Bravo III Gaining Oil

[Dave S]

Right after a gear oil change, you should experience a drop in oil level a bit as the outdrive continues to expell what little bit of air was trapped in the outdrive and the oil in the reservoir gets drained back into the drive. I usually wind up having to top up the reservoir on mine after 5-10 hours.

At this point in time, just keep an eye on it doing exactly what you have already done. You may even want to start a log where you note the hours or running time and the oil levels to see if you have a pattern developing here. If the oil wasn't milky and there were no signs of metal in it, at least that's a good sign. It could be the problem develops only after long runs on plane where the outdrive is out of the water and gets it's hottest. If you want, take a look at this web site http://www.driveshowers.com/ so you get a better understanding of why a drive runs hot under plane. I am not saying you should buy a drive shower at this point, but their site will demonstrate the heating and cooling cycles that our drives go thru when underway.

 

[JeffM]

Thanks, Dave -- I checked out the drive shower site. They did not mention increasing fluid levels as a symptom of a properly-functioning, hot running drive. I may add one as a precaution, but my immediate worry is the fluid level increase in such a short run. We weren't on the water more than 1/2 hour, most at no-wake speeds, before we had a significant increase in fluid level.

This increase doesn't seem normal, even for a hot-running drive, does it? It rose enough that if the drive oil had been at the "full" mark, we would have had another overflow. In the cases where the drives were malfunctioning, the oil levels didn't decrease when the drive cooled, did they?

Jeff

 

[Dave S]

Jeff

I still think a call to Mercury might be in order either by the technician or yourself to see if they can help. After all, the problem is just a recent one so there has to be a reason for this stuff to be happening. The oil is likely expanding due to heat or pressure but finding the cause of it may not be so easy. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Dave

 

[JeffM]

I still think a call to Mercury might be in order either by the technician or yourself to see if they can help.

I agree, and will do so. Unfortunately, I have to wait until at least late next week to make any calls myself, as I'm buried at work right now. However, I spoke to the marina manager this morning and hope to be able to get someone to look at it sooner than that.

I really appreciate your help!
Jeff