Outdrive Reservoir Leaking At Back of Motor

Wildboating

I started late last year having a little oil show up in the bottom bilge, chased looking for it and found a oil filter slightly loose and thought it was likely coming from there.    All said in done, my port motor oil drive reservoir started loosing fluid slowly and at times getting some water in it.  Well, something has took a major turn.  I am now loosing the entire contents of the reservoir tank in the matter of a few days or couple hours cruising around.  I discovered this yesterday when my alarm sounded again after it did last week.   Open the hatch and the entre center bilge is full of oil, bottle was practically empty.   I traced the hose as far back as i could reach / see but never reached the end or found a wetspot.  I did however confirm oil all over the bilge behind the motor where it is leaking out.    Where does it go, what am i looking at?    

rasbury

Yep, that's what I figured from the first post.

Cableguy Greg

@jpsayers

Wildboating

Heading down now.  I hope thats all it is!!! 

rasbury

Just not sure how you get at I to fix it...pull the drive? Can you get to it from inside?

Wildboating

Unfortunately the leak is coming thru the transom area.  Mechanic looked at it and said the leak is internal.  I knew bellows were coming but tried to stretch one more year after the huge financial cost last year with motors.   We replaced one of the gimbals last year and its already going bad again.  Boat is getting hauled in 2 weeks to have both drives yanked and new gimbals, bellows, shift cables done.   Is there anything else i need to discuss with mechanics about this?   Any other areas that need to be addressed now or looked into to ensure smooth sailing for several years?

Liberty44140

Make sure to have them check your steering pins while the boat is in the water for leaks. If they leak you want to do that along with the bellows. Better to do it all now because if the pins leak later they have to tear apart your new bellows to get to the pin seals. 

Wildboating

So I asked and he said they didn't really seem to be leaking. So knowing it's never been done and it's an 03 what do you do.  I would like to keep the cost in check and I know you have to stop somewhere but this concerns me with all the others having failures lately. 

craigswardmtb

Lay on top of your motor and take a picture of where the steering arm enters your transom wall. You will likely be able to see if there is water in there or if the steering arm nut is rusted. If so you should do the seals. If you're a fresh water boat than the leaking swivel pin seals isn't as prevalent.