Leak between Saildrive 110S and MD5B Engine

[dwallace]

All, I have a seep coming from where my 110S saildrive attaches to my Volvo Penta MD5B engine. To me it appears to be oil and not water. Yet the oil level in either the engine or saildrive is not going down. I tried sealing the joint with silicon but there is still a slight seep. Has anyone experienced this and can I use my engine until I need to take the engine and sail drive apart sometime in the future. The O ring under the sail drive was replaced only just before I bought the boat two years ago. Thanks in advance, Derek.

[crichard]

On my 110s water was getting into the lower unit through the bearings which then caused an oil/water mix to leak through the unit and show up at the base of the transmission around the the rubber skirt. I ended up needing to replace the bearings. Does the oil in the transmission look milky?

[dwallace]

Hi crichard, my leak is only a seep along the top joint where the 110S mates with the engine. I honestly think is only oil. Problem is where it mates with the engine is all rusted due to a leaking impeller prior to my buying the boat 2 years ago. Just prior to buying it the O ring was also replaced. My gut is that the mechanic did not seal the sail drive to the engine correctly after replacing the O ring. I'll work away with it for this season and monitor the seep and hopefully next winter take off the sail drive and get a better look at it. Thanks crichard. Hope your leak gets sorted for you. Rgds Derek