Trim/prop seal leak? Sheen on water.

06Rinker270

Hi Everyone.  I was out at idle yesterday and noticed some sheen on the water.  I noticed while engine is running, little droplets of what I believe is oil, were coming up to the surface from what I believe is my drive.  At first I thought fuel but I dont smell anything.  When I was in my slip I raised my outdrive all the way out a ton more came out.  I checked my trim reservoir and gear reservoir and both dont look to be loosing too much.  I have not ran the boat much nor on plane.  My question is, trim seal/line or prop seal maybe?  Also my main concern, is the boat safe to use in terms of damaging my drive?  I have a lot of plans on the boat for this holiday weekend so I want to be sure I can go out, even if I dont trim much or at all. Thank you for al your help!  

YYZRC

Water in the drive = very bad
Water in the trim rams/leaking trim lines = no big deal (other than environmental impact)

Try moving the drive up and down with the engine not running and see how much of a sheen you get.  Probably a leaking trim line or fitting (common failure), especially if they're original.

06Rinker270

Would I see water in my outdrive gear lube reservoir if that was it?

If I trim up and down without engine water and I do or do not get oil, what does that mean? 

YYZRC

If you trim the drive with the engine off and you see a sheen, it is likely a trim line issue.

The other possibility is that you have a leaky power steering cooler.  How's your power steering fluid level?

06Rinker270

No leaking fluid when I come up.  And think I am seeing water in reservoir.

YYZRC

There's a thread about a cheap plastic fitting at the transom that breaks often, I believe @J3ff had this issue and maybe @aero3113 ?  I think it was related to the drive lube.

06Rinker270

Here is a pic of the reservoir.  Think I can use the boat safely?  Not going far.

bella-vita

Don’t drive it that’s water in your outdrive

J3ff

That does look like water in the oil... 😔.  I would check the drive lube hose that's under the water. This exact same thing happened to me but mine broke off! Emptied that bottle in 20 mins... Talk about a crappy day!

aero3113

@YYZRC it was @PickleRick that replaced his. I thought I was going to have to replace mine but it turns out it stopped leaking when I pushed up on the hose.

06Rinker270

I am grateful for everyone’s help.  I am doing a short haul tomorrow AM to have a check.  No matter what, I need to flush drive gear right? Maybe twice?

J3ff

06Rinker270 said:

I am grateful for everyone’s help.  I am doing a short haul tomorrow AM to have a check.  No matter what, I need to flush drive gear right? Maybe twice?

So I drained the oil and then based on someone here I used mineral spirits to flush it out, which saved money on spending money on extra oil.. let me find the link to what happened to me so you can see where to look. 

J3ff

Page 2 has pictures of what broke. It's on the Stbd side of the out drive... these pictures were taken in the water...so that's why they are sort of dark.. 

https://rinkerboats.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/12005/sigh-oil-leak-big-one/p2

Dream_Inn

Yes, at a minimum you need to change all gear lube and fix why it got in. I would definitely not drive until I found how water got in. Right now drive could be fine, but if driving, you will most likely cause problems.  Sorry, I know you don't want to hear that.  You could find something on short haul.

06Rinker270

Thanks everyone.  I need to least take the 10 minute trip to the marina for the short haul.  Fingers crossed it makes it there.  I’ll look at all of these options. 

06Rinker270

turns out it was a leaking trim line.  Needed to have transom assembly replaced anyways so I just had them do it all.  Ouch!  I hate outdrives!!

I am grateful for everyones help.  

J3ff

06Rinker270 said:

turns out it was a leaking trim line.  Needed to have transom assembly replaced anyways so I just had them do it all.  Ouch!  I hate outdrives!!

I am grateful for everyones help.  

Yikes!! That's a big job for sure!

06Rinker270

Still makes me worried about what I am seeing in the reservoir tank.  Mechanic said he checked and didn’t see any water in drive itself.  

YYZRC

Yeah the milky drive reservoir doesn’t make sense to me.