bravo iii gear oil fluid loss

[fiestavee02]

Hi:
i have been experiencing gear oil loss at a consistent rate of just a rough guess, from the operating range mark to half way to the add mark for 2 hrs of running.
i always seem to see that the top of the reservoir is wet after running, around the red nipple area.
i don't see any evidence in the bilge.  except once i saw some oil in the bilge but could not tell if it was oil or gear oil.  anyway, it was once, not alot, and has not happened again.
i've read some posts re the prop shaft seals.
any ideas would be appreciated.
if it is the seals, would that be a hard job for an amateur wrench or best left to a pro with right tools?
thanks a bunch.
david

02 270 fiesta vee in otherwise great condition

[Dream 'Inn]

When you say wet around the top, do you mean with oil?  I think the first thing I would do is change the cap on the reservoir.  With pressure, they can leak each time while running.  Is the gear lube brownish?  If so, don't go anywhere until you find the source of the leak, because water is intruding.  Another possibility is the seal around either plug on the outdrive.  Also could be at the point where the reservoir hose meets the coupler going into the outdrive. Definitely need to find it soon before you mess something up.  The B-IIIs are very expensive to fix.

[trich11]

I experienced this last year on both sides. I had a prop seal bad on one side and a shaft seal bad on the other. It happened at the end of the season so I had both drives removed and inspected. The boat is an '02 so I chose to have both drives resealed and pressure tested. While the drives were off, we noted a hole in the exhaust bellows on one side and one in the shift cable bellows on the other and opted to have all bellows replaced along with the gimble bearings, short shift cables, etc. The kit from Merc comes with the bellows, gimble, trim position/limit switches, and shift boot. All together I invest close to $3K but the drives are in near new condition. I agree with Dream Inn's comments. Get it inspected ASAP because water left inside a drive can cause much damage in short order. Good luck.

[fiestavee02]

i did the gimbal bearing u joint  bellows, etc., 2 seasons ago.
thanks for your helpful advice on the seals and i will look to address that this off season.
david

[Babyboomer]

I had a shaft nut that backed off a few years ago had to have the drive pulled and resealed.

[big hemi]

I had gear lube leak last summer. They replaced the reservoir which did have a leak. But it happened again. Then they replaced the seal around the yoke and it has been okay.

[fiestavee02]

thanks for the input, i'm gonna take a real close look at that reservoir and the cap.  as i said, the cap at the nipple is always wet after a run, and that may very well explain the oil in the bilge also.
david

[CDPalmer]

I also have an 02 bravo 3 drive on my 232 BR.  Had this issue a couple of times. 
Each time it was a less than $100 fix.  If you follow the reservoir tube down into the transom plate there is a plastic fitting that breaks or cracks and leaks out the gear lube.  Give this a look maybe you'll get lucky and this will be the only thing wrong with it.

[Break Aweight]

Also make sure you check the tube, over the year i have had to replace both for they where rubbing on the shaft

[fiestavee02]

will do.
thx.
david

[flippen]

I have a 2007 Bravo III behind a Merc. I purchased used and the first time out I had a bilge full of gear oil after an hour. Turns out the hose from the reservoir to the drive itself is connected to a plastic nipple which broke off. The reason it broke was that someone had tie wrapped it to the sterring arm and it was pulling on the hose every time I turned the wheel. If you have oil in the bilge check the easy stuff like this first then move on to what theothers have said.

[Capt Ron]

The cap on the reservoir has a one way valve in it. You will notice that little nipple sticking through, that's the valve that allows air in and keeps oil from coming out. If you have oil coming out, check that the valve is seated properly in the cap. I had one new from the factory improperly installed on my new boat. I just pulled the valve through and made sure its flat to top of the cap before replacing it back on the reservoir. Never had any more issues with it. The biggest problem with the reservoir system is that quick connect through the out-drive. Had three failures of that 10 cent part that was no end of problems and a waste of liters of gear oil. The biggest hassle was cleaning up the bilge after. Be very careful when greasing the thrust bearing back there because touching that quick connect can cause problems.