gear lube leak

[JJO]

Hi all. Well as they say if you have a boat you will have a problem! My new problem is there is gear oil in the bilge. Every time i fill the reserve and go for a cruise its empty and the bilge is full of gear oil. The engine is 1998 5.7 250hp mercruiser with a alpha I gen 2 outdrive. This spring my mechanic change the seal on the yoke assemble and had no problem till about two weeks ago, any ideas?? There are no leaks from the reserve itself.

 

[dr.j]

JJ,

pull the lower unit and if oil is present in the bellows, the input shaft seal is gone. Ensure the engine alignment is 100%. You may be looking at a shaft replacement, seal and bearing. The seal must be really bad to pass that much oil in one run.

 

[JJO]

I want to use the boat a couple of more times before i pull it out of the water and winterize it and fix the leak, i was wondering could i just keep filling the reserve with gear lube without having a bigger problems or should i just bite the bullet and fix it now and winterize later.