I have a 1985 12 meter Fountain that has SSMIII drives and boat hasnt had much use. This last summer I repowered it and ran it a bit and now getting a bad oil leak from both drives (port much worse that star) coming from beneath the shaft and dripping front of transom assy into the bilge. I have no experience with these drives assuming it is a shaft seal but wondering what you guys think may be causing it? There isnt anyone in my area that works on this kind of stuff and curious about what i could diagnose before taking accross the state to a performance place. I know parts are getting hard to find for these and really want to fix

There is a 1/2" hose from the gimble that goes to a res/ expansion tank inside the boat. If you don't have boxes it's part of the inner transom plate.

No, i dont have ext boxes. I dont remember seeing a overflow tank so what your saying is its inside/behind the transom plate?

The overflow is built into the inner transom plate. There should be a sight glass. There is a hose lil red is talking about, that runs from the little tank in the inner transom plate, down thru into the outer transom assembly. Also, on the top left (when facing) the inner transom plate, there should be a vented plug on the inner transom. Make sure that is there.

OK, i will check the hose and vent. the sight glasses are clear and will take almost a quart to the fill line and after running a few hours the sight glass will be empty. You think that possibly the hose that goes to the overflow behind the transom plate couble be leaking when running the drive? either maybe cracked or loose?

That's an overflow, don't fill it. But yes sounds like the hose is cracked

No, i fill the res from the spot directly under the sight glass. Ivent never seen the overflow tank but didnt inspect very close either. Can you access or replace that hose without pulling the drive off or inside the transom assy? Really appreciate the help guys, sorry for being so ignorant about this thing

Does it leak when not in use? If not than the oil is just expanding and pushing out when hot. One other problem you have is the lower units are painted witch will make them run hotter not helping it. Open the hatch after you beat it the oil will be way over the sight glass.

I havent noticed the sight glass being overfull and also havent ran it hard when leaking either. Put fresh power in at and only opend to WOT for a few seconds here and there other than that only cruising and still bad oil leaks. This was toward the end of summer and I will look in storage to see if there is leaking while sitting, problem is when it got put away from the last run drives werent topped off, only bilge cleaned out so they are a few qrts low over winter. Any way of helping the drives cool? They have drives showers or something external for SSM?

No paint on the lower units will help with the heat. How much power you have?