NEW XR/IMCO 3 bad input seals? NOT
 

Ok, from the top. Thank you everyone in advance for your input and help. Some preliminary info; 1997 28' Eliminator V with a 502. Last spring I installed hydraulic steering and a Whipple to get things moving. With the advice of everyone here, I ordered a brand new XR upper with a 2" IMCO polished shorty from BAM Marine, so I could hopefully avoid drive break downs and keep the stock Bravo as a backup. It showed up the week after 4th of July and it looked great. I also installed a semrek drive shower that I bought from a fellow OSO member MIKEHTMSR24.
The second weekend out, the low oil buzzer went off and by the time I got back to load, I had to fill it 5 times. NOW guess where the oil is? You guessed it, In the bottom of my hull. Ok, I am annoyed, but I have a backup and this kind of thing happens. It took me 3 hours to clean out the engine compartment.
So I called Marc at BAM and we work out a deal to have a local shop install a new input shaft seal. They said that the seal wasn't installed all the way from the Mercruiser and it was rubbing on the drive shaft yoke. Everything's ok now.
2 weeks later, the low oil buzzer went off and by the time I got back to load, I had to fill it 3 times. SAME problem, Where's the oil? You know!
I called Marc again and he said to send the drive back to him. So I found a place to band the drive on to the pallet and shipped the drive back to BAM. I installed the old Bravo and went to LOTO for the SHOTOUT. It was AWSOME by the way.
So Marc calls me and say's that the mechanic here didn't install the seal correctly and that someone had to pay him for the repair this time because Merc will only pay for warranty 1 time for the same problem. So I told him I would pay for it. $388
I installed the drive last week and took it out for about 1 1/2 hours and all was ok. Yesterday, My wife and I take the boat out and go about 45 minutes and WHAMO, the low oil buzzer went off. I just removed the drive and YOU guessed it, SAME problem.
The problem appears to be that the seal is getting pushed out of the housing and when it goes out far enough then it rubs on the yoke, and the rest is history.
Marc you will be getting a call tomorrow if you read this. I'm not mad at BAM, but I am pissed about the situation.
I bought this thing to avoid problems and all it has brought me is grief. At this point I don't even want the same drive back, because I feel that it is faulty and I'm sick of dealing with it. 2-3 hours to clean out the hull, and $30 for oil every time. Now the polished lower looks like crap also, from all the work and shipping. It has scratches and rub marks all over it. :(

Is it too much to ask for, to have Mercruiser replace this XR, because I don't want the same one back. Any ideas, anyone! Is this what is called a LEMON

Has anyone ever experienced this kind of problem? What could cause this, pressure inside the case? Wouldn't that kind of pressure just blow out the seal. Or is the problem a vibration that is causing the seal to vibrate outward. :confused:

Thanks, any and all ideas and comments would be appreciated.

Rockie, needless to say I am not happy to hear about your repeated problem. I will be curious to see if anyone else has experienced this.

I will make some calls today to Merc and see if they have any ideas. I wish I had run in to this before so I had a conclusive answer. I know that out of all the drives we have sold this is the first time we have had this happen. I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse, but once we figure out what it is that should be the end of it. Sorry to say but we just have not looked at it hard enough and jumped to some wrong conclusions.

I will talk to you later.

MBam-I am assuming when you talk to Merc you are also going to see about getting 28 Elim's $388 back.

I am currious about merc's policy about only paying once for a repair. I agree that merc does not want to pay for shotty workmanship but why is it the customers fault. Should the drive have been taken back to the dealer that replaced the seal the first time? Then he could have tried to see why seal came back out. Maybe it was installed wrong the last time also? Total of installed wrong 3 times?

Thanks for the reply Marc and Turbojack. I know that chit happens even with new equipment. This is not a perfect world.
I am not as frustrated now after sleeping, but I had to do some venting last night or I was not going to get any sleep.
I am very curious if anyone has had this kind of problem with an outdrive before. I don't doubt BAM's ability, but I also don't doubt Merc's ability.
Turbo, I also agree that Merc should step up, because BAM Marine shouldn't have to pay the price for a manufactures defect. Marc doesn't make that much money on a drive sale. He does help out a lot of us here on OSO for free and that is worth alot.
I know that there is something else wrong. I think that is pretty evident.
I guess we will see what Marc can find out from Mercruiser, but still, this can't be the only one in existence that has done this.

Thanks, and keep on smiling :D :D :D :D :D :D

OH yea, Turbojack. The seal wasn't installed wrong 3 times, I am quite confident about that. It pressure tested and vacumm tested ok all 3 times. and when you look at it the seal is right where it is supposed to be, and not rubbing on the yoke. Somehow something is causing it to be pushed out, but how, it is beat in there with a hammer and a seal installing tool.
I am so confused :confused: :confused:

I had a seal blow and it filled the bellows with oil. Something had plugged the vent to the reservoir. The vent was plugged so much the oil in the reservoir couldn't refill the drive, like the oil level in the bottle never went down! I was lucky we took the drive off for something else. I understand the O ring can cock and cause the seal to push out! Hope this may help. JB

Thanks for the info JB. I filled the drive the second time from the bottom all the way, even the reservoir. When the seal goes, it only takes about 5 minutes to empty the reservoir. Last time, it was full and I just bolted it on. Once the assembly is installed can the o-ring move?
Once installed, you can actually put a feeler gauge in between the seal and the yoke and spin it around to check the clearance.
I just checked the clearance and I can't even get my .001 guage in between. So I went to my old Bravo and put a .010 feeler gauge in between and could spin the yoke all the way around with no friction.
Next question, is the whole seal (metal and all) moving out or just the rubber part being pushed out.
How much pressure can the seal hold vers's how much pressure the plastic reservoir can hold. I just thought about this, Older drives never had a vent or reservoir tank. My old boat had an Alpha drive with neither and it was ok.
Anyway, just thinking out loud, ooor typing out loud!

After reading JB's post remined me that someone else was having problems with drive oil going into the bellows. He said Merc was aware of it & if I remember correctly they had a replacement part for it. I think he also said on on the X's had this problem. Might do a search. I remember posting to that thread. Had to be in the last month or 2

i have had several xr drives do this.when the seal gets replaced you should also replace the seal carrier and check for clearance between the input yoke and the seal.we take a very small punch and put about 8 or 10 hits in the aluminum carrier at the edge of the seal to keep it from pushing out under pressure.they only seem to do this when they get very hot for extended periods of time.try a temp gauge to make sure that your drive isnt running to hot.i think that some kind of pressure relief cap on the res bottle would cure this problem

oil leak
 

typhoon had xr drive oil leak posted on 9/23/02