On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:16:53 -0700, bowgus wrote:

Also fwiw, seems
to me there was some sort of seal/o-ring on the top of the mercruiser
outdrive that with time or overfill (lube needs room to expand when
hot else blows the seal) might leak ... allowing water into the
outdrive and lube to exit which is not a good combination.

There are also seals at the bottom which can leak with equally bad
results. It's fairly easy to replace the seals however. I had that
problem with my old outdrive.