Drive Lube won't stop after adding lube....

B

BreezyPoint

New Member
Jun 1, 2016
3
New York
Boat Info
2009 Sea Ray 185 sport
Engines
4.3 Mercruiser
Hello, I know every newbie post starts with an apology for being a newbie so here it is...sorry!
I just purchased a 2009 185 sport 4.3 TKS with a Bravo III outdrive (I hope I said all that right). I went to take her out the other day and the alarm went off and would't stop. I did a little research (thanks everyone) and deduced it was the gear lube oil. Sure enough, I went to the boat and the reservoir was very low. I bought some quicksilver high performance lube oil, topped it off and started her up, problem solved...right? No, the #@$% alarm won't go off! Did I do something to damage the boat? Does it take time to clear? does it need to be reset? is there something else I'm not getting? Any guidance would be very much appreciated!
 
I got a laugh from your first line... nice! :smt001

I doubt you did any damage - even if you did, the gear lube alarm wouldn't know it. It is as simple as simple gets. It's just a float switch - when it floats "down" it makes a contact and signals the alarm. If the alarm was truly from your gear lube monitor bottle, the most likely issue now is that the float is simply stuck in the down position. Reach in there and pull it back up with something. Another way to check if that's the issue is to simply disconnect one of the leads while it's sounding - it should stop. If it doesn't, there's another issue.

Note that the alarm will sound when just turning the key to "on" (w/o starting the engine). But this has nothing to do with the gear lube. You'll need to engine running to eliminate some other reasons for the alarm (assuming you don't have another issue).

FYI, you have an "Alpha II" drive. Or, typically just referred to as an "Alpha" drive. A Bravo is a different beast.
 
As Dennis said you likely have a float stuck down. just stick you finger in there and try to loosen. It happened to me once before.

You can also disconnect one of the wires going to the bottom of the reservoir to confirm that is the alarm.
 
Thank you Gentlemen....I'll give that a try and let you know how it goes. Have a great 4th of July!
 
By way of an update...I tried to un-stick (is that a word?) the float without any luck. I figured let me ask the in-house mechanic to take a look. I got a call 5 days later stating that I had "blown a head gasket" and that the entire engine needed to be rebuilt, to the tune of 5k. I had the boat towed to someone highly recommended and surprisingly enough he said "your gear lube oil sensor is stuck" he fixed it AND drove the boat back to my slip for me because I was at work. Big shout out to "Atlantic Service & Equipment" in Far Rockaway, if you ever need an honest boat mechanic he's your man...ask for Joe-Joe.
 
Totally not glad to hear the reason for the alarm (it must have been a constant alarm for overheat, not the beeping one for the gear lube?), but am glad you got it sorted out. Always good to hear/know about good technicians and where they are. Thanks for the update. Best of luck for the rest of the Summer!
 
BreezyPoint said:
By way of an update...I tried to un-stick (is that a word?) the float without any luck. I figured let me ask the in-house mechanic to take a look. I got a call 5 days later stating that I had "blown a head gasket" and that the entire engine needed to be rebuilt, to the tune of 5k. I had the boat towed to someone highly recommended and surprisingly enough he said "your gear lube oil sensor is stuck" he fixed it AND drove the boat back to my slip for me because I was at work. Big shout out to "Atlantic Service & Equipment" in Far Rockaway, if you ever need an honest boat mechanic he's your man...ask for Joe-Joe.
Click to expand...

That's quite the range of diagnosis from blown head gasket and total rebuild to gear lube sensor stuck. It takes a bit of work to difinatively diagnose a blown head gasket. Makes me wonder what steps the in-house guy took. I wouldn't go back to him though. Glad it was simple.
 
That's almost criminal to mistake a hung gear lube sensor for a blown head gasket -- the mechanic is either really incapable or really dishonest, either way he should not be working on boats.
 
Did I read that wrong? I thought Breezy DID have a blown head gasket and "Joe-Joe" ALSO fixed the stuck float, along with the head gasket?
 
Your in-house guy is incompetent and/or dishonest and most likely both. I would lodge a formal complaint with the marina manager. It may be that the in house is not a marina employee and the marina should know what happened. If they are marina employees the manager may want to know anyway. If they don't seem to care, that is an issue too.
 
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