Milky outdrive oil

[further]

Started the winterization process today and figured I'd change out the gear oil first. Well it's as milky as milky oil gets....

A little background, purchased this boat last fall and had the prop shaft seal replaced by the dealer because I noticed it was leaking during the inspection. When I took delivery of the boat, before putting in my slip for the season, I decided it was best for me to do a full service on the outdrive because I didn't trust the dealer and wanted to install fresh bellows. So I pulled the outdrive and there was gear oil in the old bellows.... Opened the outdrive vent and gear oil came out, opened the drain and gear oil came out.... dealer overfilled the outdrive so I figured, the oil in the bellows was due to the pressure from the outdrive being overfilled. So drained, cleaned everything up and pressure tested. Held pressure and vacuum per spec. Installed new bellows, refilled outdrive and all new o rings.. All good.

So now since the bellows is new, prop shaft seals are new and outdrive held pressure and vacuum in the beginning of the season what could've caused the water infiltration?

I have to winterize the motor and need to run it to change the oil and fog. So the plan is to refill the outdrive w/ new oil and get my winterziation done. Should I flush the outdrive (fill with oil and drain again or can I just fill it and run the motor for winterization - maybe like 30 mins of run time total).

Once I'm done with winterization I will remove the outdrive, check the bellows (hopefully no water or gear oil there) and pressure/vacuum test and see whats going on...

 

[Scott Danforth]

So now since the bellows is new, prop shaft seals are new and outdrive held pressure and vacuum in the beginning of the season what could've caused the water infiltration?

pull the drive, drain it and pressure test it, find the leak

you could have caught a fishing line and taken out the prop shaft seal

you could have a bad seal on the input shaft

you could have a bad seal between the two halfs

you could have a leaking drain plug seal.

 

[alldodge]

Check for play in the prop shaft.

 

[further]

Pulled the drive... no water in the bellows but a bit clean gear oil. Why would there be clean gear oil in the bellows??? Confused...

Check for play in the prop shaft.

Prop shaft has no play at all... everything is in good shape and no sign of fishing line or anything odd at the prop shaft.

Will pressure/vacuum test tomorrow.

 

[alldodge]

Water in the drive would come from the prop shaft, lube in the drive shaft comes from the shaft seal.

 

[further]

Had a chance to put the pressure tester on it this evening. Followed the manual. Pumped 5 psi first and rotated prop shaft and input shaft as well as moved gear lever both forward and reverse- no drop. Increased pressure to 18psi and did the same routine - so far not budging... guess I’ll leave it overnight. Will check vacuum tomorrow. This is the same test I did and it passed both in the beginning of the season. If it holds pressure and vacuum what else could cause water intrusion into the oil and clean oil into the bellows? Could the seals be on there way out and weaken under load?

 

[further]

I should stop jumping to conclusions... Pressure was down this morning from 18 to about 5PSI so there is a leak somewhere. Planning to start going through it with the soapy water solution tonight.

So I know I have a bad shaft seal due to the gear oil in the bellows - will start researching the process to replace those seals... Difficult? Special tools required?

Should I worry about flushing the outdrive internals with something due to the water that was in the oil? If so, what should I use? If its something other than gear oil.

Thanks

 

[Scott Danforth]

Pulled the drive... no water in the bellows but a bit clean gear oil. Why would there be clean gear oil in the bellows??? Confused...



Prop shaft has no play at all... everything is in good shape and no sign of fishing line or anything odd at the prop shaft.

Will pressure/vacuum test tomorrow.

you would have clean gear lube in the bellows area if your input shaft seal or the sealing washer for the bearing failed.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you need the factory manual to pull the input shaft. there are a few special tools, I use the linear scale method for setting the pre-load on the bearings.

 

[BRICH1260]

While you are at it, you might want to go ahead and separate the upper and lower halves and replace the two seals in there too.

 

[further]

Well.... It's the damn prop shaft seal that's leaking. Showed right up with the soapy water. Annoying - the dealer replaced before I took delivery of the boat in May - They actually put in a whole new bearing carrier cause they broke the original trying to get it out.
Anyway, now I've got to decide whether or not I wanna tackle this and the input shaft seal on my own. Reading through the factory manual, looks like there's some expensive special tools needed and shimming, rolling torque that i'm not familiar with. Uggghhh what to do

 

[alldodge]

The water "might" also be what caused the upper seal to leak. Water will expand and create more pressure when it heats up due to expansion. Might not have don't know right now

Have not done a VP drive but rolling torque is measured on the upper drive shaft

 

[further]

The water "might" also be what caused the upper seal to leak. Water will expand and create more pressure when it heats up due to expansion. Might not have don't know right now

Have not done a VP drive but rolling torque is measured on the upper drive shaft

Ok thanks for the info. I’m reading though, that the prop shaft bearing carrier needs to be shimmed and rolling torque done as well but maybe that’s if bearings are being replaced? Would I just remove the bearing carrier, replace the o ring and seal (hopefully the shims that are there are reusable) and just put it back and torque it to spec?

 

[Scott Danforth]

I use a digital scale and a string to set rolling torque. if you can pull a string and read numbers on a scale and own a vice to hold the upper transmission, you can set rolling torque

Volvo switched to crush spacers in the upper gear case in the late 80's

regarding the bearing carrier, it will be similar, however using shims.

 

[further]

Ok so I think I’m going to try and tackle this. Starting with the input/driveshaft seal first. I pulled the input shaft bearing carrier out this evening and it came out fine. Shims are in good shape so I will reuse them. If I’m just replacing the seal and oring do I need to mess with the bearing and crush sleeve? The seal sits above the bearing so it shouldn’t be bothered? Get the new seal and oring in, reassemble and tighten gear back to shaft to proper torques spec? Am I on the right track?

 

[Lubak572]

Following I have same issue on a DP-SM Duoprop......

 

[Lubak572]

Any updates? I will be doing this soon.

 

[cptbill]

When I had that problem it turned out to be a shift shaft seal, very easy to change mine was on DP-SM

 

[further]

Any updates? I will be doing this soon.

Nope no updates - I took the prop shaft housing out and noticed that there were no shims installed - per the manual and my previous experience, there are supposed to be shims... I'm thinking that the dealer I purchased the boat from last fall (who replaced the prop shaft seal - ended up breaking the housing and getting another one never properly shimmed the housing which may explain why the seal went so quickly. So since I'm not going to venture into the measurements necessary to shim the housing, I'm going to take the whole out drive to a shop near me and have them finish the job.