water in drive oil

[beplate]

I purchased a se 106 upper drive, installed fine and ran good on its first time in the water. When I got home I checked the drive oil and there was water in it. I removed the drive checked the u joint bellows they were dry, I then separated the upper from the lower and pressure checked the lower it was good, I pressure checked the upper and it held pressure but would not hold a vacuum? I then reassembled the upper and lower and pressure checked again it was good. I don’t know if your suppose to put a vacuum on the drive but the new upper drive would not hold. I can her it leaking with the vacuum on it, its coming from were the drive shaft goes up into the upper half is this normal.

[onplane]

The last post that had water getting into the oil was due to a slight recess in the casting where the small orange o-ring is sandwiched between the upper and lower and never allowed a good seal, but this whould have been found when you pressure checked both upper and lower when mated together.
Just guessing, the drive seales are probably designed for the most part to hold at pressure, but should also be able to hold a small vacuum. An example would be starting in warm waters running hard for a long duration than stopping and setting anchor in cooler water on a nice cool night. The drive would have to react by cooling rapidly and have a negative internal pressure. How much and how long, that's a good guess. I did do a vacuum check on an old alpha upper that I have and I could only pull 11inches and settling to 10 inches and would hold indefinitely. I really have serious doubts that a drive would be exposed to that much vacuum, probably more like a couple inches. How many inches vacuum were you pulling on yours and did it ever hold at any amount?
Regards,
Scott

[Technical Support]

You should vacumn check the complete drive. One of the seals in the upper rides on the driveshaft for the lower, so checking both together will allow it to hold more of a vacuum.

I would also check both drain plug gaskets to make sure those are okay and make sure the plugs were tight.

If everything looks good, then change the oil and try it again.

Tech Support

[beplate]

When I did the vacuum check, it did exactly as yours it went to eleven and settled at 10. I put new gaskets on the plugs before I ran it the first time. The reason I bought the upper drive is because the housing was cracked and the u joint bellows had a crack in it. I did get water in the lower drive when that happened, could it be that I didnt get all the water out of the lower before replacing the upper and thats what I am seeing now?

[beplate]

water in drive oil

I put the drive back on and ran it on the garden hose for about 10min then I checked the gear oil again and it is still milky, I put a new water pump in could it be the problem?

[Technical Support]

The water pump could leak into the oil, but normally it would show up with a pressure test. Maybe if you put the gaskets on the pump incorrectly it might force water into the lower unit.

Being that it is getting milky on the garden hose, it sounds like it would be something with the pump. Or maybe it is residual oil and you just haven't gotten it worked out yet. Maybe run it some more and see if it gets milkier (is that a word) looking.

Tech Support

[onplane]

I like that word milkier :lol:
Quite possibly, with the water trapped in the lower, it was spread to the upper unit during servicing since the fluid and anything else in the lower is forced higher during normal servicing procedures. It may take several fluid changes to remedy this and it may take a while to notice a difference.

Good luck,
Scott