I would pull the drive and check it out. Oil leaking or water getting in, gimbal bearing, u-joints going bad will all lead to a real expensive repair. If you need a manual let me know.
I'm a first time boat owner and don't really know much about it yet. I just bought a boat that I thought was in outstanding shape considering what year it is. So, I take it out for a few HOT LAPS and and a few days later im looking over things and notice some what im assuming is gear oil on the 3 rubber boots in my outdrive and a little bit more on the plate on the inside where the shaft goes through the transom I think theres some U-joints there. Now its not a whole lot just a tiny bit on the boots a liitle more on the inside. Its a Mercruiser Alpha One. Can anyone tell me if I really need to be worried about water getting in the outdrive and doing alot of damage?
I would pull the drive and check it out. Oil leaking or water getting in, gimbal bearing, u-joints going bad will all lead to a real expensive repair. If you need a manual let me know.
If your not too familar with the drive, or not too mechanically inclined, have a Mercruiser trained mechanic pull the drive and do a service. If oil is getting out, water may be getting in, and that will kill a drive quick like. Not worth running the boat until it's fixed.
Darrell.
If your mechanically inclined the Alphas are not hard at all to work on, although the tools needed are pretty expensive. Pick up a Merc service manual for your drive. Alpha 1 = Merc #6, Alpha 1 Gen 2 = #14 I think. They are all over Ebay for $10-20. New your looking at $100.
I recently rebuilt both my Alpha's and it's not too hard at all. If gear oil is leaking out, water is leaking in.
A quick way to find out for sure is to drain the drive of gear oil and pressure test the drive. If there is a leak you will know. Pressure test gauges run about $40 but you can make them yourself. I did mine out of spare parts in the shop. Since it's a new to you part I would have it gone over if you don't feel capable.
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If your u-joint bellows has gear lube in it the u-joint seal is leaking. This does not mean that water is getting into the drive. The only way water will get into the drive past the u-joint seal is if the u-joint bellows is leaking water in. You would then have two sepreate issues..... the u-joint seal and the u-jont bellows. Pull the drive immediately and find out the cause. If there are no signs of water, have the u-joint seal replaced. I reccomend a certified Merc. mechanic. You didn't say what year it is, some years require torqueing the pinion nut to a specified rolling torque for the back to back tapered beairings. There are many things an experienced Merc. mechanic will look at when replacing a u-joint seal.