Bmax seeping oil slightly, what to do?
 

I have a Bmax behind a 911 HP motor. Where it mates to the transom assembly it is seeping oil ever so slightly. On both sides it's just a little shiny. When you run your finger on it, it is slimy so I know it's drive oil. My questions are.....what are the chances water is getting in? Since oil floats on water can I pull the plug to make sure no water comes out and then top off the fluid again(obviously from the bottom up)? The drive does have all new seals since I put the motor and drive on and have only about 1 hour of run time. When installing the drive we ran into problems and had to remove it and install it again. Basically I am trying to avoid ordering seals and fluid and having to spend the better part of a day doing this again. It's early august and I have been out on the water 1 time after spending 15k on this boat. I don't really have another dime for gas let alone pulling this drive again. So what do you guys think? What are the chances of it letting water in?

This is a no brainer. Pull the drive. .

Not the answer I was looking for but the one I expected. This is why people sell their high horsepower boats and buy boats with nice stock reliable power!!!

its probably one of the o-ring seals were it mates to the transom assembly,

double post

So, you think it was a seal that was just replaced ? Why not have the place that did this fix it ? Or atleast check to see if o-ring where oil passage is from drive to transom assembly ?

And btw: I see more people lose their shirts on stock power stuff....but they don't post here/

I missed this. Sorry for repeating you. :)

I'm not really sure. It's coming from where the drive meets the transom assembly. It's on both sides. It's very slight. Just a little slime on both sides and hardly noticeable. It's on both sides and at the very top so I'm not to sure. Maybe both too bolts? I think it's too high to be from the reservoir.

Oh oh and who did the work????.....yours truly! I am dreading lifting this thing again, still waiting for my nuts to come back out!!

use an engine hoist, your nuts will thank u

i built a stand out of 2x4's works great.

Could you share a picture of this stand? I was thinking about doing that. Do you just build it close to the proper height then use the tongue jack on the trailer to get it closer so it slides in?

Well okay then,,,no need for the high performance stuff sucks drama then. However, Self induced drama is not a buzz kill for the audience. LOL.

Yup. Having Wheels helps a lot.

Although not nearly as good as a stand, I have used a snowmobile dolly (lots of those around here) in a bind.

I gotta do my own work!!!,,,, if I had to pay people I wouldn't have a boat!!!! I live in New York where shmuck shumer and Cuomo take all of my money!!!!! They must have boats to pay for.



So basicslly everyone is saying take it take it off and reinstall. I know what I'm doing this weekend!!

You stated its coming from both sides of the top, if that's the case I wouldn't pull it, does it have a shower on it ? pull the top cap and see if the gasket is out of place or torn, is the top tight ?

Stand
 

PM me your email. I'll send a picture of a 2x4 and 2x10 stand that the skeg fits in than place it on a motorcycle jack you'll be able to roll it around and lift drive

Clustergear...pm sent...I think, not too good with this computer stuff

F2- great thought. I never thought it could be the top cap. It seems to running down the surface where the drive mates but there is a ridge there that it is probably following down. I find it hard to believe that both top bolts would be leaking. I recall when you remove the top cap that there is a vertical shelf on the side near the transom so maybe that is leaking and going both ways. Hopefully Friday or Saturday I'll get to removing the top cap. I'll update you guys on what I find. Thanks for all the input

Top cap leaking where the shift is located is a common problem there is an o ring use to seal. Merc has a fix for the problem. It's called a plug part #19-865866. I e mailed you pictures of cheapie drive lift this morning, will send you picture of plug. If I can help you out with anything let me know, I see your in upstate NY I'm in LG and keep a large supply of drive parts at my house

Just an update if anyone is interested. Got the boat back a few days ago and it's definitely not the top cap like I was hoping. Ordered new install kit and fluids from the bravo shop and will be pulling it off and putting it back on and hoping for the best this weekend.

Could be leaking from one of the four upper mounting bolts. There is an o-ring for each bolt and one for each washer as well. I have them in Glen Cove, NY if you need

Where in NY are you located? I built a hand crank adjustable stand with wheels. I'm in Nassau if you want to borrow it.

Guys, thanks for all the generous offers. Im a little over an hour north of NYC. If you guy are that close check out the Hudson fall run. It's an awesome run. Thread is located in "boating by region" and "northeast". So I think it is the Orings on the bolts. I didn't lube them that well when installing them and I think as I tightened the bolts they got all jacked up. Will find out tomorrow as I am working on it tomorrow. Thanks again for all the offers to borrow equipment and parts and advice.

I too have a Bmax, I would pressure test it before its all done. Then you can avoid all leaks. Good luck-

How did you make out. Fixed ???

Well I'm pretty sure it was leaking from everything! When we looked at it closer we realized it looked like the top of the drive may have pulled away from the helmet a little. We used feeler gauges and it actually did pull away a slight bit. Before taking the bolts out I decided to tighten them to 50-55 foot pounds to make sure none were stripped. That's what the bravo shop calls for and that was what it was torqued too when we installed it. Two of the holes have been helicoiled in the past as well. Well the top left bolt was pretty loose. Not sure why. And the top right bolt tore the helicoil out

Ok. Redid both helicoils. Went with "time-serts". Much much better design. Turned out besides the helicoil that ripped out the other side top bolt was tightened to 50 foot pounds but it was bottoming out before being completely tight to the drive. The bolt was bottoming out against the bottom of the blind hole. Got it on. All look good. Put the drive down and gonna let it stay like that for a couple days and loosen the drain plug to make sure no water comes out only oil. I did just check it now and only oil came seeping out but the drive wasn't down. Will do another check in a few days

One other question for you drive guys. I have the overflow bottle mounted on the transom. I was always told that thing should only be about a quarter full. After running the boat for about an hour, running decently hard, when I looked at the over flow bottle it looked to be a little more full than it was when I took the boat out, also it looked a little fizzy. Just a little. Is this normal?