluminum isn't that tough. I wish I had bought the right tools. Any ways I fiberglassed the broken part and it seems to be holding. Looks ok too. The big problem was my water pump seal which I replaced. It was still leaking a little so last night I drained it and poured in some transmission seal repair stuff....lol. It's suppose to expand old seals I think. I'll drain it and refill it with the right stuff after it sits for a bit. I'll keep ya posted !!!

Some of my crazy ideas have actually worked !! Empty wallets lead to creative thinking !!

 

[Arkman]

Re: gear oil leaking from prop area, HARD FIX????

I just redid the seals on mine...I ran mine in a test bucket and found a thick layer of oil on the top of the water and cream filling in the lower unit. Its a 20hp merc. When I did it the only special tool I needed was a cover nut tool. I brought it in to a shop and he got it off for me. It wasn't very hard, but get a service manual. Check your local library, thats where I got mine.

I had a bunch a fishing line that cut up the seal right behind the prop. Now its all better. If only my motor would stay running now!