I was never able to get the seals out and ended up having to order a new barrier assembly, but I finally got the job done. Thank you so much for this video, it really helped!
just gotta say, i love that people share these kinds of things. ive saved a fortune because of you good people out there. say a prayer for me. im about to try a seal fix and drive shaft replacement on a 1966 merc 500. debating on just running it without full oil till the lower explodes. if anyone knows the risks id be happy to know. just wanna take it out a few times.
My Mercury 25 had oil dripping out of the lower unit, It smelled like burnt oil, I pulled the prop and could see no oil around the shaft seal so I cleaned the whole area out with paper towels and put a paper towel up in the exhaust port and waited a whole day and no more oil came out, I changed the lower unit oil and didn't see and water, I think when the engine don't get hot enough the 2 stroke oil builds up in the exhaust and drips for days, the only to find out is to stuff a paper towel up in the exhaust and clean the shaft area out and wait, if you still get oil showing up it may be the seal, I changed the seal out 5 years ago and the boat has being parked pretty much, I ran the motor in the driveway for about an hour , the oil show up about a day later and it dripped for 4 days, so pull the prop, plug the exhaust with paper towel, clean the area out good , wait, inspect again, if you still see oil building up it's time for repairs
This video was pretty good!thanks! I also watched others and feel The tool is the way to go I think although pricey at 90.00 I’ll Just hang on to it for a bit and then eBay it for little less . As far as using grease when you insert Seals it is probably as good as using a lock tight or any type sealer . My seals were so stuck in there I had to remove both by carefully inserting a punch from back of housing and carefully knocking them out. Be careful you do not scratch inside of housing. Also as far as prying up on seals out the housing is made of lightweight aluminum and you can destroy it by putting in a vice too tight along with chipping the top by prying. I checked on the housing part is over $300.00! Good luck and go slow on it all!
If you don't happen to see the directional indication on the carrier......you have to spin the carrier to the right to loosen and to the left to tighten....................
Perfect example of why you do first things first. First thing you need to do is a pressure check. A pressure check would have indicated the seals on the propshaft were not bad, saving this guy a lot of un necessary work. It is common on a 2 stroke to have unturned fuel coming out from behind the propeller. You need to smell this and smell your gear lube to see if they smell the same or not. This would have smelled of gas, not gear lube.
Lol!!! I wish you were right! As I mentioned in other comments there was an oil slick under the prop. I did not show the oil slick in the video. I had not used the outboard in over 1 year and no gas was connected to the outboard. After about a year of no use on a 25 year outboard, an oil slick appeared under the prop. It did not smell like gas....it was gear lube leaking from the seals.... Thanks for your comment though!
Shouldn't that be a castle nut on that prop? Is that "aftermarket engineering" ? I need to do the same on my 90 hp so just want to make sure all the same.
Hey man, great video! I'm about to do the same job on my '93 25hp. Just a quick follow-up question: did you ever have any future issues with your method of tightening the bearing carrier back on? I know it is supposed to be torqued to 80ft/lbs, but if you never had issues with it after the fact, I will save the $150 for that tool they sell.
I think it was ok. If there was a leak in the seals, chances are that water could be getting into your lower unit. Your oil was dirty but wasn't milky so that's a good sign that there is no water in the oil.
Well, the seals were bad because there was an oil slick on the driveway under my motor of lower unit oil....My boat was sitting on the trailer for several months and the seals failed while the boat was out of the water, thus the oil slick under my lower unit...Yes the lower unit oil would have been milky if it was in the water, but luckily I saw the leak before putting it in. The best news is that after I replaced the seals there hasn't been a leak and no water intrusion aka no milky lower unit oil!
MotoCheez, Good luck! My little 25hp was pretty easy. Hey, I picked up a heavy aluminium sheet at the scrap yard today for $6. Cut it and bent it to make a skid plate for the Hawk. I haven't finished it yet, but may post some pictures after I'm done. I ordered the aluminium exhaust from your link and did the air box mod yesterday after watching your videos...have it jetted at 110, but will rejet to 115 when the exhaust comes in.
I don't have the data anymore, but if you watch my video around the 33 second mark I show the schematic. Pause and take a screen shot on your phone and enlarge that image. You should be able to obtain the url link and same schematic with parts listed. Hope that helps!
Ur seals were fine that was unburned 2stroke oil in ur exhaust housing. I see it all the time. It was dark black oil. Full of carbon. If it was milky or similar to gear lube you would definitely know. I still like the video
No the seals were bad....I mentioned it but did not show the huge oil slick under my lower unit on the driveway. Normally if the lower unit is leaking you would also have water intrusion which causes milky looking oil, but my motor hadn't been in the water for over 6 months or even started more than 6 months. It began leaking severly while in the driveway....glad you like the video!
My Mercury 25 had oil dripping out of the lower unit, It smelled like burnt oil, I pulled the prop and could see no oil around the shaft seal so I cleaned the whole area out with paper towels and put a paper towel up in the exhaust and waited a whole day and no more oil came out, I changed the lower unit oil and didn't see and water, I think when the engine don't get hot enough the 2 stroke oil builds up in the exhaust and drips for days, the only to find out is to stuff a paper towel up in the exhaust and clean the shaft area out and wait, if you still get oil showing up it may be the seal
Nope. My seals were leaking. You're not the first person to say that, but hopefully your the last! What you did not see in the video was the oil slick under my lower unit. All of my lower unit oil leaked out and haven't had a problem since.
hello my friend. My Evinrude etech 30 hp engine is leaking oil from the tail joints. The smoke is not coming out completely from the exhaust, I think the engine is choking and not working properly. Why does this?.. What should I do?..Thank you..
You could need a new gasket. Possibly number 34 on the schematic. www.vansoutboardparts.com/evinrude-johnson-omc-outboard-motor-parts/evinrude-outboard-parts-by-hp/30-hp/exhaust_housing/c1b-583963?trail=1,3,483890,583953
I just did the same repair on a Mercury 25 I got for free. After getting everything back together I took it for a test run and you wouldn't believe what happened. The whole prop, shaft, and gears somehow loosened up when I went to accelerate and just completely spit out into the river. It's a swift channel so I wasn't able to find them. I can't understand how it loosened up. I tightened everything down. I'm puzzled and pissed off! Those are some expensive Parts I lost
Wow! That's crazy! Never heard of that before. Maybe you forgot to tighten, or even install, the bolts in on the retaining plate for the oring? Well, at least you got the motor for free. I would test it in a trash can full of water when you fix it. That's normally how I test my engine so I can see how much oil is in the water. Anyway, if you test it in trash can you won't loose the parts if they fall out again....
TX Jasper no I definitely tightened everything down. But I actually didn't even remove the O-ring retainer plate. I was just taking it apart to inspect the gears really. And the O ring seemed in really good condition so I left that alone. I tightened it down good in tight. I guess I should have looked up the torque spec.
got the same motor now and after 1 season all the oil in the gear house was gone. so l uset the oil pump to do a presure test and had a little air come out from the propel nut. gessing its a seal thats broken. was thinking of doing it myself, but gush..... after reading your comment, lm not so sure its a good idea...
Hey tx this video is a life saver!!! Just got my seals today I’m going to attempt this on my 2001 merc 20hp. The only part of the video I’m a bit confused about is the part right after u took the 3 bolts out. Where did u hit with wood and hammer? Prop shaft?? And did the bearing retainer and prop shaft come straight out with just pulling??
Thank you katpis! Don't hit the prop shaft! You might bend it. First unscrew the 3 bolts compressing the oring. Go to 2:35 of my video and you'll see the word "off" with an arrow pointing to the right on the collar (for lack of a better term). There are notches that the specialized mercury tool fits in. (you can see the "on" and "off" and notches more clearly @ 4:06). I placed the piece of wood in the notch and angled it toward the off position and hammered the wood piece in the off direction knocked it loose. After it was loose, I was able to unscrew by hand but if your engine runs in saltwater it might be a little more difficult to unscrew. Once it unscrewed, the entire assembly just comes right out. You can see the threads on the assembly at 3:12. At 3:18, I have the assembly. The part in my hand is the part you unscrew. you can see the plate, then the oring, then the threads. Replace the seals, and insert the entire assembly into lower unit and screw in the "on" direction until tight. Then use the stick and hammer method hammering in the on position to tighten. Place oring and oring plate back on and screw the 3 bolts back in. The 3 bolts tighten the plate to compress the oring to create another seal. Hope that helps. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.
TX Jasper thank you so much. You are so helpful!!! I really appreciate the added explanation. All the best. I’ll message u later once I finish. Thanks again :)
Sounds good! I just edited and added a little more to my original response. Hope it helps and let me know if you get it done and/or have more questions.
TX Jasper well that didn’t go quite as planned. :(. Got the prop off took the three bolts that hold the plate on. Removed the plate. I then noticed a part of the tab (designed to accept the tool to screw it out) was broken off. Took scrap wood with a hammer like suggested to loosen the bearing retainer off. Was not budging. So I took a soft brass punch and broke part of the second tab off. Total disaster. Seems like the original owner did the same with the first tab trying to get it off. Now I’m stumped lol. Whoever torqued this thing on must have put 100ftlbs to it
That's crazy! I know it sounds stupid, but make sure you're knocking/trying to turn it in the correct/off direction. Mine is to the right (clockwise to loosen)which is opposite of normal bolts. So do you still have one tab left? Remove the oring plate and oring and spray/ soak the inside with penetrating oil like PB blaster and let it sit over night. Raise the engine so it soaks/ pools in the lower unit. Soak it again the next morning, and try again tomorrow night. I used a wood piece ( pine) because it's soft and would typically break before shearing off metal. If that doesn't work, you might have to take it to a shop....local price here (DfW area Texas) is around $300-400.
I have a general question if anyone could advise. Thank you. I removed lower unit on 4 HP 2 stroke Chrysler engine. Prop was spinning before I removed the lower unit. After I did removed the lower unit the prop is not spinning. I can move little to left and right. Any idea how to get it back to move? Thank you
@@TXJasper thank you. It is possible I did put it in gear. Any advise what be best way to put it back to neutral? This engine has only forward and neutral. I still have the bottom unit separated. Do I need to take the prop off and open the bottom?
HI, mine is 99,15 hp 2 stokes and it is not really accessible to unscrew the bearing holder with a piece of wood . I found the spanner wrench tool they recommend on the net but they want like 150 $ so instead I will fabricate it with a piece of pipe and cut 3 nutchs on one end. Now about the oil seals I also saw that some are putting gasket maker on the outside on the seals , what do you think ? Thank you
Great idea about making your own tool out of pipe! Lol, I should have thought of that! I didn't use gasket maker and it hasn't leaked. It's a pretty tight fit, so I wouldn't use it. Best of luck and thank you for sharing!
My outboard is a 1999 that I bought second hand but I was fortunate that it has never been in saltwater. I was able to just pull it out with my hands. I've seen pullers for lower units but their expensive. If mine would have been stuck, I would have soaked it with PB Blaster Penetrating oil several times a day and work on pulling it out by hand each day...after a week, I would probably try to make my own puller or just buy one....sorry
Maybe I missed something but what did you use tool wise or how did you unscrew that bearing carrier? The end of my carrier looks like that too and from what I've seen online they want $150 for a tool special for that type carrier!
Lol, well, I used a big wooden dowel or stick and a hammer. I put thick wooden dowel or stick up to the bearing carrier and hit it with a hammer in the direction to loosen it. Did the same thing to tighten it. It worked fine. The dowel was chewed up, but it beats $150 tool.
Thank you! You may need the kit. I showed the gear oil seals around the prop shaft because that's where my unit was leaking. These seals can fail from fishing line which is a common problem but they could be intimidating to repair. The other seals in a seal kit would include seals for fill and drain plugs for lower unit oil, the seals for water pump (impeller) housing and drive shaft seals that links to motor. You can access the water pump and drive shaft seals by dropping the lower unit. Most are normal maintenance seals that should be replace when you replace the impeller in you water pump housing. Hope that helps!
@@TXJasper Thank you for your fast respond ! I bought this Mercury outboard motor used and I think I will do a good reset on it and since it is a 1999 but in really good shape, I might also change the impeller too. Did you made a video on that ? Also , I know for sure that those oil seal have to be replace but strangely, I found a little oil leak coming from a little hole in the body in the upper fin section above the impeller. Do you have a idea where it might come from ?
Hi@@claudius622 ! I have not made a video on dropping the lower unit and replacing seals on draft shaft, shifting shaft and water pump assembly, but next time I replace them I will. Regarding to the hole, I attached a kink to a video (not from me) talking about this in 3:05 into the video. It doesn't show you how to remove the lower unit but shows you what it looks like when you do and addresses the weep hole you're talking about. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GkumIZF-F2c.html Two other things to consider, the guy's motor in the attached video is a 4 stroke which contains oil in the upper unit. My outboard is a 1999 also and is a 2 stroke, which means the oil is mixed with the gas and not contained in separate reservoir in upper unit. Another thing, the shifting shaft has a linkage that will need to be removed before completely dropping the lower unit. So keep those two things in mind when diagnosing and repairing your motor. Best of luck and let me know if you have others questions!
Unfortunately I don't remember. I recorded it, but the video footage was corrupted. I know it was metric and would guess 12mm or 10mm. If you have metric sockets, you should be fine. Best of luck!
Well, you're not the 1st person to tell me that, but I'm pretty sure I installed them correctly. I installed them back to back just like the original ones came out. No leaks, water intrusion or problems since! I also have had people tell me the seals were not bad, but they were...they didnt see the oil slick on the driveway under the prop because I didn't have that on video.... quite a few people also said that the seals were not bad because the oil wasnt milky, again they didn't know that I hadn't put the boat in the water or started it months before the oil slick appeared in the driveway.....I say all that to say I lost a lot of footage and uploaded what I had. Hopefully it helps someone. Thanks for the comment!
@@TXJasper Knyn has no idea what he is talking about. They way you found it and the way you replaced it, is how Mercury/Mariner does it. The Service Manual also confirms you were correct/ The jamokes that are stating it was done wrong are looking at other outboard make videos and making assumptions they are all done the same way; they are incorrect of course.
I just pulled it out. I've had others ask me the same question, but I didn't have any issues. I'm sure it helps that I've never had the engine is saltwater and I keep my boat on a trailer out of the water while not in use. Sorry I can't be more help. Best of luck!
you must already know, that hole replacing process was pointless... the oil what you discovered is comed from the exhaust. (after you just take the prop, it was evident that it was in perfect condition) if water is the lower unit, most of the time is comes from the shift shaft sealing (most likely), or under the water pump seals (most unlikely) and the prop nut is not original i think...
LOL!!! Hi Annamária Imre! You're mistaken, the seals failed. The motor was sitting dry docked for a long time. The motor is a 1999 with original seals. It wasn't leaking oil when used in water, but after dry docked for an extended period of time in direct Texas sun the seals failed. I didn't show the extent of the leak in the video, but there was a massive oil slick on driveway of lower unit oil. It was and is clear it was coming from the seals, not exhaust (The engine is a 2 stroke mixed gas and oil and the fuel line wasn't connected to the engine) Under normal use you would see water intrusion via milky oil mixture, but I was lucky that the seals failed without being in the water. After I replaced the seals there has been no oil leaks, no water intrusion, and engine is working properly. Thanks for commenting though....
marineengine.com, go to 0:33-0:34 of my video and freeze the screen and the exact website is at the bottom of the page. If you're on your phone and can't read, take a screen shot and enlarge the image and you should be able to read it. Best of luck!
you put the seals in wrong. They are supposed to be back to back. You also did other things wrong. You don't hammer around the prop shaft, you use a piece of pipe over the shaft on the thrust washer to evenly seat it.
No, I put the seals on right. I put them on exactly how the original seals came off and they have worked fine for 2 years...also, normally you would not want to use a hammer around the prop shaft because it could bend the shaft, that's why I used soft pine wood and it worked for me. Yes, making your own tool out of pipe is a better solution, I just posted what worked for me. Thanks for commenting!