Trim wire seals
 

Guys,

During the rebuild of our 496, it became necessary to replace the trim sender and limit switch, but it wasn't realized until I had already replaced the U-joint and shifter bellows. This made it kinda tricky to get to the horseshoe clamp that holds the two "half-corks" that seal around the wires through the transom assembly. Since the rebuild and reinstall of the engine, I've been trying (in vain) to hunt down an apparent raw water leak somewhere on the engine, but it now appears we have a leak past these wire seals, and not a raw water leak, as I can see water trickling down the transom below the transom plate when the boat is in the water. It's not a huge issue, as it's slow enough the bilge pump can easily keep up with it, but we obviously want to get this resolved. Unfortunately, while I can pull the drive and get at it myself, the boat is at the house on Cumberland and the forklift I have access to, that we've been using to pull/install the drive, is in Dayton. Anybody ever had any luck or found a way to get to this bolt to reseat these seals without pulling the drive?

Thanks. Brad.

Forklift?
Only necessary with #6 drives...

William,

I would agree it’s pretty easy for two guys to pull a drive, but I can’t imagine putting it back on. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t wanna….

I have secured the use of a drive jack and a service bay for a couple hours at Lookout Marine in Somerset. We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks.

Forklift?
Only necessary with #6 drives...

I have done a bravo 3 by myself on and off, definitely not fun. Worst case I would buy some 2x4's and build a stand for the drive at the close to the same height as the boat

Long quarter inch extension with a chrome swivel 7/16 socket, been there done that numerous times

Bonus points if you use castor wheels.

Not sure if this applies to you but I had the same maddning "trickling down the transom below the transom plate" for a year or two with my 496 mag/Bravo. Turned out to be leak around the exhaust block off plate sealant right near where those sender wires come through and required pulling of the engine to fix.

Nighthawk,

Let's hope not. I know I did the block-off plate correctly. Fresh O-ring, lots of oil-resistant silicone, pressed in place, finger tight bolts, let it sit for 24-48hrs, then tightened down. Since discovering the leak, I have done a nice bead of silicone along the mating corner inside the outer exhaust passage of the transom assembly and let that sit over the last week. The trim wire situation was an a-ha moment while doing the exhaust silicone bit, and I've chewed on it all week. Like I said, Lookout Marine is going to allow me to use their drive jack and a service bay to do the work (they are down service guys, so, despite having a ton of work, the space and jack are available). I'm going to reseat the seals, by hook or by crook, put it in the water and have a look with a bore scope to see if any more water is coming in. I'll reassess if there is.

Thanks. Brad.

BoatNT,

I'll have another look at it when I get there. It's hard to imagine getting anything on it as is. Drive all the way up/down? Left/right?

Thanks. Brad.

If you have a borescope, I'd go that route before doing anything else.. you don't wanna spend hours trying to figure out how to tighten/reseal those sender wires and find out it was fine all along.. Might be something as simple as a loose clamp on the shift cable boot or something as not fun as a steering pin seal... I'd do your best to diagnose before anything.. Maybe you already did and I misread, but just giving my $0.02

AShipShow,

I've been chewing on it. For the record, I have checked and rechecked the shift boot and U-joint bellows, and they are good as far as I can tell. Hilltop did mention the potential of the swivel pin seal being the issue. I have my doubts there, as we had ZERO leaks before, but there is always the possibility. They also mentioned that there is usually a "rust streak" below the transom assembly when this is the case, and we have none of that. Fingers crossed there. My thing is that I've got an opportunity to do the trim wire seal thing without having to pay someone or drag the boat back home to Dayton, so I wanna jump on that opportunity if I can. You're not wrong, though. I probably will drag the boat over to the ramp, dunk its azz in the water and have a look before going to the effort.

Thanks. Brad.

up and turned to port

AShipShow,

Did just this, and confirmed the breach was around the trim wire seals. Swivel pin seal appears to be good.

BoatNT,

Up and to starboard worked better for me. It appears that the bolt was bottoming out on in the tapped hole before solidly locking the horseshoe clamp over the seals, I added a flat and a lock washer and was (somehow) able to get it back through the clamp and into the hole and locked down as it is supposed to be.

Leak appears to be gone. :ernaehrung004:

Thanks. Brad.

Leak appears to be gone. [img alt=""]/forums/images/smilies/ernaehrung004.gif[/img]

Until it isn’t. :evilb: Just having some fun. Easy fix. :cool-smiley-011:

Sonic42,

Bite your damned tongue. :angry-smiley-038:

Thanks. Brad.