Bravo One - Pretty bad water intrusion in gear lube

Hello all! I hope that everyone is having a great February.

I had an issue with my 2010 Bravo One unit this weekend and was hoping to share my experience and get your thoughts. I apologize in advance if this is a long post.

My wife and I took the boat out for a weekend trip, launched on Saturday and came back on Monday. During the day Saturday, after stopping for lunch, the Smartcraft alarm went off notifying us that the gear lube reservoir was low. I immediately stopped the engine and found that the reservoir was in fact nearly empty, I filled it and went on. I wasn't too concerned at this point. I had changed the fluid not too long ago and figured that there probably had been air in the system.

I began to get more concerned when we got to our destination and found that the reservoir was empty again. I topped it off and made a mental note to keep an eye on it, not wanting to ruin the weekend. Sunday morning I was relieved to see that the reservoir had not lost any fluid, so I figured that the prop shaft seal might be leaking only when underway.

I had to fill the reservoir again once on Sunday, then again on Monday morning. I was getting more concerned at this point as the leak appeared to be getting worse. Fortunately it was a quick trip to the ramp on Monday morning and was relieved to get the boat out of the water.

A quick inspection of the gimbal area made the issue quite evident. I could see that the hose going from the outdrive to the gimbal housing was disconnected and the plastic fitting in the gimbal housing was broken. The reservoir was completely disconnected from the outdrive and leaking right out. It appears as though the condition had become gradually worse through-out the weekend, to the point where the lube was leaking right out.

When I got home I immediately pulled the drain plug from the outdrive and was really dismayed to see clear (un-mixed with gear lub) water drain out for about the first minute of draining. After that the milkshake came out. Since the gear lube hose is below the waterline, it must have been sucking water right into the drive. I regret driving the boat in this condition, but the damage is done and we had a great weekend.

In an attempt to flush out the drive I immediately pushed three quarts of fresh gear lube through the drive, allowing it to flow out of the broken reservoir hose. I then drained this fluid, and finally filled the drive with clean fluid.

Looking ahead, the repair itself seems pretty straightforward and I've already ordered the parts. Looks like it is going to be a bit of a tight fit, but nothing I can't handle. What I'm much more concerned about is any damage I might have caused by running the drive in this condition.

I guess it doesn't make sense for me to ask anyone to guess what damage may or may not have been incurred. But, is there a way to visually inspect the outdrive to look for any damage that may have been caused? I'm not sure yet if I'll need to pull the outdrive to replace this connector / hose, however if I do have to pull the drive I figure I might as well conduct a pressure test and any other visual inspections needed.

Other than the reservoir losing fluid, the boat ran great. No performance issues, no strange sounds or burning smells coming from the outdrive. Also did not see any metal shavings in the gear lube. Hopefully these are all signs that the damage was minimal.

Thanks in advance for reading this thread, looking forward to getting everyone's thoughts.

Thank you!
-Dave

So unfortunately that fitting is plastic. Over time they get brittle and break although usually when you are removing the bell housing to replace the bellows (this is what happened on mine). I have never heard of one breaking at other times, but I guess it happens. Depending on access, that little $15 part can be a real PIA to replace. As far as damage, the only way to know is to tear the drive apart which I would not do unless you have evidence there is damage. I'll be optimistic and say I doubt you have any damage, the high performance gear lube is synthetic and can handle a nominal amount of water intrusion. If there was damage, it is done and there is not much you can do but run it until it shows symptoms or pre-preemptively tear it apart. Did you see anything other than a very small about of metal shavings on the plug when you drained it? That would indicate some gear damage. Me, I would run it and pay attention to any new sounds and probably change the gear lube and inspect for metal shavings in another 10hrs.

Hey Bill, thank you for taking the time to read my post and to reply.

BillK2632 said:

So unfortunately that fitting is plastic. Over time they get brittle and break although usually when you are removing the bell housing to replace the bellows (this is what happened on mine). I have never heard of one breaking at other times, but I guess it happens. Depending on access, that little $15 part can be a real PIA to replace.

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About six months ago I had the drive off to repair the water inlet house, I had a case of 'bravo-itis'. I'm guessing that I may have accidentally done something that started the damage back then, although the symptoms only started showing this weekend.

BillK2632 said:

As far as damage, the only way to know is to tear the drive apart which I would not do unless you have evidence there is damage. I'll be optimistic and say I doubt you have any damage, the high performance gear lube is synthetic and can handle a nominal amount of water intrusion. If there was damage, it is done and there is not much you can do but run it until it shows symptoms or pre-preemptively tear it apart. Did you see anything other than a very small about of metal shavings on the plug when you drained it? That would indicate some gear damage. Me, I would run it and pay attention to any new sounds and probably change the gear lube and inspect for metal shavings in another 10hrs.

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Yeah, I'm with you, it doesn't make sense to go crazy and tear everything apart if there is a good chance that there is no damage. There were virtually no shavings on the plugs, so I'm hopeful about that.

Good idea about changing the fluid in 10 hours, I'll make sure to do that.

as Bill said listen for any change in the sound from the drive.....if you hear a 'whine' that is not normally there that may be a sign of internal gear damage.....

cliff

CliffA said:

as Bill said listen for any change in the sound from the drive.....if you hear a 'whine' that is not normally there that may be a sign of internal gear damage.....

cliff

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Thanks Cliff, I'm sure I'll drive my family crazy as I'm looking out for any changes, at least for the next few outings.

Just wanted to post a quick update:

Went to the boat the evening to work on replacing the fitting (plastic fitting that goes through the transom). I was able to remove the plastic fitting relatively easily, but found that it was near impossible to remove the gear lube hose from the bell housing.

I decided to go ahead and remove the outdrive. While I'm doing this, it's as good a time as any to replace the bellows and pressure test the drive.

I'll keep this thread updated in case anybody else faces this issue down the line.

Quick question for anybody reading this thread:

To remove the bellhousing, how do I disconnect the shift cable? I see from diagrams that there appears to be a nut on both the inside and outside of the housing.

Also, will I need to worry about messing up the shift cable adjustment?

Thanks in advance!

On an Alpha, you have to disconnect the cable from the engine side and loosen the shift cable bellows, this will allow you to pull the bell housing away from the gimbal ring. A Bravo shifts differently, but the cable installs basically the same. I've never done this on my Alpha without replacing the cable, so I can't speak about the adjustment. At this point you are so far in, unless your shift cable is practically new, you might as well replace it and the shift bellows. But, if you want to do this without replacing the bellows, I'm pretty sure if you pull the hinge pins to loosen the bell housing that will give you enough "play" to replace the oil line fitting without removing the bellows or disturbing the shift cable. If not then you can disconnect the bellows on the bell housing side by removing the aluminum retaining ring (that's all that is holding the bellows in place) You can buy a new retaining ring by itself.

BillK2632 said:

On an Alpha, you have to disconnect the cable from the engine side and loosen the shift cable bellows, this will allow you to pull the bell housing away from the gimbal ring. A Bravo shifts differently, but the cable installs basically the same. I've never done this on my Alpha without replacing the cable, so I can't speak about the adjustment. At this point you are so far in, unless your shift cable is practically new, you might as well replace it and the shift bellows. But, if you want to do this without replacing the bellows, I'm pretty sure if you pull the hinge pins to loosen the bell housing that will give you enough "play" to replace the oil line fitting without removing the bellows or disturbing the shift cable. If not then you can disconnect the bellows on the bell housing side by removing the aluminum retaining ring (that's all that is holding the bellows in place) You can buy a new retaining ring by itself.

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Thanks Bill, I hadn't thought about replacing the shift cable, but that is probably something to consider. I can probably manage the job without removing the shift cable from the bell-housing at all, however I was considering removing the bell-housing so that I could touch up the paint on the housing and inspect everything further.

Very easy to remove the bravo shift cable. Deep socket on the nut that faces aft. Put an open end wrench on the engine side of cable to keep the cable from turning. No need to touch the bellows and it won't disturb the adjustment

scoflaw said:

Very easy to remove the bravo shift cable. Deep socket on the nut that faces aft. Put an open end wrench on the engine side of cable to keep the cable from turning. No need to touch the bellows and it won't disturb the adjustment

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Perfect, thanks!!!

I really appreciate you taking the time to read and assist.

Update:

I was able to remove the bellhousing pretty easily. I have it off and I'm currently working on cleaning it up. The paint was peeling in places and there was light corrosion starting to build up around the pivot points. I've sanded it down and am working on repainting.

As scoflaw said, removing the shift cable was very easy. A 7/16 deep socket was all that was needed.

Once I get the bellhousing back in I'm going to be pressure testing the outdrive since I have it off.

Did you have any further issues with your B1 outdrive?

Nature Boy said:

Did you have any further issues with your B1 outdrive?

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None at all! The drive ran as good as ever.

After this repair I put about another 10 hours on the boat and ended up selling (completely unrelated to this repair). I know that the new owner had everything looked over by his mechanic and they were impressed by the condition of the boat and engine/drive.

I feel very fortunate as I realize the story could have gone very differently.