Changing Gear Lube

[Chas]

When I would change the gear lube on my Alpha 1 on my 1987 Seville, I would drain it and then fill with the pump from the bottom to the top and put the plugs back in. My new boat (new to me) also has Alpha 1 outdrives, but also a resevoir on the engine that my other boat didn't have. This is where my confusion lies. Now my questions. When I drain the outdrive, will it also drain the resevoir on the engine? When I fill, will it fill just the outdrive, or the outdrive and resevoir also? I don't understand how this resevoir comes into play. I have always been maticulous with changing of my fluids at the end of a season. Thanks.

 

[HavingFun]

If you want to change every drop then you need to suck the oil out of the reservoir. I would do this before you drain the oil. You would need to wait a long time for gravity to drain the reservoir. Then when you fill it I fill it to the top vent hole and then go into the boat to fill the reservoir.

I don't think most repair places drain all of the oil. If you have any water in the oil it would sink and the oil would float to the top.

 

[tdappleman]

I let mine drain overnight when I did my water pump impeller because I had lost my syringe for getting the lube out of the reservoir tank. It didn't drain out after about 12 hours but luckily I found the syringe. I would drain the reservoir and the drives and then refill both. Then just make sure you have a bit of extra lube to top off the reservoir after the first run since it will most like go down a bit.

 

[Yachtsea]

When I would change the gear lube on my Alpha 1 on my 1987 Seville, I would drain it and then fill with the pump from the bottom to the top and put the plugs back in. My new boat (new to me) also has Alpha 1 outdrives, but also a resevoir on the engine that my other boat didn't have. This is where my confusion lies. Now my questions. When I fill, will it fill just the outdrive, or the outdrive and resevoir also? I don't understand how this resevoir comes into play. I have always been maticulous with changing of my fluids at the end of a season. Thanks.

When you drain the drive this will not drain the resevoir.

Since you remove both screw covers on the drive you will not have a vacuum to pull the oil from the reservoir.

 

[Chas]

Thanks. So is there a need to change the lube in the resevoir, as it seems like it isn't actually being used? How is that lube different from my half filled bottle in my dock box? Just wondering.

 

[280 SeaRay]

Interesting... I seem to experience something different. On my previous 220BR (SeaRay) with a Bravo III and with my current twin alpha drives the lube reservoir drains relatively quickly when I dump the drive fluid. I let the drives drain for about 30 min each. There will be a tiny bit in the bottom of the reservoir which is below the fitting to the hose. I pull the reservoir from the bracket and dump remaining ounce or 2 into a plastic cup. When refilling the drive I pump until I hit the add line.... then I fill to full line from reservoir. I do remove the cap from the reservoir before I drain the drive.