Oil leak from alpha 1 driveshaft

[eman]

Just puchased a 2000 bayliner with the merc 4.3 w/ Alpha One leg. After running the boat for a few weekends I noticed that the gear oil was leaking out of a small drain hole on the lower unit housing on the opposite side of the drain plug(slow leak). I removed the lower unit to check the seals in the shift shaft and to replace the impeller and water pump gaskets. When I had the water pump cover off I noticed that oil was slowly dripping out of the driveshaft into the water pump. Does this mean I need to fix the drive shaft seals or is this normal?? Do the impeller gaskets stop this leak?

[marshmat]

I'm pretty sure the Alpha is designed NOT to leak oil all over the place. It would seem to be a safe bet you have a failed seal somewhere; the question is exactly which seal is faulty and how much damage the leak did before you caught it.

[krush]

Sounds like oil is leaking into the exhaust galley. It's most likely either the seal in the upper unit taht fits around the vertical driveshaft (the one u see when u pull the lower unit off that has the water pump on it) or it's leaking around the water pump housing.