On May 23, 8:30*am, wrote:
On Fri, 22 May 09 17:32, PhantMan wrote:
The case is ruptured and the metal is pushed outwards like water
freeze damage, but it hasn't been that cold here in years. Besides, I
check for water now and then so I trust that my seals were good.
Anyway, I don't think it was a water problem. *I'm not sure what
happened or when though. I just happen to notice it at the launch ramp
as I was about to put in one day. I hadn't launched it in a month (and
no cold weather at all during that time) *It goes into gear and sounds
normal, and the prop spins forward and reverse like nothing at all is
wrong with it. *Just a cracked casing.

My least expensive option is just have the metal pushed back in and
the crack welded shut. *I'd never trust it again though.
So I was quoted a rebuild at $1200 including a used casing. I don't
have the time to do it myself... although I'm finding more time on my
hands as the economy continues to suck. The unit is off the engine now
but I haven't opened it up since it's worth a $200 core credit towards
a remanufactured unit no matter what's wrong with it. *If this "new"
unit works out (no core charge), I might open it up out of curiosity
just to see what the hell is going on in there (I wouldn't have to
worry about getting it back together). *

So I've been looking online, Ebay, etc for a used lower unit or
remanufactured with "new" as my most expensive but least worrisome
option. Then I ran across these ads for a "new" lower unit for less
than I can have mine rebuilt. Like I said, I'm skeptical. But I
haven't been able to find anyone that has ANYthing to say about them
bad OR good.

Anyhow..... that's where I am now.

Rick
On Sat, 23 May 09, gfretwell wrote:
Since Bob's seems to be an independent dealer for SEI you might want
to talk to them about the warranty and how well these are performing,
bearing in mind he does sell them. If they were a real pain you might
hear him trying to steer you another way.
At a certain point no news may be good news about these things. The
fact that they are sold on the internet and google is not bringing up
people griping about them may mean they are OK.

I am curious about what the original problem was.
Was there enough oil left in the unit to see if it had water in it?
I do know that bad seal water problem can come up pretty suddenly.
One day on the water can fill that lower unit up if you have a bad top
shaft seal. (where the water pump is) The water will displace the air
and you whole unit will be full of liquid so it won't take much cold
to crack the case. The water will be at the bottom so that is where I
would expect the case to blow out.
At this point I agree, it is just an academic exercise.
I am glad it doesn't freeze here. When I found mine it was all water.
(bad top seal) * :-(

Good points.
I've been convinced it couldn't have been water but now I'm not so
sure. The rupture is low on the forward end of the port side, next to
the skeg. *In storage, I normally leave the motor tilted down. But if
it had been turned to port as usual (putting the cable end inside the
tilt tube) and tilted up (which is not usual), that would have put the
rupture at the absolute bottom as far as water would be concerned,
which would leave nothing in there to drain..... and there was
nothing. *So that part makes a lot of sense.

But that leaves the question of weather. It was Winter but I don't
remember a freeze at all. And certainly not below 30 degrees. And even
if at possibly 32-30, couldn't have been for more than an hour or so
at the most, during the night. *It happens, but not very often around
here, so when it does happen, it's a news worthy and memorable event.
On the other hand, failure of my memory is neither news worthy NOR
memorable lol!

Anyhow, I'll try to "remember" to call Bob's next week, for a price
and to see what other information they may have to offer.

Rick- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Your problem may be worse than you think. I doubt it's freeze damage.
I'd guess it's more likely something came loose internally; a chipped
gear, fractured needle, etc. and got carried around by the gearset and
wedged between it and the case causing an outward fracture.

I had heard about the SEI replacements for Merc Alpha's, and yes they
are new built from scratch units, but didn't know they had branched
out into replacements for outboards. I have a 200HP Yamaha that I
bought as a parts motor that has a crack in the lower unit caused by
corrosion and expansion of the bearing carrier:

http://www.monkeybutler.com/boat/200 Yammmie/09.jpg

While the crack isn't into the gearset area I have been told by
different experts that it may run for ever or if left unattended
eventually it will spit its guts out the back. I don't know who to
believe but I'd buy an SEI replacement @ $795 before having this one
repaired.