Water in 2012 lower drive oil

[RN223]

Hi all,
Doing drive service first time on a 2012 273 with a Volvo Penta 8.1 Gi. The drive spewed out a milky/white oil, obviously has water in the oil. I'm assuming the inside is all corroded. My options are to rebuild the lower drive or just buy a new lower. I'm leaning towards just buying a new one as the fix could cost as much as a new one.

What would you all do??

Yes the boat was originally in salt water, then in a lake in Idaho. It will now spend the rest of its life in Lake Tahoe. I'll try to add a couple pics but I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about

Cobalt lower drive.JPG

Milky oil.JPG

[Big Block Power]

Hard to say if the inside is all bad without looking at it. I would look at it first. It's got to come off no matter What first. The drive looks like it's in good shape to begin with.

[bruceb58]

Do a pressure and vacuum test and determine which seal is the culprit.

You replace all the little o-rings on the drain plugs every time you change gear oil right? How long has that gear oil been in there?

I have both of these testers
https://www.stevensinstrument.com/gearcase.htm

Have you pulled the drive lately to see if there is any water in the bellows? If you have water in the bellows, very easy for it to get through the driveshaft seal since it is designed to keep oil in rather than water out.

Have you replaced your bellows before?