leaky driveshaft seal Q

[catfishcarl99]

force 507y9b 1989 50 hp. last few weeks ive noticed some white oil draining frow the joint between the lower and upper leg. where you seperate to change out the impeller. when the engine is in the upright position for trailering the next day i see the trail from the front of the joint down to the skeg. small trail but enough to get my attention. i checked the lower oil and it was dark blueish and no sign of water present. so i wrote it off as just excess from the engine exaust or something.

well a while back i posted about installing a new buzzer and an idiot light for a warning. well jerrys buzzer and my red light both worked flawlessly thurs night. i was behind my son letting hin steer us and the buzzer and light came on. i shut the engine down. we trolled about 1/2 a mile to the bridge and i turned key on. no buzzer so i refired engine and was taking it slow 5mph to get us in. we were still about a mile. the tell tale i installed on it was working and seemed ok. thinking new impeller. so i gas it up to wot and my oldest son said dad the water stopped. i looked back and pulled her down to 1/4 throttle and water flowed again. so we just cruised in at 6-7 mph. idled fine at dock but i could tell the two exause holes in the rear had far less flow than they should but they were working a little. no buzzer. we cleaned some fish and came home.

i got on ebay that night at 2am and got an impeller ordered. next day i dropped lower and found a puddle of the white oil in the front of the lower sitting where the shift shaft is. when i remover the impeller housing it had that oil in it. it appears the upper seal on the drive shaft directly below the wear plate has been letting oil seep out. it appeared a bit coroded but the drive shaft would bounce from air pressure so the rubber was ok and holding air but definatly needs replaced. my Qs are the oil. could that have messed up flow from impeller? lubing the housing up like that. the impeller is good and shows NO signs of any wear and is only a season old.

the round ends havent even began to flat spot and no weather cracking ect. looks like a new one. i got the new ordered one in but i think this ones fine and the oil caused the problem. i cleaned and dried all the oil from the lower and pulled out shaft and gear oil is fine. no water in just oil out. put in justa squirt and it was full again so its trace amounts. i got the seal ordered but put the lower back on. water flow is good and strong now. you can see the oil around the housing and shift shaft.
this was soon as i dropped it.

hows them seals come out? pair of needle nose and yank lol. never changed one. thanks.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: leaky driveshaft seal Q

Better pics of the seals.Pressure test?
Order the seal and that will determine the way it comes out??Pic?
The buzzer comming on? Maybe the old sender shorting out?
The new grounding out?
Does it still do it?
Maybe the pump wan't installed right? The pickup tube blocked

 

[catfishcarl99]

Re: leaky driveshaft seal Q

the thermoswitch was replaced brand new this spring when i put the buzzer and light in. pump was fine. ive changed many and its been in all year with no problems. ive had boat out 20+ times. no problems till the oil appeared. im pretty sure the sending unit was working as the tell tale wasnt flowing when it came on, thats the first thing i checked. and last night in a tub it ran for 20-30 min and no issues. water flowing good. tell tale was working. (of course this was all after i cleaned out top of unit and the housing and wiped off impeller) the seal is pictured below part number 26-F40307-2 via force parts on the model number. the white seal on the housing of pump had the white oil residue in it. but water seems to be flowing out the rear leg holes now and the tell tale.

seal is shipped and should be here by weeks end.

the lower is back on for the test last night so i cant get a pic of the seal right now. ive cleaned two atv carbs this week as well im mechanically pooped lol. but i noticed the top of seal didnt look good. the inner rubber right at the shaft looked ok but the outer around it looked rough.

 

[catfishcarl99]

Re: leaky driveshaft seal Q

seal came today. looks like its just simple rubber. pull out with needle nose and tap new one down in. theres a spring around the driveshaft seal that helps it grip. think thats where the corossion was from on the old. the rest it rubber so the only thing that could have coroded is the spring.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: leaky driveshaft seal Q

If the whole seal came out easily with a needle nose pliers, the seat is corroded. It takes a good amount of pressure to push in the new one and a correctly seated seal will be almost always destroyed upon removal. Thus, you do have a leak and had better clean the seating area before installing the new seal. Use Permatex to fill in any irregularities in the aluminum.

The spring is stainless and is called a Garter Spring. Yes, it does maintain pressure on the seal lip. And it is called a garter because it resembles a woman's garter--you do remember them, don't you?

I can not tell from the photo, but ALL these seals have a stainless steel shell. SO: If you only removed rubber, then the interface where the rubber was molded into the steel shell has failed. Go back and remove the steel shell before trying to install the new seal

 

[catfishcarl99]

Re: leaky driveshaft seal Q

i havent remover anything yet. the seal that was leaking oil was the one under the wear plate. the first stop up from the pinion gear under the waterpump. i saw somered rust looking stuff on the seal between the rubber hole the shaft goes in and the outer edge. right where the spring would be. ill be working on it tomorrow getting it out.

ok frank the steel i hope is molded in the seal right. second pic. because the outer is all rubber im assuming presses in? the silver ring on the second pic is the bottom and is metal. im hoping this is what you ment? i checked the part numbers and this is the one it said. the stuff i said that looked corroder was a redish rusty looking stuff that basically filled the valley below the garter spring. in not even sure the spring was there as is was caked full. ill know more tomorrow. the drive seal part sticks up a little past the outer ring. any suggestions on getting it in. im a bit nervous on using a dowel rod and smashing the drive shaft part.

the lower unit and alum on the outer of the seal looks fine. all the rusty stuff i seen was confined to the valley in the rubber around and below the spring.

the pic ove the lower was just to show that oil was in and around the water pump. basically what i did was drop lower to change what i thought to be a bad impeller and found the oil. then cleaned it all up and found the impeller to look as good as the new one i was holding. and seen the seal looked bad. so i cleaned the housing and impeller all up and put lower back on and tested the impeller after the oil was removed. and it seemed to work fine then and ordered the seal that night. so now i just got to drop and replace this and see if that takes care of it. if not then im guessing the shift shaft seal is the next on the list.:facepalm: since the impeller had oil in it and the seal for the water lift tube i assumed the drive seal first. had i known it was $5 shipped ide looked into the shift seal too just so i know they were new. still might. this darn 50 never died all year after i replaced the coil and cdi. just needs some maintence on these lil things.

 

[catfishcarl99]

Re: leaky driveshaft seal Q

well now i see what was corroded. the garter spring faces down. it was the sleeve inside thats exposed was corroded bad. heres some pics. in pic 4 the oil on the towel was from the lower. still dark no whitish at all. seems like maybe the impeller was sucking some oil from the lower but no water was getting in. the seal seat looked ok.

 

[catfishcarl99]

Re: leaky driveshaft seal Q

few more after i cleaned it up. tapped the seal in with a socket and rubber mallet. think ill finish the season if its not leaking bad still and replace the shift seal as well. maybe the prop seal too while im at it. if the water tube seal looks now thats cause it is. i replaced it last week. i had bought it a long time ago and didnt replace it then since it looked ok but tossed it on last week when i had this apart the first time.