saildrive water leaks

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   One thing I should have mentioned in my last post:  When you fill the sail drive with thin oil, fill it to the very top of the stick to place as much pressure on the leak as possible.  You may also be able to rush this test by applying some small amount of air pressure at the dip stick tube to push the thin oil through.  

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frfletch Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Commodore Joined: 13 May 2008 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 365	Post Options Post Reply Quote frfletch Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: saildrive water leaks Posted: 27 May 2011 at 1:36pm
	One thing I should have mentioned in my last post: When you fill the sail drive with thin oil, fill it to the very top of the stick to place as much pressure on the leak as possible. You may also be able to rush this test by applying some small amount of air pressure at the dip stick tube to push the thin oil through.

frfletch Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Commodore Joined: 13 May 2008 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 365	Post Options Post Reply Quote frfletch Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 May 2011 at 1:33pm
	Before you dig into the sail drive, check for the possibility that the water may be coming in through the oil drain screw, or the other screws in the side of the sail drive. The fiber washer on the oil drain screw could be compromised. The best way to check this is to get the boat out of the water, drain all the gear oil out of the sail drive, then refill with the thinnest oil you can find. Or use paint thinner! Let it sit overnight and see where the leak comes from. Before putting back into service, drain out the thin oil, or thinner, and refill with the old gear oil. Then I suggest draining that and putting in new gear oil. This will flush out the thinner oil or paint thinner or whatever you use. You may be into a $3.00 fix instead of a $300 dollar fix.

khardy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Commodore Joined: 22 June 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 132	Post Options Post Reply Quote khardy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 22 May 2011 at 9:36pm
	No. But taking the lower "clam shell" is not hard.

bal149 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Skipper Joined: 14 August 2010 Location: canada Status: Offline Points: 67	Post Options Post Reply Quote bal149 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20 May 2011 at 7:27pm
	I drained my oil today and got about 20 cc of water-not good- I have not taken off the prop yet but I did consult the shop manual-no help-Can I change the seal without taking off the lower section of the sail drive?