I agree that is an odd color but the orings don't look melted so I'm not
thinking the heat did that. Alignment tool is supposed go in all the way.
But I've noticed on mine that if I then turn the engine 180deg that it is no
longer aligned so it would seem it does not have to be perfect. The coupler
does not have a tip on it to fit in the end of the crankshaft like the
automotive side so it is impossible to get it on perfect too.

"John Chaplain" wrote in message
...

I pulled my outdrive to check the alignment.
(2002 Mercruiser Alpha One outdrive.)

I've never done this before but I'm a machininst and a half assed
mechanic, so I think I can handle it.

My first question is....in the picture you can see that it looks like
the shaft has taken some heat judging by the coloration of the shaft.

http://home.comcast.net/~johnchaplain/shaft1.jpg


Is this normal or is this due to overheating because of misalignment?

The alignment tool only goes in about a third of the way into the
coupling before it binds up. My second question is I'm wondering how
bad the alignement is if the tool goes in freely at least a third of
the way, it seems that that must be pretty close. Is that offalignment
bad enough to have overheated the shaft?

TIA,
John C.