Dave1972

I'm not familiar with Alpha drives much at all and I had a friend just buy a used SeaRay with an Alpha and the dealership that sold the boat to him just finished winterizing the boat. After he took the boat home and lowered the drive, he noticed that the drive is "leaking" oil. I took a look tonight and it appears as if there is oil leaking out of the small hole below the cavitation plate toward the front of the drive. I'm guessing it's a speedo water inlet or perhaps just a water vent, but it appears as if gear lube is leaking out of it. My hesitation is because the drain plug at the bottom of the "bullet" is on the same side as the vent/overflow plug on the upper 1/2 of the drive. The oil is on the opposite side of the drive where there are no plugs or vents. Is this possible that there is a gasket or something leaking? My initial guess was that when refilling the drive/reservoir that the tech forgot to take off the cap for the reservoir, thus creating lots of oil/air pressure internally until it blew a seal????? Can anyone shed some light on this for me???

Thanks,
Dave

Vinny P

Dave,

I don't have an answer on this. But, last year a friend had this exact same concern on his Alpha drive. I pressure and vacuum checked the drive for him and found that it held in both cases. I couldn't figure out any reason for this oil leaking. So, we figured we would drop it in the water and just monitor the fluid through the gear lube monitor. Well, it held for the entire season. To this day I still don't know where the oil was coming from!!!!

ChristianGott

There is a tiny gasket between the upper and lower halves of the drive. It is on the opposite side from the plugs, and is very easily misaligned during drive servicing. Drain the oil, separate the halves, check for the gasket. It could be a quick and easy fix.

obnoxus

Christians got it !!!

Offshore Addiction

usually if that gasket isnt there itll leak directly there,but what the problem is going to be is the shift shaft seal,it is directly in front and directly above that water relief hole,about a 20 dollar fix...doing it yourself

Ratchet

If it's in the front, it is most likely he shift shaft seal. There is a tool to replace this. Typically, you should put a little perfect seal on the o-ring b4 screwing it in.

One other possibility is the waterpump base o-ring. Even though unlikely, it is a possibility.

As for the little ring between the upper & the lower, its calles a quad ring (flat o-ring basically). Spray the lower w/ brake cleaner & make sure its all nice & clean.............Put a drop of bellows adhesive on it, touch it to the lower grear case, pull it off. It will tack up in a second, then put it back on. This will keep it in place when you assemble the upper & lower. (don't put anything on the top, just make sure its clean & free from gear lube where it contacts the seal.