1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

[kwagner]

Greetings,
I trailer my 1988 Glastron (Mercruiser/3.0L/Alpha I) and have recently been running it on hoses on the driveway. I noticed that the top of the Alpah I drive (near the Bell Housing) was getting what i think is unusually very HOT (very hot to the touch - although not hot enough to burn my hand). The Bell Housing is also HOT but again, not "burning" hot and not as hot as the top of the outdrive.
Is this typical when not having the drive submerged in water? The engine temp seems to be running normal, and all other areas of the drive seem to be normal/cool to the touch and water seems to be flowing through the ear muffs normally (I don't see any missing hoses, etc....).
Is this something to be concerned about?? (i.e. is a future meltdown of some sort in my future???)

 

[ziggy]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

i have no experience with your question. but i do have a comment....
my one drive would get warm on the top of the cap for the upper too. used to anyways. i had a bit of water intrusion so went through the routine. checking the ft. seal of the drive was one of the things to do. during the inspection process. i found that my drive gear brg.s were blued. this was a reason to replace these brgs. with the new ones installed. i find that the top of my drive is no longer hardly even warm. i'm finding less white chalk that devolops on the drive too from boiling the water off and leaving the minerals behind on highspeed runs. my guess for the running cooler is that i replaced brgs. that were not running as smooth as could be. i assume that the blued brgs. would have failed in the end. just my 2cent worth....

 

[kwagner]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

thanks Ziggy - sounds like you had the same symptoms. I will look into the bearings - hopefully it's the same solution for an Alpha One.

 

[kwagner]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

i popped the top off and checked out the bearings. I do not see any unusual wear or coloring. To my novice eyes everything looked fine.

 

[Bondo]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

Ayuh,.... Did you see any Oil,..??..??

 

[ziggy]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

Did you see any Oil,..??..??

seems like that would be a very good first thing to check for sure.... as for the blue brgs. kwagner. i couldn't see the bluing until the brgs. were in my hand..

this is the best pic i have of the old brgs. note in the upper right hand corner ya can see an outer race.... quite blue... inner race discolored also... when held next to the new ones ya could really see the discoloration of the old ones. they had gotten hot.... i don't think ya'll see much looking down from the top, under the cover as these brgs are on the drive gear yoke which ya can't see unless ya take the retainer nut off and slide the drive gear and yoke assy out + disassemble this assy......only reason i replaced them was because bluing (discoloration) would be a question as to weather the brg. is good or not. and when that question arises. the thing to do is replace them.
i did nothing else to the drive other than R&R these brgs. as i was only going for the ft. seal and found the brgs. while in route to the seal to be non serviceable. the temp difference between before and after on the top cover, after a run, or on the hose, was very noticeable... i was not trying to cure any heat issue. but i have to assume that the replacement was the reason for the temp difference noted as nothing else was changed other than these brgs and the ft. seal....

 

[kwagner]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

Bondo - yup, there was oil and it looked fine. Ziggy - looks like i will need to dissassmble to get a look at the bearings - I will not have the time to do that in the near future (this week/next wk), if i do find time to disassemble i will keep you posted on progress... thanks again guys!

 

[larspeterson]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L - Alpha I outdrive HOT

I have the same issue with my alpha one drive. In my case the whole engine shaft is getting hot and overheating my flex plate. The top of the drive will get hot to the touch when the boat is on step, but seams fine at low speeds when the drive is covered in water.

The gimbal bearing and ujoint are new, so I don't think they are the cause of the heat. Where are the brgs? and how do you replace them?