WATER IN LOWER UNIT, AND OIL LEAKING OUT

[fishnut000]

I RECENTLY REPLACED THE IMPELLER IN THE LOWER END AND WHEN PUTTING IT BACK TO GETHER, I FILLED IT WITH OIL, AND NOTICED OIL LEAKING OUT THE SMALL HOLD AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LOWER UNIT BEHIND THE PROP. WHAT IS THIS SMALL HOLE, IT IS ALWAYS OPENED? ANYHOW I FILLED IT WITH OIL, AND IT QUIT LEAKING, NOT ALOT LEAKED OUT, NOW I HEARD A WINING IN MY UPPER DRIVE THE OTHER DAY, AND WHEN I CHECKED THE OIL, ALL THAT DRAINED OUT WAS WATER, WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM??? I REFILLED THE OUTDRIVE WITH OIL, AND IT NEVER CAME OUT OF THE TOP PLUG, IT CAME OUT FROM BEHIND THE OUTDRIVE, ALSO THE SMALL HOLE WHICH I MENTIONED BEFORE AND ALSO FROM BEHIND THE PROP?? DID I OVERFILL, OR IS THEIR POSSIBLY ANOTHER PROBLEM??, I STARTED IT UP AGROUND WITH A HOSE ATTACHED AND RAN IT FOR A FEW MINUTES AND CHECKED THE OIL AND IT LOOKED MILKY, CAN YOU ASSIST ME IN FINDING THE PROBLEM.. BOTH OF MY PLUGS HAVE GASKETS, AND IT OBVIOUSLY GOT THE WATER THRU THE HOSE I ATTACHED SOMEHOW??????/THANKS FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE...MARIE...

 

[Hooty]

Re: WATER IN LOWER UNIT, AND OIL LEAKING OUT

I'd guess is the lower water pump seal is leaking.<br /><br />c/6<br />Hooty

 

[Ben Konopacky]

Re: WATER IN LOWER UNIT, AND OIL LEAKING OUT

fishnut000; is this unit an I/O, if so you can get more info from the I/O Forum. But I do beleive you have a bad case of worn out seals and possable pitted shaft seal area.Drop the unit and overhall the out drive and h2o pump while your at it. get a manual,also a mod.& sn.# would help us to help YOU. Good Luck.

 

[WildWillJAX]

Re: WATER IN LOWER UNIT, AND OIL LEAKING OUT

Generally speaking, most lower gear cases have a set of seals located in a shaft support bearing housing located under the water pump assembly. If these seals are worn, damaged, or incorrectly installed they fail to prevent oil from staying inside the gear case, and fail to prevent water intrusion into the gear case. If the oil that you initially drained out of the gear case prior to replacing the impeller was uncontaminated and without the signs of water chances are your impeller replacement project resulted in damage to the seals. Another way to damage these seals is by overfilling your lower gearcase with lube oil and then operating the motor. When the lower gear/s turn it whips the lube oil and along with friction of moving parts causes the lube to heat up, expand and over pressurize the lower case. This excess pressure can cause old seals to fail or cause new seals to "roll" back away from the polished machined surface of the shaft. Once "rolled" the seals are damaged and replacement is needed. Most manuals recommend draining a specified ammount of lube oil OUT of the gear case after filling to allow for this expansion.<br />The small holes located in the lower unit casing are generally vent/drain holes for water to drain out when the boat is out of the water. Draining is needed to prevent the case from freezing up and cracking when the weather gets cold.<br />Hope this helps<br />WildWillJAX