bravo III leak

rasbury

Moved this from general boating to engine where I thought I posted it.....: started a new thread as I was working off someone else's problem and thought I would get more input as his questions seemed to have been answered.
2005 bravo III with 200 hours. Noticed a leak, pulled the props and the seal in front of the first prop and at the bearing carrier is leaking slightly. Also, seems to be a little wiggle in that shaft, as you work it back and forth some oil seeps. With 200 hours, it is hard to imagine a bearing failure? The nylon area of the seal had a couple of nicks in it also but there was no evidence of any material getting up under that seal like fishing line or something....I have a friend that is helping and he works on a lot of other boat stuff but not to much experience with these drives. We do not have the tool to remove the carrier- if we can work that seal out, can we press another in without pulling the carrier? I found the tool number off a manual, 918053741 but when I google it, I don't come up with anything..... I know I should re seal the foot seals but getting ready to go on vacation and hoping something got up in there and messed up that seal and the others are good considering the hours on it....it is not corroded, was lift kept and trailer kept so does not sit in the water....

Black_Diamond

If you have any axial play in the prop shaft(s) you have a thrust bearing ready to go.  With the free play it will pump oil out from under the seal, even a good seal.  If you have any shaft wear/scoring a new seal is a waste of time and money.

I had one of mine blow at about 250hrs..you could more the prop shafts zbout 1/2" axially, I don't even know how it worked at all, gouged right into the case it was so bad.  Needed a total overhaul.  Did the other one and it was on its way too.  I suspect the oil change I was paying for was not being done as the oil residue in the upper case looked old.  (for reference I deal with industrial gear boxes all the time and know what to be looking for).  The Merc blue oil is junk.  I added drive showers too.

Get in front of that problem before the cost gets worse.  Two overhauled B-III drives was a wallet killer.

rasbury

Well, that is not good news....but kind of what I was expecting. I thought any play was not acceptable but there are clearances etc. and that shaft is pretty long so a minimal clearance would be obvious. We will have to get it into a shop I guess and see where it goes....

rasbury

Well, everything turned out, as far as I know, much better than hoped. First, I should have pointed out I had the axial play when the props were removed- once re installed everything pulls together and there is no longer any play at all so I think I am good there. There was no water in the lower unit so that was good. The main carrier bearing seal was toast- the inner first rubber seal just past the nylon seal has a piece of steel in side of it-somehow there must have been a break in that rubber allowing water to get in it and rusted it out. So, I replaced that seal and all seems to be good! Luck perhaps for a change...