Pro XS L/U leak?

[Firesout]

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Boat stored in unheated garage, engine in down position. Have not been out yet this season. Noticed this last night while prepping for a day of fishing. What is this and what caused it? Only coming from right side. Should I be concerned? Oil out means water in right? But where’s it coming from? What next?

[Firesout]

Also last night I had found a small amount of gear lube seeping and had run down case from vent plug. Stressing a very small amount. The run had stopped sometime prior to discovering. Run had all but disappeared, but had collected at water intake area as seen in photo. To me doesn’t make sense to lose oil from water intake. Unless a crack somewhere? However I just went out with a Q tip to check inside water intake, and a tip came out virtually clean. Therefore I’m suspecting the vent plug seal is bad, leaked some over winter and ran into water intake area. Plug is tight but q tip does pick up small amount of fresh oil. I’m thinking plug seal at this point. Sound right? Gonna watch it for a couple more hours. I have had torque master crack over winter before. Once bitten twice shy. Just don’t want to be to eager to fish and blow my unit. Thanks for any input.

[Savage]

The lower unit needs removed and pressure tested. You have a seal leaking, probably the shift shaft.

[jbh3]

I would drain the l/u and check the condition of the lube and amount of water present, if any. If very little to no water is present, get fresh gaskets for the drain and vent screws, refill with fresh Merc High Performance gear lube and check it again after one run. If any water is present, you will need to shut it down and get the lower unit pressure tested to find where it's leaking and get it fixed.

[Firesout]

Ok got it. Thank you

[SilverFox579]

The lower unit needs removed and pressure tested. You have a seal leaking, probably the shift shaft.

^^^^

I'd do this first.

[EuropeanAM]

+3 or 4 on remove and pressure test.

Probably NOT a shift shaft seal (more likely the driveshaft seal, since it's seeping out of the water inlets).

[Firesout]

I bought new vent and drain plugs,washers and gear lube. Drained some existing lube to check for water. None found. Old plug washers appeared damaged. Also where washers seat there seemed to be some crud not allowing washer to seat well. Scraped area clean with flat head,topped off fluid, replaced with new plugs/washers went to lake, 20 min. run time. No issues. When home again completely drained l/u. No water. Refilling with new lube tomorrow. I think vent washer was buggered up and crud not not allowing washer to seat. Got worried when I saw it around water pick up. Pays to closely look over the rig prior to first time out after a long winter. If I hadn’t a problem was soon to come.

[Savage]

I would be keeping a careful eye on it, since it wasn't dropped and pressure tested.....leaks can and do occur in more than one area.

[tomloans]

If you have oil coming out of your vent, don't look external for the leak. It is highly likely your driveshaft seal is leaking... Easy fix really. Drop the lower unit and change out both the drive shaft and shift shaft seals along with the water pump while you are there. About $120.00 in parts if I remember correctly.

Then you should be good to go for awhile.