Reply With QuoteThe first place I'd look is the bellows. If not replaced, they crack and leak over time. You'll need to take the drive off and service the gimbal bearing and u-joints (they do not like water) ASAP.
Hello all! I'm a newbee to the stern drive boat world and need some help. I have bought a 93 Baja outtlaw 24 and it has the bravo one drive, with the 454 mag engine. The first time I took it up river it ran great on the return the engine was loosing power. I opened the hatch and found about 4-5 inches of water on the bottom and also the engine was completely sprayed with water. I turned on the bildge pump to remove the water and crused with hatch open to dry out the engine. This returned it to normal operation. The engine started to do it again, except I had the hatch open (slow speed), I notice water again, this time it was a small spray stright up onto the distributer and plug wires, it look like from somewhere around where the stern drive connects to the engine. At first I thought it was back wash, but the compartment is pretty well sealed for that much water. HELP!
The first place I'd look is the bellows. If not replaced, they crack and leak over time. You'll need to take the drive off and service the gimbal bearing and u-joints (they do not like water) ASAP.
The bellows is the most likely place to get a leak. If it is the bellows your gimbal bear is probably bad as well. Also check the u-joints while you have the drive off.
It is possible to get a leak thru the transom plate but very unlikely unless there has been severe impact damage. You should probably check the exhaust system for leaks too.
i would try were the cable goes through.have heard of a few cases of that this year.
You said SPRAYING?. Check the hose that connects to the seawater pump. If the bellows are leaking you will see a drip by the outdrive shaft that connects to the coupler. The gimble bearing is desgined with a hole in it let the water flow/drip so pressue is not built in the bellows. Anything spraying must have pressure behinde it :frown:
Is it thru hub exhaust?I had a leak in my y pipe that caused water to come in.There was a bad design in some earlier ones that caused the pins inside to fall out then the pins would sit simewhere and rattle thru the casting.
I reread your post and realized that you said the water was spraying. If it is spraying around then the bellows is unlikely to be your problem. Unless the water was deep enough for the flywheel to be in the water and it was kicking the water up. The bellows is the rubber tube running from the outdrive to the gimball that the shaft that connects the engine to the outdrive run's thru. The easyest way to see it is to pull the outdrive off and look up thru the hole. The rubber tube you would looking into is the bellows. If there is water inside the tube then it needs to be relaced.
If the water is spraying then it is likely pressurized. That narrows it down to either the cooling system. The leak could either be on the intake side coming from the water pickup to the motor (unlikely if spraying) or the outbound side where the water is exiting the motor, entering the exhaust system and then exiting the boat. Check for a cracked hose or broken fitting.
The quickest way would be to run it on the trailer with water hooked u to the outdrive and then check for a leak. It might be necessary to run the motor above idle to get enough pressure in the system to find the leak. It might also help to make sure to run the motor long enough to get it up to operating temp some that any craks in a fitting will open up. Also check and see if the water spray is cool or warm. If it is cool it is probably on the iintake side, if warm probably on the outlet side.
Good luck dude, sometimes leaks can be a pain to locate..........
Is it spraying off the driveshaft or coupler?
Thanks everyone for the help!!! What could have been a money event, turned into something simple-- the engine block drain plug was missing on the left side. I do'nt if it worked its way out or the previous owner never put it back. Thanks again everyone, Great Forum!
...the engine block drain plug was missing on the left side.
...or it could be the engine block drain plug.
Glad it was something simple.
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