Milky oil in 280 drive and drive Bellow

[peejcj8]

I just went to service drive and found water in the drive. I then checked the Bellow by loosening the clamp and milky drive oil came out of the bellow.

The Bellow looked ok, 3 years old. I found a split oring on the drain screw, but I did not notice any leaking oil. I pressure checked the drive and found it would hold 15-20# of pressure after a couple of hours.

I jumped in on another thread and was advised that I needed to rotate the drive while pressure testing. I thought about pressure testing the drive and running the engine (boat is on trailer) and then checking for pressure and a leak into the bellow. Any advice on doing this? would the drive be expected to hold pressure when rotating?

I ordered a drive bellow and will remove the upper drive to do this. I will inspect the u-joints and the drive side of the intermediate shaft seals (as best I can).

I have looked into how to replace the input shaft seals on the upper drive, and I cannot seem to find specific info on doing this. I did find a youtube video on doing it, but he still removed the shift plate and the top cover for whatever reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5GYcGKYRs8

I intend on replacing the seals and Orings for the input shaft when I remove the upper drive. The video shows 2 orings and a seal. He also inspected the collar washer (that the seal mates to) at 17:00 in the video and found it was pitted with corrosion.

So my main question is, what is the seal kit PN and or the individual pn's for these seals? what is the PN for the collar washer? I see lots of gasket and seal kits,but they look to be for the entire drive.

Is it best to get VP seals, or is sierra ok?

 

[Fishermark]

Since you have to drain the drive of oil before pressure testing it - then no, you do not want to run the engine while pressure testing it.

 

[captmello]

Resealing the upper is not an easy task. Are you boating in salt water? I would hold off on the reseal since the outdrive holds pressure. You can always do it later. If the oring was leaking and the the outdrive got overfull, it may have pushed the milky water into the bellows. Or the bellows was leaking and the outdrive sucked the water in during cooldown. Either way, one step at a time. IMO.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Drive needs to be empty to pressure test. Volvo drives are both pressure and vacuum tested. If you found water in the u-joint bellows, my guess the input shaft seal and thrust washer needs to be replaced. That means you need to re-shim or get a new crush sleaze (year dependant)

 

[peejcj8]

Since you have to drain the drive of oil before pressure testing it - then no, you do not want to run the engine while pressure testing it.

I pressure tested while drained and pressure tested when filled. They advertise the testers as being able to pressurize and look for oil leaks. I guess that's BS?

 

[peejcj8]

Resealing the upper is not an easy task. Are you boating in salt water? I would hold off on the reseal since the outdrive holds pressure. You can always do it later. If the oring was leaking and the the outdrive got overfull, it may have pushed the milky water into the bellows. Or the bellows was leaking and the outdrive sucked the water in during cooldown. Either way, one step at a time. IMO.

Yeah, Im in Saltwater. I keep it trailered, but was about to put boat in slip for a few months. I was checking everything out before doing that and found the issues.

I think ill replace the Bellow and take a look at everything, put back together and pressure test and do a vacuum test this time, spin the drive while testing. If it holds pressure ill run it a few times and check the drive oil again.

 

[peejcj8]

Drive needs to be empty to pressure test. Volvo drives are both pressure and vacuum tested. If you found water in the u-joint bellows, my guess the input shaft seal and thrust washer needs to be replaced. That means you need to re-shim or get a new crush sleaze (year dependant)

Its a 1979 outdrive, which had a duoprop lower installed at some point.

 

[peejcj8]

No Title

Here are the pictures after I removed the upper drive. I knew there was water, but need advice on the damage. I ran the motor before removing and it seemed a great deal of oil moved into the bellow again.

 

[PatinIdaho]

Judging from the rust on the bearings you had a seal fail and let water into the drive. Pretty sure it needs rebuild with new bearings and resealed. How is the lower unit?

 

[peejcj8]

everything seems to work fine. Everything rotates as it should. I have not removed the lower unit, is there any way to tell if it is damaged. The outdrive was functioning fine before I went to drain the oil and found the water.

Tearing the outdrive down and replacing the bearings sounds like a lot of money and work, is that really needed?

 

[bruceb58]

Another thing that you need to check is the bearing in the bellhousing.

Surprised the bellows leak at 3 years old unless it was not an OEM bellows. Always use OEM bellows on these drives.

 

[captmello]

I don't see where the bearings are rusty...If the lube from the outdrive is getting in the bellows like you suspect, you will have to replace the seal in the upper. And as mentioned before, you'll need to reshim to achieve the correct bearing preload, its not the crush washer type.

I agree with Bruce, check the flywheel cover bearings. Since the upper is off, you can grab the PDS (primary drive shaft) and feel for any slop. there should be none, in, out, side to side. Its the shaft the ujoint yoke slips over.

 

[peejcj8]

There a little bit of movement in the intermediate shaft, about a mil or two up and down and side to side. I don't recall if there was any slop when I installed the bell housing on this engine 4 years ago. I had a buddy with a shop install the bearings and the shaft when I replaced the engine.

So there should be no play huh?

Is there anyway I can pull the outer seal and inspect and reinstall a new seal without removing engine?

 

[peejcj8]

No Title

I do not believe the bellows leaked, but they were not OEM. I did pull the seal out the rear to look at the bearing and this is what I found. I think its time to yoyo the engine again.

Anyone have good after market part number for the bearings? I have the seals already

 

[bruceb58]

Looks like u-joints failed at one time and wiped out the flange that the boot sits on.

 

[peejcj8]

No Title

After replacing the intermediate shaft seals and bearings, I installed the upper and performed a pressure test. I could hear air leaking out the intermediate shaft, when I broke the seal on the bellow, air gushed out. So I decided to remove the input shaft and replace the seals and orings. The only difficult part was the removal of the 4 housing bolts, 3 came out with heat and a bit of effort. 1 bolt stripped and needed to be drilled out. Its nice having a marine machinist as a neighbor! I have it all apart and im about to purchase the seals and orings.