Milky Oil in the outdrive (dp290)

[DirtyE]

Just drained my outdrive oil last night and noticed some light milky color not alot but some. I had the lower unit replaced 2 seasons ago all new bellows. I know the bellows are one of the places to look for water intrusion. Curious were else too look. I removed the cover too take off the fill bolt and it looks like the the seal were the shift linkage has been there a while, is this a place too start. there is some corrosion on the piece that the seal sits in? the bellows look great cant see anything obvious with them. Thanks Erik

[fireescape]

Hey Erik....you also have prop shaft seals and o-ring on drain plug. perform a vacum and pressure test on outdrive with spray bottle and soapy water.If you have wrapped any spectra on your prop shaft it can work under the seals and ruin your day! No Slack will fill in the blanks... Hope you get it worked out....Zack

[NoSlack]

There are bunch of places it could be leaking from. Start from the top, dip stick o-ring, u-joint drive shaft seal, but you also need to have a bad bellow to get water on that seal. Under the cover with the 290 emblem is the shift shaft seal, fill plug o-ring and the o-ring around the shift shaft assembly. I've had the shift shaft seal leak before. You've got o-rings at the 3 splits lines, top cover, upper housing to intermediate housing and the lower housing to the intermediate housing. Very unlikely that they are leaking if you haven't split the drive lately. The only thing left is the prop shaft seals. This is the most likely place as it's a fishing line magnet.

Here is a link to the manual http://www.thestraycat.net/files/Volvo%20Penta%20Workshop%20Manual.pdf
page 124 walks you through the leak test.

Mike