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Hey guys and gals,
I'm a first time poster, but long time Merc fan. I have a 1974 Merc 850 with thunderbolt ignition. I am the 2nd owner of the motor. Its on a 1980 Venture bass boat. During the last outing of the season last year, upon tying down the transom straps on the boat, I noticed there was milky-white lower unit oil
seeping out of the midsection ( looks like a weep-hole ) of the engine. So I drained out the fluid and figured I'd wait till spring to deal with it. Well, its now spring and I'm dealing, so I pulled off the lower unit. Pulled off the water pump upper housing, impeller, and lower impeller housing. Looks like that weep-hole that I saw fluid coming out of, was exactly that. A weep-hole. I'm pretty sure that the lower housing also has a shaft seal on the bottom end that obviously keeps water from getting into the lower unit bearings. I believe that's where it was leaking was that lower housing seal. the rubber looks questionable as well as the gasket. My question is this. Is there any other seals or special things I should be aware of when I go to replace this housing?? Looks like pretty much a cut and dry repair: Scrape the surface good, clean off the area, ETC. Install New lower and upper housing and slap it back in. Do I need to replace any other seals?? Is there somebody on the forums that's done this? Am I missing anything??
Thank you for reading. My apologies for such a long post.
Mike S
Schererville, IN
I'm a first time poster, but long time Merc fan. I have a 1974 Merc 850 with thunderbolt ignition. I am the 2nd owner of the motor. Its on a 1980 Venture bass boat. During the last outing of the season last year, upon tying down the transom straps on the boat, I noticed there was milky-white lower unit oil
seeping out of the midsection ( looks like a weep-hole ) of the engine. So I drained out the fluid and figured I'd wait till spring to deal with it. Well, its now spring and I'm dealing, so I pulled off the lower unit. Pulled off the water pump upper housing, impeller, and lower impeller housing. Looks like that weep-hole that I saw fluid coming out of, was exactly that. A weep-hole. I'm pretty sure that the lower housing also has a shaft seal on the bottom end that obviously keeps water from getting into the lower unit bearings. I believe that's where it was leaking was that lower housing seal. the rubber looks questionable as well as the gasket. My question is this. Is there any other seals or special things I should be aware of when I go to replace this housing?? Looks like pretty much a cut and dry repair: Scrape the surface good, clean off the area, ETC. Install New lower and upper housing and slap it back in. Do I need to replace any other seals?? Is there somebody on the forums that's done this? Am I missing anything??
Thank you for reading. My apologies for such a long post.
Mike S
Schererville, IN
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