Water in drive lube reservoir


GandDFreehold

GandDFreehold

Member
I have Bravo 3 drives on my 34 PC, a few months ago I noticed water in the drive lube reservoir, on the port drive. Had the boat hauled and the drive tested. They pressure tested the drive and determined that there was no leakage. Then they used a jig to drive the prop into the drive, to simulate a load on the seals, still no leak. The only thing the marina could think was the connector coming through the bellows and plugging into the drive was leaking, so they replaced it. Well, that didn't work, still water in the reservoir, and losing lube. Any thoughts where I might look next? I'd like to get this behind me before spring launch.
 
Usually a pressure check is followed by a vacuum check. If no leaks are found under pressure, it will be found on a vacuum check. It must hold vacuum for at least an hour but overnight is the best.
 
I don't see how water gets in the lube bottle without it being in the drive. If (big IF) the bottle is working correctly then it has a one way check valve. The valve allows air to come in the bottle but not out. So if the bottle empties, the valve would not allow pressure to push water back in.

How much water is found?
 
There is about 1/4" of water in the bottom of the reservoir.
When the drive was pulled this summer, I was told that they got a "little bit" of water out of the drive.
The only place I would think there would be a check valve would be in the screw on cap, as it has to drain, other than that looks like a tubing run from the reservoir to the barbed connector at the drive. As this seems to be a gravity feed system not sure a check valve would work here.
Good point GSENT, I'll see if they can do a vacuum check.
Thanks for the thoughts, I'll follow up on this when I know more.
 
The valve is the rubber piece in the top of the cap. If the valve stops working then the drive will push lube into the bottle and once full, it comes out into the engine bay
 
Sorry my old brain is puzzled so no telling what's going to come out my fingers.

Water is heavier then oil so there is no way water will get into the bottle unless thru the cap. The drive would have to be full of water to even have a chance to get into the bottle. Maybe the water was done by hosing the bilge down and the caps was loose
 
Yeah, AllDodge, my thoughts also. If water were all the way up to the reservoir my drive would be toast! I'm generally pretty careful when I hose down the bilge, don't think I would have sprayed water onto the cap. I'mm pulling the boat, in two weeks, for the winter. I'll see what the drive looks like then. In the mean time, I'll look for any way water would get into the reservoir. Thanks for your input.
 
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