Gear Lube in Bilge
 

Hi everyone, I have a Bravo XR Stern Drive and there is alot of gear lube oil leaking into the bilge pump area. I had the reservoir replaced a couple years ago and I can't find where the leak is coming from. Any suggestions? Thanks

Is it possible that drives are overheating from a long run? I had this happen once, blew it out the bottle. Installed showers never happened again.

When I checked the reservoir after a run, I didn't see gear lube all over the place. Just down in the beilge area. If it blew out the top it would be all over the engine compartment wouldn't?

Check the bottom of the reservoir, in my experience it leaks there...where the "alarm" sending wires go in........:)

Drive fluid leak
 

+1 You might also check the plastic fitting at the transom, They have been known to crack. How long does it take to drain the reservoir bottle? Then there is always the input shaft seal on the lower unit. Randy

Your Pinion seal is bad.

X2. Im pretty sure if you pull the drive off, you will find a lot of your resivior oil in the transom. I'm still breaking-in my new drive after I ran into the same issue :(

x3..

happened to me.. kept having to fill up reservoir to make it home and it was the yoke seal!! Pull drive and have reputable replace.. Precision Marine replaced mine for about $300 or so...

comes in thru the bellow.. make sure you clean out the bellow real good too before putting drive back on b/c the gear oil is not good for the rubber!

take the reservoir out of the holder and inspect the bottom of it, the fitting for the hose and alarm... then inspect hose all way to transom.....

If there isn't evidence of a leak around the reservoir, as said above, its the pinion seal.

Thanks everyone for the replies. The reservoir is a little wet underneath it, but no signs of dripping. But I filled it up last week before leaving to go to work (I travel) and when I got back today the reservoir was empty...the boat hasn't moved. I'm going to follow the hose on down to the transom, hopefully thats all it is.

I had a reservoir that was leaking like that, couldn't see any dripping but was running down the front of the engine. I put a paper towel under the reservoir overnight just to verify where it was coming from. Replace the reservoir. Randy

Same issue I had with mine, ended up being where the sensor wires come up through the bottom of the bottle.

If the leak is down at the transom it could be the 90deg Q fit conection easy fix part number MC- 861163 .

I had unknowingly dropped the gasket out of the resevoir cap which caused it to leak like that. Found the gasket laying on the bilge floor. Simple but took a while to figure out.

+1012 Pinion seal. Been there, removed the drive and it was evident. Don't waste your time chasing it.
YOu will need a special pinion gear wrench or take it to a technician. Don't take chances. YOu might have a leak in the bellows and the U joint may be corroded also. REMOVE THE DRIVE>

the hose has quick connect at transom, hose goes over top of drive shaft then 180's to quick conn. it is just above water inlet, tight spot, since they worked on bottle hope it came loose. if not.upper seal. best.

It was the pinion seal, Thanks everyone