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View Full Version : Where the hell is my drive oil going...?



fogducker III
02-12-2011, 10:36 AM
I have not had the chance to splash the boat yet after the rebuild but I have ran it up in the driveway, everything looks good EXCEPT my drive oil resorvoir........:confused:

I have topped it up three times now and each time it drains down, granted, slower drain down each time.....there is no leaks inside or outside the boat......I am assuming one of two things, either I had a major air block or there is an internal leak....if it is the latter, where the hell is all the oil going? Into the drive bellows or...?????

I really don't want to pull the drive again, major PITA doing it by yourself, so is there a difinative way of telling what is happening? Thanks.

BTW. Bravo 1 drive.....all new mating surface O rings and gaskets....:wink:

yeller
02-12-2011, 12:22 PM
Hey Jeremy, not sure how you filled your drive, but when I do mine, I fill from the bottom until it comes out the top, then I plug the bottom and fill from the top until it starts filling the reservoir. That way I know there is no air in the system. If that's what you did, I'd have to guess internal leak.

fogducker III
02-12-2011, 12:36 PM
Hey Jeremy, not sure how you filled your drive, but when I do mine, I fill from the bottom until it comes out the top, then I plug the bottom and fill from the top until it starts filling the reservoir. That way I know there is no air in the system. If that's what you did, I'd have to guess internal leak.

I actually filled the drive while it was off the boat during the rebuild, but when installed I usually do it the way you describe, if it is an "internal" leak, where do you think the oil is going.....:confused::confused:

Conquistador_del_mar
02-12-2011, 12:44 PM
Hey Jeremy, not sure how you filled your drive, but when I do mine, I fill from the bottom until it comes out the top, then I plug the bottom and fill from the top until it starts filling the reservoir. That way I know there is no air in the system. If that's what you did, I'd have to guess internal leak.

Is there possibly a small amount of air that gets trapped in the upper cap of the outdrive until it is run? I don't know where the reservoir passage enters the outdrive, but trapped air might be the cause. Just a thought. Bill

fogducker III
02-12-2011, 01:52 PM
Is there possibly a small amount of air that gets trapped in the upper cap of the outdrive until it is run? I don't know where the reservoir passage enters the outdrive, but trapped air might be the cause. Just a thought. Bill


That is what I am hoping is happening, it just worries me that I filled up the resorvoir three times, seemed like a lot.....:confused:

The reservoir passage enters the outdrive via a rubber line through the gimbal and fastened to a brass nipple on the inside of the gimbal bell housing, there is a spring loaded one way valve attached to the outside of the gimbal bell housing that slides into a passage in the mating surface of the upper drive that has a spring loaded ball bearing that keeps the oil in the drive when removed, when the outdrive is attached to the gimbal bell housing the spring loaded valve on the bell housing inserts into the upper oil passage and the gear oil can flow in or out as needed, there is a rubber O ring around this fitting that I made 100% sure I had in place due to past experience....:bonk:

This is what I am confused about, if there is some sort of internal leak or something not seated right, WHERE would the gear oil be going....:confused:

MOP
02-12-2011, 03:06 PM
I have a home made tank it measures 4"wX2"dX6"h About four time the size of the Merc tank, It will drop about an inch after a pretty careful fill job. I does it in a few stages, every time the drive warms up it burps a little more air. The Merc tank being so small can give you the willies watching go down.

Phil

axelkloehn
02-12-2011, 03:23 PM
did you do a drive oil refill after installing the drive? If not and the drive was not kept upright in your garage you have a big air bubble inside.

RedDog
02-13-2011, 11:04 AM
Last summer I had a seal on the input shaft leaking. The oil was going into the gimbal bellows. The only way to tell is to pull the drive and see if you have excess oil in the bellows

mrfixxall
02-13-2011, 11:52 AM
After you refilled the drive and if you laid it on its side then you have just created a air pocket..between the excess air gap between the space at the top of the drive and the reservoir it should take a extra 3/4 of a qt. if you put more than that in then pull the drive and look in the bellows for oil,,,if you put the nose of the boat down you will see gear lube in the bilge,if not after a few days then its not leaking.

fogducker III
02-13-2011, 12:29 PM
Thanks for all the input guys......over the next couple of days I will watch the fluid level and see if it goes down any more, at the end of the day I should probably pull the drive and check in the bellows just in case....:boggled:

The leg was never laid down, it was always on a stand but I did fill it when it was not attached to the boat or reservoir/lines......:frown:

Carl C
02-13-2011, 12:50 PM
It needs to be filled from the bottom up. You could drain it and refill it that way with the pump thingy.

fogducker III
02-13-2011, 02:41 PM
It needs to be filled from the bottom up. You could drain it and refill it that way with the pump thingy.

It was filled like that Carl, the entire outdrive was off during engine rebuild and stored on a stand, upright. I drained and filled the gear oil at that time with a pump from the lower fill/drain hole with the breather plug out until the oil came out the vent hole, as per the last 100 times I have done it.....the problem was when the outdrive was installed I installed the resevoir and filled it three times so was concerned where the oil was going.....:confused:

But as pointed out, there still might have been an air lock or worst case, an internal leak......bottom line, I need to take the outdrive off again.........:nilly:

Carl C
02-13-2011, 03:03 PM
OK, I thought maybe you poured the oil in from the top with the drive off. Good luck with it.

ITTLFLI
02-13-2011, 07:09 PM
Last summer I had a seal on the input shaft leaking. The oil was going into the gimbal bellows. The only way to tell is to pull the drive and see if you have excess oil in the bellows

I was going to suggest this also......:wink: