Squeaking volvo shaft seal

[mrplastic]

Motoring out of the marina today I could hear a squeaking noise which I traced to the Volvo Shaft seal. This was burped and greased a couple of weeks ago and up tiill now it has been fine. (Prior to that I had motored the boat for several hours after a relaunch being unaware of the need to burp). I moved it a little bit further down the shaft as the shaft was showing slight signs of wear The squeaking comes and goes but the seal is not leaking, the seacock feeding the cutlass bearing is open and working. Do I need to be concerned? Must I replace it as a matter if urgency? What if anything can I do about it?
As always, my thanks for your sensible replies!

 

[Birdseye]

There is no way that the seal should squeak with water to lubricate its built in bearing and grease on the lips of the seal. So yes you should be concerned.

It isnbt always easy to locate a sound source - I honestly dont see how the seal could squeak. So suspect something else. Nevertheless the consequences of seal failure are suchg that the source must be found and not ignoired.

 

[Tranona]

Could be that the fluted bearing behind the seals is running dry. If you forget to burp it does make a squeaking noise that gets louder as it gets drier. Suggest you burp it again with the shaft turning so you get a jet of water which should stop as soon as you release pressure.

 

[HunterWanderer]

It might be that the shaft is not central to the seal.
Split the coupling to the gearbox and the shaft will centralise. Then move the engine to align the couplings both axially and radially.

 

[Chris_Robb]

Motoring out of the marina today I could hear a squeaking noise which I traced to the Volvo Shaft seal. This was burped and greased a couple of weeks ago and up tiill now it has been fine. (Prior to that I had motored the boat for several hours after a relaunch being unaware of the need to burp). I moved it a little bit further down the shaft as the shaft was showing slight signs of wear The squeaking comes and goes but the seal is not leaking, the seacock feeding the cutlass bearing is open and working. Do I need to be concerned? Must I replace it as a matter if urgency? What if anything can I do about it?
As always, my thanks for your sensible replies!

Are you getting enough grease into the shaft seal? An easy trick is to use a MacDonalds straw (they are larger diameter than most). Fill the straw up from the tube of volvo grease tube, flatten one end, insert under lip of seal, and squeeze the greece in by running your fingers down the straw.

So try this once more, and see what the results are.

I find that I need to burp the seal quite often. In fact I now do it as part of the daily engine checks especially if I am going some distance under engine, and there is always some air there.

How old is this seal? My last one was 20 years - it did not drip at all, but there was a sound sometimes like a distant airplane droning overhead which was the seal. A burp would stop the noise.

I changed it last year for safety sake, and was horrified to find that the new seal leaked quite badly. It leaked for 2 weeks (about 30 hours motoring) and then stopped leaking and has not leaked since. - or made any noise.

 

[mrplastic]

There is no way that the seal should squeak with water to lubricate its built in bearing and grease on the lips of the seal. So yes you should be concerned.

It isnbt always easy to locate a sound source - I honestly dont see how the seal could squeak. So suspect something else. Nevertheless the consequences of seal failure are suchg that the source must be found and not ignoired.

Its definitely the seal as The squeak varies when I squeeze it! I shall regrease it trying Chris_Robbs method and report back.

 

[Birdseye]

Oddly enough you can overgrease these seals and cause leaks. In any case the bearing isnt grease lubricated just the seal . Burp it again and make sure water comes out of the end of the seal. If it squeeks after that, I would lift out.

Had a number of these seals and indeed have one at the moment.