Finally!. I got my service appointment today. In by 9AM,
and they called me at work at 2PM and said come get it.
I droped it off with a laundry list - main issue being how
it started using 2 oz/hour of gear lube after 1 year. Here
is what I got back:

1)
Found no oil leak, stern drive passed pressure test.
Customer needs to understand that oil in lube res.
will drop as air pockets in drive surface. (Removed
steern drive, replaced gaskets, bellows Ok, dry,
clean, good shape.

2) slight vibration at 1,900 RPM is normal, this
is a "transition point" for this engine, and also
depends on position of stern drive etc.

3)
valve ticking: this is normal for this engine.

4)
slight play in steering: This is normal for a
one-cable steering system.

5)
Performed stern drive maintenance,
checked engine alignment, lubed bearings,
u-joints, checked/lubed shifting cables and
other associated parts for annual maint.

6)
replaced cup holder in engine cover.

7)
broken block drain hose pull up bracket ordered.
Price included in this invoice.

8) Changed oil.

Total: parts/2.0 hr labor, oil, shop aupplies etc:
$250
Total with Tax: $270

So there you have it. No one in the shop can explain
why a 1-year old boat would finally decide to burb
up an air pocket/bubble after so much time, but thats
the deal. The air pocket was believed to be in the
drive, not the hose leading up to the resivor.

Took the boat right out to the lake this afternoon
after picking it up, and had a nice birthday outting.
Boat ran fine, even seemed to run a little better
that normal. Coupla beers, few smokes, tearing
it up, fast, slow, trolling, hole-shots, you name it.
boat seems 100%, just no arguing that, period.

Hope this info, and my experience helps others.
Noteworthy point being that it is possible that a
trapped airpocket in the stern drive can break
loose after 1+ years. Size of bubble was 6 oz.

coolness. (still decideing whether to keep it
or sell it), but not so consumed with that
whole thought so much now.




"Jim" wrote in message
ink.net...
no
"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
. ..

"Jim" wrote in message
ink.net...
Don't get hung up on the shift shaft seal. Nothing should have failed
at
the
1 year mark, so I couldn't even speculate as to what your problem is.

Cool, Ok... Just have to wait for 2 weeks till I get in to the shop.
Nother quick question - would excessive water pressure from a
set of ear muffs do it ? I usually only open the faucet 1/2 way,
but I do have pretty high water pressure.


"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
. ..

"Jim" wrote in message
ink.net...
The bushing assembly( used to be metal) has a groove the oring fits
into.
It
would be pretty difficult to unseat this oring. The oring seals the
bushing
assembly to the gear housing. in the middle of the bushing are
pressed
1
or
2 seals (I forget). The shift shaft is sealed by these seals. the
shift
shaft rotates about 45 degrees. The shift shaft is in front of the
water
pump and in back of the cavity I spoke of. There is only 1 drain
hole
for
the cavity. There is no pressure relief issue since the gear lube is
able
to
expand and contract and fill and empty the reservoir just like the
expansion
tank for your car cooling system.

Cool - yeah, I was reading about the shaft positions - 10:00 Rev,
11:00 neutral, and 12:00 forward. Ok, cool, so the bushing itself
has little seals preseed in seals. Geeze, with only an occassional
45 degrees movement, don't see why it would be so common for
the shift shaft seals to leak. Maybe thats just it - the shaft never
moves 360 degrees, so maybe it never gets proper wiping and
seating on seal lip or somehting? who knows. Also, on mine,
(2005 Alpha-1 Gen II), there really are 2 drain holes, one on
each side of the lower unit towards the rear. And so yeah, I
agree about the venting (up into the gear lube monitor) so I don't
know why the Olympic boat center service department dude
told me on the phone that the shift shaft seal also acts as a
pressure relief. Also read where some people say there is a check
valve in line with the tank and the drive, and other say no. But
there really -can't- be a check valve since the refill procedure
says to pump the gear lube "up" from the lower unit until it
fills the gear lube monitor - somehting you wouldn't be able to
do if there were a chack valve in line. Anyways... So what is
your experience with the newer Alpha-1's (gen 2) drives ?
How likely is it that my shift shaft seal is what is leaking?
How involved is dropping the lower unit to have a peek?
Or should I say, how involved is re-assembling it correctly?
I assume that you can do this with the outdrive on the boat?
Probably just wait for y service appointment in 2 weeks,
but just curious (roll-away chock full of tools on a cloudly
Saturday, and its killing me that I can't dive in). Course, no
"special" Mercruiser tools in the tool boxes anyhow. Got all
the Ford 4x4 differential tools, - do they count? (Ok, joking)






"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
...
Yup - also think I'm getting the picture here too...
Correct me if my thinking is off here. Shift-shaft
is on the starboard side, and water pump on port.
Since port side is bone dry, and s.b. side a tad wet,
I suspect shift-shaft bushing seal. Also, (finally)
understand the shift shaft bushing thing now. So
I been seeing pics of the ss "bushing", and tools
to screw in/out the bushing, but failed to under-
stand how a hard plastic collar bushing could be
a seal. Finally found a web page that explains it.
Its a hard plastic threaded bushing with slots on
the top (to screw it in/out), BUT, its got n O-ring
down inside of it. Somewhat common for the O-
ring to pop out, or walk itself out of hte center of
the bushing, and just float around the shaft on the
top of the bushing. So..... Got an appointment
for Aug 16th (2-weeks from now), so we'll go
from there. Question is, is it bad enough to have
to stop using it for the next 2 weeks - thats what
I have to evaluate now. Fear being getting water
in the drive. Also, had another dealer tell me on
the phone that the shift-shaft seal also acts as a
pressure relief valve. (?) Don't understand that
as all! - if so, pressure would pop the O-ring out
of the hard plastic shift-shaft bushing, but that
action would be permanent, right? How could
an O-ring act as pressure relief and remain in tact?
(guess I'd just have to see it all apart on the bench)




Jim