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I posted earlier about concerns with water in the oil of my 1986 ALPHA drive. This drive has never been apart except to change the water impeller. I did a pressure test and the pressure went from 15 psi to 12 psi in 5 days. If the drive needs to be resealed, does anyone have someone they would reccommend ? I live in Western NY and I'm not confident in any of the MERC dealerships here. What do you guys think ?

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David,
If you are getting water in the oil, you most likely wont find a leak by a pressure test. You must vacuum test it. If I remember Alpha drives correctly, there are 3 posiible places it can suck water in from. As with all drives, first is the prop shaft seals. That seal consists of 2 lip seals that face each other. One keeps the oil in, the other keeps water out. Alphas have another double lip seal. It is where the lower vertical shaft goes into the upper housing, like when you replace the impeller. If you look under the upper housing you will see the seals. Lastly, under the impeller is a plastic housing that has 2 seals in it. They can suck water as well. I would recommend replacing the whole housing when replacing the impeller.

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Have it resealed, it's a whole lot cheaper than gears. :(

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The shift shaft seal is a problem area on the Alpha drives.

Send it over to Chris at Sterndrive Specialties in Central Square, NY (Oneida Lake) He's one of the best.

As mentioned above, a vacuum test is the best way to test.

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Thank you for the replies so far!
BIGGUS, do you have a phone number for Chris at Sterndrive Specialties?

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Sterndrive Specialties

Chris Martin

315-623-7642

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That is not a significant pressure drop, and a few degrees drop in ambient tempature could account for that. Usually when water is found in a unit without much pressure drop, we find that the problem was a bad or missing gasket on the drain or vent screw. Often when draining and refilling a unit one gasket will stay with the screw while the other remains in the recess. And if (as often happens) the screws get exchanged, then one will have two gaskets while the other has none. I like to make sure to discard both old gaskets and replace with new ones when I do the change. --- Jer --- P.S. And Chris at Stern drive Specialists is the best!

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Yup, ditto on the shift shaft. Not only does the seal go bad, it then eats the shaft seal surface on the shaft. Not expensive to replace both the seal and the shaft. Ditto on Chris too.

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dont go staight to 15 psi on a pressure test you can seat the seals and get a false good, instead presurize in incriments of 5 psi to 15, same with vacuum. soapy water can be used to isolate failed seal for peace of mind. it is best to replace all seals once. this procedure should not cost more than 325 dollars when performed by a professional using mercury parts. the only additional cost would be that sometimes the u-joint yoke wears a groove and should be replaced, this does not sound like your situation because you did not mention oil in u-joint bellows. the shift shaft seal failure is usually atributed to improper assembly in the past where the felt washer, and steel bushing are left out causing the shift crank to wear into the seal. this is limited to the alpha one not the gen two.

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Outdrive man,
Everything you said is very true but just wondering what labor rate you go buy... merc gets 1.5 just to R&R the drive, seal kits are about 100.00 retail for both plus drive lube which is 36.00 retail then you have at least 1 - 2 hours disassembly clean and inspect if not more depending on the cond of the unit ect. the only way any one could do it at 325 total is to do it real quick not clean parts ect after parts your talking 225 labor I've been building drives for almost 25 yrs and I'm sorry but there is no way I could reseal a upper and lower for 325.00 5 yrs ago I was charging 300 ea upper/ lower plus parts... to do it right there is no way anyone could do it for 325 and I would be very scared if some one did do it that cheap..... because they would have to be cutting corners and rushing a job that shouldn't be...um not the cheapest out there but when I put a drive together it stays together and its done right how could you do it that cheap???? sorry about the book but by saying that you make the pros look bad when we charge more and thats not the case

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Thanks to everyone once again. The drive is off the boat on my homemade drive stand. It is also in excellent condition because the boat is not kept in the water. Most people could not tell it from new. There is no oil that I can detect in the bellows. Also, as it got warmer over the past couple of days the pressure has gone up in the drive, but still the oil had water in it. Right now the plan is to split the upper and lower, ship it to Chris at Sterndrive Specialties and let him go through it. Again thanks to all !

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Goodt, Your Talking Retail Prices On The Parts. Why Would Someone Pay $600 Plus Dollars To Reseal An Alpha When You Can Buy A Brand New One For A Shade Over A Grand From Sterndrive.cc. Fact Is I Am A Master Certified Merc Tech, It Only Takes 10-15 Minutes To Remove A Drive, Lets Face It Flat Time Gives You That One. It Also Only Takes An Hour To Reseal Each Half Thats Not Hurrying Or Any Thing Because I Have Done Them Faster Under The Right Circumstances. We Are At $75 Per Hour And Have A Very Good Reputation. In 2005 You Must Stay Competitive I Have Drives Shipped From All Over Because People Find Out That The Smaller Shops Aren`t Equiped To Efficiently Perform Their Service Needs And The End Result Is That The Customer Pays More. Not Trying To Start Chit But, You Would Be Very Overpriced In My Area. Trust Me I Would Love To Make $600 On A Simple Reseal Job But It Is Just Not A Reality In 2005. You Dont Know Me, A Lot Of People On This Board Are My Satsfied Customers. I Don`t "cut Corners" Like You Suggest. I Just Dont Take Advantage Of People. This Is Why We Have The Amount Of Work We Have. This Is The Exact Reason That I Dont Usually Post Here Because Some Other Dealer Will Get Pist About Me "letting The Secret Out." I Think I Will Go Back To Lurking. Sorry Mr. Goodt

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Outdrive man,
you sound like you know what you are doing and I resepspect you for that but........Im not a dealer and I have customers bringing me there drives from all over the country because my drives dont come apart unless they hit something. anyway most of the time it takes 15 - 20 min just to get the old gasket off and grease every thing if done right. im not looking for a chit match but be real! I have certs from merc omc and volvo another hour to 2 to clean parts and thats if all come apart easily which in most cases it doesnt...... im all about the customers they are my rep which is the most important thing to me. When I worked for someone ( American Performance) they charged 95.00 an hour I charge 75 for the same work..
but I dont cut corners and 95% of the boats I work on are 500 + HP if you say you can r&r an alpha drive, pressure test, vacum test it, reseal it, hang, test run it in less then 3 hrs something is wrong and yes I get retail (-) 10% for parts most shops get retail at least but most of my customers ive had for yrs so I give them that and they know that im not the cheapest but I am one of the best and when they have a problem they know it doesnt matter when it is they can call me and ill be there sat, sun doesnt matter they come first !!!!!

what do you get for parts wholesale???? ask the board members how many sale there products at wholesale???


Im proud to say Im not the cheapest but what I do I stand behind and my drives DONT come apart ......thats what counts !!!!!!!!

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like i said this is 2005 and nobody pays retail. as a mater of fact i do wholsale parts this time of year when i bid jobs. as a mercury premeire dealer i also buy them cheaper than a service dealer. i also asked you not to assume my drives come apart, after all you dont know me. your the one that seems to take offense to the whole pricing issue. as for drives coming apart, think about it HOW HARD IS A SIMPLE RESEAL. i look at them as i do oil change. they are very hard to screw up after all you are only replacing three seals and two o-rings in the upper. and in the lower you are only replacing two propshaft seals, the carrier o-ring, a water pump base, and a shift shaft bushing/seal. pop a quad ring and a water pump on, re-assemble the two halfs, test for leaks,pump some grease in the u-joints, fill with gear lube and put the drain screws in with new felt gaskets. for this procedure i only count five special tools that a person would require. one to install the propshaft seals, one to install the shift shaft bushing, one for the propshaft gland nut, one for the upper seal in the driveshaft housing, and one for the gland nut around the u-joint yoke. other than that a person would only need basic hand tools. so what corners are being cut? there is no shimming involved here, its pretty cut and dry. replace the u- joints? maybe, i just dont consider u-joints to be part of a reseal and if they are servicable why waste the customers money. i didn`t write that to piss anyone off, i was only being informative. your saying cheaper isn`t always better, all that i am saying is cheaper doesn`t make it inferior... it just makes it cheaper. i am not going to get into some ego fight with you but i do have two master plaqes from merc one ob, one mercruiser, i also have all the mercury racing certs, i have the volvo certs, the yamaha certs, and the brp (OMC) master certs. i have one 12,000sf building filled with performance boats from 27ft to55 ft. so dont attack my work when the only thing you know about me is that my prices are competitive. it took me longer to write this than to reseal a drive :) like i said goodt i have no beef with you, i was only trying to asstis the guy that started this thread with what our local average is. sorry for the misunderstanding.

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no dout about that ( writing this longer then to reseal) ive said what I had to say it comes down to the customer decieding... do I pay the average price for great service so he can stay in buisness or do I pay great low price and who knows if hell be here tomorrow sorry but most of my customers know im here to stay and they know about P&L statements and know price isnt everything and guess what if thats all that matters then they can go to the guy that hires 20yr olds to be there lead techs and charges half what I do. I dont want them as customers and wont work on there boats Im not trying to put you down. but dont you think any one will resect you if you make a profit....I dont make a ton but I dont starve either and my customer know that im here to make money but they Get a lot for the dollar (quality) merc warr time is 1.5 just to r& r a drive

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The outdrive guy I use is at $89 an hour.

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outdrive man,
if you are ever in in this neck of the woods I would love to buy you a drink and debate this. you sound like someone I could like!!! ( you stand by your guns) still think your thinking is wrong but like you already :evilb:

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I quarantee hes been in the business a whole lot longer than you have (since you just went on your own).

Get the popcorn out.

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Gentlemen, let me start by saying I don't post here much because i'm not a very good typist and it takes me long to post. That being said the reason I started this post was to get some advivce for a problem I know little about. What I do know is that there are alot of knowledgable people here that I think can help. Our boating season here in upstate NY is very short so I would rather pay someone I think I can trust to perform this kind of service. I don't trust anyone I know in this area. I'm not saying thier not here, I just don't know them. As far as how much this will cost, it's not that I don't care but I'm willing to pay to have it done right. I can certainly see both sides of your dissagreement as I have my own business too. I've spoken with Chris on the phone, he seems to be knowledgeable and he comes recommended by people I recognize on this board. Thank you again!

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David,
Thats great the most important thing is that you find someone that you ARE happy with any that you can trust his work !!!!! and yes you are right there are alot of very knolagable people here that will help you all that they can enjoy and happy holidays !!!!!