Vire 7 Problems

[Rick]

For the last 2 years I've been changing my Reverse Gear oil every 10 hours or so because of water in the oil. As you might have guessed I've become very fast at this process. I was wondering If anybody has had his problem and fixed it, a little direction would be most appreciated. -Rick -I have the Vire website and understand it probably entails changing the shaft seals which I believe there are 2 of them. ?

 

[Bob Todd]

Change the seal behind the water pump housing...

Water is entering the transmission through the deal in your water pump housing.Cheers,Bob

 

[ed]

Waterpump

I think Bob is right about the waterpump seals. See the vire7 site Hint & Tips. What I think of when you say shaft seals is where the shaft exits the transmission. On an outboard that would cause water to enter lower unit (transmission), but on an inboard it would cause an oil leak in the boat.

 

[Bob Todd]

I rebuilt the Virus 7...

...in my old C&C 25 MkI a few years back. I smelled gear oil in the cabin and when I lifted the bilge cover I found the bilge full of gear oil.What had happened is the spline shaft seal behind the water pump impeller was leaking. The pressure in the water pump housing was pushing the seawater past the seal. As the level of the water in the transmission increased it forced the gear oil out through the vent in the top of the transmission case and into the bilge.Since I had to pull the engine to make the repair, I purchased someone's failed rebuild and salvaged all the new parts and rebuilt mine. The seal just about fell out by itself it was so worn.After I reassembled and reinstalled the engine it performed flawlessly.Good luck.Cheers,Bob

 

[Rick]

Thank You!

Thanks Bob and Ed, I appreciate your ideas and think you are right. I am excited not only to fix this problem but it seems I won't have to pull the engine to do it!! Thanks again! Rick