Post by Rob on Jun 19, 2021 16:18:35 GMT -5
One thing after another has kept us from launching until today. As soon as I put in, I noticed an oil slick developing around my swim platform. I did run on the muffs before heading to the lake to burn off the oil fuel mix used to winterize, but I thought maybe there was some left. Ride around to put an hour on the engine and stopped periodically, and the oil slick developed every time we stopped to inspect. The boat ran great, jumped on plane, responsive as ever, but that darned oil. I could smell gear lube.
Oil pressure, temp, fluid levels, all functions were operational. Nothing out of the ordinary.
So, instead of heading to our slip, back on the trailer so we can troubleshoot. End of last season, the gear lube had water in it when I changed it. Had it at a reputable shop, and they pressure tested, vacuum tested, and examined the shaft seals and bellows and no leak was found. The only thing they found was a cracked washer on the drive fill plug, which I doubt would allow all that water in.
But here we are now, leaking drive lube. When I pulled the boat today, it smelled like drive lube, and there is a greasy scum line that smells like lube along the water lines of the transom.
I couldn’t leave it at the marina like that, because it was still leaking a little even when not running, and I didn’t want to pollute.
So what do we do? I’m handy but I’m not confident that I could repair this myself, so back to the shop. Should we replace the bellows even though it looks fine? Replace seals even though the pressure and vacuum tests were alright? Really hoping we can salvage some sort of season. It did seem like the gear noise was noticeable, but maybe I’m hyper focused on it now.
Thank you. My boat information is in my salutation but since that doesn’t show up on the mobile platform, we have a 2015 Regal 2300 with the VP 300 hp and DPS sterndrive.
Oil pressure, temp, fluid levels, all functions were operational. Nothing out of the ordinary.
So, instead of heading to our slip, back on the trailer so we can troubleshoot. End of last season, the gear lube had water in it when I changed it. Had it at a reputable shop, and they pressure tested, vacuum tested, and examined the shaft seals and bellows and no leak was found. The only thing they found was a cracked washer on the drive fill plug, which I doubt would allow all that water in.
But here we are now, leaking drive lube. When I pulled the boat today, it smelled like drive lube, and there is a greasy scum line that smells like lube along the water lines of the transom.
I couldn’t leave it at the marina like that, because it was still leaking a little even when not running, and I didn’t want to pollute.
So what do we do? I’m handy but I’m not confident that I could repair this myself, so back to the shop. Should we replace the bellows even though it looks fine? Replace seals even though the pressure and vacuum tests were alright? Really hoping we can salvage some sort of season. It did seem like the gear noise was noticeable, but maybe I’m hyper focused on it now.
Thank you. My boat information is in my salutation but since that doesn’t show up on the mobile platform, we have a 2015 Regal 2300 with the VP 300 hp and DPS sterndrive.
