trim pump major leak into bilge
 

Well, its not my Velocity giving me problems this time- rather the Sea Ray :( Bravo 3 outdrive, 454 7.4, year 2000. I was pulling the boat out of storage today and tried to trim the drive up, and it didn't move at all. Boat is up on blocks on the hard. I heard the trim pump running, tried it up and down, no movement. I checked the trim pump reservoir and it looked almost empty, then discovered about 1-2 quarts of trim oil leaking out of the bilge drain. I cannot see where it is leaking, but it does not appear to be anywhere on the trim pump. I can trace the trim hydraulic lines to within about 6 inches of the inner transom plate, and I do not feel any leaks.

It seems to me that its either the pump lines to the trim manifold leaking close to the transom plate, or perhaps the trim manifold (2 into 4 line block on bottom of gimble housing) is leaking, pusing oil through the transom cutout into the bilge. There is no break or leakage outside on the drive. The trim rams are in good shape, and she worked fine when pulled out last fall. No corrosion on the trim rams. My major question- to replace the trim pump to drive lines, can these be fished inwards from the drive side into engine bay ? It would seem almost impossible to be able to run these under the engine through the transom plate. None of my manuals covers this situation. I really don't want to have the engine pulled to replace these lines :( Help !

Probably be pretty hard to do if you have the y-pipe for the exhause installed, which for a Sea Ray I'm sure you do.

Pull the manifold off the bottom the drive and see if that is your leak first.

The thing is- can that manifold even cause a oil leak into the bilge ?

fixx
 

what most likely happened is the trim hoses always rub on the y-pipe and over time they just blow.. go to the trim pump lines and if you have a smart phone take a picture to where as which line goea where.. grey or black,,remove them...now go to the gimgal housing and look where the trim rams attach to,,their may be a mecathod sensor bolted to that plate,,remove it and the block you see the trim cyl lines going to their should be bolts holding it in place,,if the mecathod bolts may be also holding the block in place..pull that block down enough the unscrew the trim pump lines to pull them through the holes enough to see if their is a hole in them..i usually attach a piece of wire fron the inside when i pull the lines out so your not digging arounf under the engine for them..order all new gaskets for the block as well..

FIXX- that is exactly the tips I was looking for :) so the new lines can be pushed through from the trim manifold (or pulled through using a fish, or a wire / string). Right now my problem is that I cannot get the Mercathode pulled down enough- it seems the wire is tight around some gromet, so after unbolting the Mercathode I can only get it to drop a few mm. I am afraid I might break a wire if I try to pry on it with a screwdriver - any tips on getting the Mercathod further down and out of the way ? Is there normally enough slack in the wire to pull it down ?