Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

[ShaneCarroll]

Ok, so I replaced the outdrive today. Got the new one on, and got it all hooked up. Hooked it up to the muffs for a test run, the boat has not been run for two months. It was a little slow to start, but it finally started and purred like a kitten.

The Good News: I FINALLY HAVE FORWARD AND REVERSE!!!

The Bad News: I tightened the outdrive as tight as I felt comfortable (the 6 main bolts), without stripping the bolts. On the port side, by where the water passage o-ring is, there is a small water leak shooting out right there. It is very small, about the size of a pinhole in a water balloon (bad comparison, I know). There is also one on the top port side, spitting some water out as well.

My question is this: I replaced the gasket, and the o-rings. Everything is lined up, the gasket fits perfectly, the o-ring is in there for the water. Should I just tighten the bolts more, is there something I am missing, or do you put silicone or some kind of sealant around there?

 

[TowRoper]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

hiya, did you use any sealant on the gasket and did you follow the torque sequence on the 6 bolts?

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

I did not read anything about putting sealant on that gasket, as the gasket has that red line going all the way around.

 

[dubs283]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

no sealant required for the gasket

glue water passage o-ring in place with bellows adhesive

i see you are in FL, is this a salt water boat?? if so is there corrosion on the drive/bellhousing mating surfaces??

did you clean all old gasket material off before installing new??

 

[Don S]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

Please tell me you didn't try to reuse the old gaskets, seal rings and orings.

You did make sure all of the old gaskets were removed. They like to stay on the drive or bellhousing and go un-noticed, which keeps the drive from fitting the gasket surface perfectly flat.

If you missed either of the above, pull the drive and fix it.

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

Oh no, I bought a new gasket set. I made sure all remnants of the old gasket were removed. Now, the new set came with the large rubber ring, which is self-explanatory. I put that one on, the new o-ring for the water passage, and the two slots on the shaft for o-rings, but there was an extra one. I used all new supplies, and tightened it.

Now, this is a saltwater boat, but I made sure all corrosion was cleaned away, and there was not much to begin with. Would it be feasible to put sealant on the outside? I know it would be a royal PITA to remove for future use, but would it work?

 

[Don S]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

As much as you don't want to hear it, time to pull the drive back off and look at the surfaces, and recheck everything.
Using gasket sealer to cure the leak is nothing more than a way to cover a leak without knowing why it was leaking. Besides, it probably wouldn't work, and even if it did, it shouldn't have.

Find the REAL problem, don't just cover it up. Mechanical things don't heal, they get worse.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

The Bad News: I tightened the outdrive as tight as I felt comfortable (the 6 main bolts), without stripping the bolts.

That is probably not wise. It would be best if you use a torque wrench there. Autozone will lend you one for free. The nuts should be torqued to 50 ft. lb. If you overtighten them you could make the situation worse.

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

Ok, I will be taking the outdrive off first thing in the morning. Now, just to clarify, the gear lube monitor does not have an o-ring, correct? I know that the water passage has the o-ring, which I made sure was in place. So, is it best not to use sealant for the gasket? I remember the first time I took the outdrive off there was no sealant, however, that gasket was pretty much shredded. Now, by any chance, I believe that I may have had the wrong gasket when I changed my gimbal bearing, etc., would that cause the lower unit oil to leak out? Also, any ideas of what to do with the old outdrive?

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

Well, here's the deal: I loosened the outdrive, to see if I could find what was causing the leak. The water passage o-ring had slipped out of place, no big deal, I thought, I will just put it in place with some pliers. Of course things are easier said than done. The o-ring fell down in the outdrive somewhere, so I had to take the outdrive completely off and shake it a little for that thing to fall out. Finally I got it and put it in the proper place. I ran it on muffs for almost five minutes, and no leak! I took it out Sunday afternoon, and for the first time in a long time, everything was great (I'm still kind of skeptical, as things normally don't go smooth for me). I brought the boat in, due to a storm cutting our day short, and flushed it on the muffs again. No leak, so all is well.

The final question I have is regarding that large foam type ring that goes around the u-joint casing (for lack of a better term, the black plastic ring surrounding the u-joints, with the teeth). Now, that ring does not fit cleanly inside the bell housing, it kind of gets smashed and "fills the gaps" around the top of the outdrive. Is this correct? I mean, it's serving its purpose, and I could tell before replacing the outdrive that it wouldn't go cleanly into the housing. Since it is not rubber like the others, I am guessing they intended it to do this?

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: Never Ending Outdrive Woes. . .

mine was the same way but when i replaced it i glued it in place down inside bell
against the step then put outdrive on,