Bravo 3 leaking from crack in outer shaft

[Sarges12]

I have a 2001 290 Sundancer twin 5.0 EFI with bravo 3’s. So this past season I was slowly losing gear oil out of my port outdrive. Mid season she was pulled for short haul and the marina drained fluid and said it’s good, no milk. Maybe it’s burping... Well the rest of the season I continued to lose a little oil after every trip.
She’s out for the winter, I bought the drives home to store in the garage. I changed the gear oil (nice and blue still) and tucked them in the corner on the rack. Yesterday I found a small puddle of oil under the port drive. Long story short, after through inspection I found a hairline crack in the outer prop shaft. I put a little air pressure in the drive and that’s where she leaked! Weird how I did not get any water in the drive, leaked only when I took her for a cruise. I’ve attached photos.
Has anyone else had this issue? What could have caused this?

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[SloBurn]

Yer scaring me. My B3 is in the shop right now because of leaking oil into the water. Used 1.5 L over the course of a season. But I also found oil in my bellows.

 

[BriRein04]

Find anything out Sarges12? Just found out my outer prop shaft has a similar crack. Funny thing is, it is brand new. I had seals leaking and found that the shaft had a groove in it so i replace both inner and outer with OEM shafts. Once week after I got the boat back, started leaking. Pulled out again and the mechanic found the crack.

 

[Espos4]

Are you sure that they installed new shafts and didn’t just put a used one in there?

 

[Sarges12]

I was told it’s from fatigue over the years not so uncommon. Unfortunately, 2 years ago my other drive bit the dust. I was able to salvage the upper and the shafts in the lower. I replaced my shaft with the one I had saved. That saved me over a grand. Those shafts are not cheap. Since I was changing the shafts, I changed the shaft seals too. I had to buy the tools to do them.

 

[BriRein04]

Just got the pic from the shop. Given that they are going through Merc for a warranty claim, I can only assume its "New".

 

[Sarges12]

From that picture that doesn’t look fairly new. Hopefully you get it fixed without anymore money out of pocket since you had them repair it already.

 

[BriRein04]

Thats still up in the air. There is a whale tail installed on my Bravo 3 (not by me). Merc is denying the warranty claim because of it. They are saying that it puts stress on the shaft. Funny, didn't crack the one that was previously on the boat for at least the year I owned it. Don't know if the previous owner ever replaced. Total BS by Mercury. They are just looking for an out!