If there’s that much gear oil in the bilge…a leak from plastic elbow, hose, cap, or bottle would be obvious.

Pop the drive and have a peak. Drive doesn’t have to come all the way off to diagnose. If you get bad news, drive is coming off anyways.

my thoughts exactly

My guess is still the carrier seal…$25 part


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My oil leaked from where the wires exited the reservoir. The lube would follow the wires (also went into the wire protection sleeve/jacket) and anything those wires touched on its way to the bottom. So, not as obvious as you might think. At least in my case.

oil dripping from wires isn’t obvious?

anyways…hope the OP figures it out

If you could see it dripping from the wires, yes.

When the reservoir is mounted on the transom to the right of the engine and the oil is pooling under the engine coupler, but the fitting and transfer hose is dry, no. The oil wicked down the wires and into the protective sleeve where it accumulated until it found it's way out under the engine.

Had I not found what was leaking, one might assume it was the out drive.

Was it difficult to diagnose? No

Was it obvious? No

Just trying to help the OP out with my recent experience.

thanks everyone for you input. I will be pulling drive next weekend to get definite answer. very helpful.

Check the shift cable at the engine. One of my Bravo’s leaked through the shift shaft seal in the upper drive and it would push oil up the shift cable and leak on the engine. With the engine being hot the oil runs off into the bilge. The leakage is slow but it doesn’t take much oil to make a mess in the bilge. Quick check is to run your finger under the cable at the cable housing at the engine shift linkage. I replaced the shift shaft seal in the upper drive.