Gear lube in bilge

[eigcpa]

Went for a three hour ride, when I got back docked the gear lube reservoir was empty and gear oil was in the bilge. the reservoir was full when I left. The alarm did not sound and there was no indication of any problem, even in the way everything sounded. How bad is this going to be?

 

[Stray Cat]

Since you found gear lube in your bilge, I suspect you have a hose leak between the remote reservoir and the connection to the outdrive. Your drive didn't likely suffer any harm...it may have belched out a little gear lube from the pinched or ruptured hose. If your reservoir was empty, and you didn't get an alarm, your float may be stuck....now would be a good time to take the reservoir off and give it a good cleaning and check the float....often these reservoirs have a thick sludge in the bottom that collects on the stem the float rides on.

 

[Jimmy Buoy]

A previous boat of ours had this issue, but the alarm worked. The reservoir had a series of small cracks on the bottom probably due to the hose fitting being over tightened at some point. :smt013

Checked out the cost of a new reservoir and after that shock, decided to look for an alternative. Found a camping water jug about the same size for under 10 bucks, carefully drilled the appropriate sized hole in the bottom, got a couple of new rubber o-rings, reassembled and... ta-da!! As good as new!! Even looked like stock since it had measuring units printed on the side. I just made sure the manufacturer name, "Colman" was turned toward the transom!:thumbsup:

 

[Redhook98]

You could also have an air pocket in your outdrive trying to work its way out. I have had a similar issue ever since I replaced my fluid. If I fill it to the FULL mark, it will overflow the cap while underway. After I stop and take the drive out of gear, it will settle back to a point just below the FILL mark. After trying to burp it several times, I finally gave up and let it sit at the lower mark. It's not hurting anything, the gear fluid is clean and no water is present (tested that while out of the water last to. No water when I pulled th elower drain plug). A few "old timers" told me that some outdrives are stange like this and this seems like it is "normal" for mine. It works, leave it alone.

In saying all of this, check your level while your in gear and running at appx 3000 rpm or so. See if it is overflowing the cap. This is a cheap check before you start replacing reservoirs and lines.

 

[Uplate]

I have something that might be related.

this past weekend we spent th night on the hook and both times I was coming off plane I heard a solid alarm when coming off plane only and in the 3000 rpm range. No alarms when going up on plane or while crusining at 4000 RPM. alarm only happened for a short time while throttling down. After I got below about 2700 rpm alarm went off. It was only in a small RPM range when it went off. Never heard it before.

Did usual pre launch check of all fluids and all was full. Engines just serviced and outdrives less than a year since service.

Any ideas?

 

[GMAN1]

Check the obvious from the reservoir to the transom. If there are no leaks visible you may have a bad upper seal in the outdrive. It fills the bellows up with oil and leaks through the transom assembly/gimbal bearing. Only way to tell is the remove outdrive and check for fluid in bellows or do a vacuum/pressure check on outdrive.

 

[IronMan]

A previous boat of ours had this issue, but the alarm worked. The reservoir had a series of small cracks on the bottom probably due to the hose fitting being over tightened at some point. :smt013

Checked out the cost of a new reservoir and after that shock, decided to look for an alternative. Found a camping water jug about the same size for under 10 bucks, carefully drilled the appropriate sized hole in the bottom, got a couple of new rubber o-rings, reassembled and... ta-da!! As good as new!! Even looked like stock since it had measuring units printed on the side. I just made sure the manufacturer name, "Colman" was turned toward the transom!:thumbsup:

My round style reservoir has the same failure, a small crack from the hole in the center out toward the side. It leaks extremely slowly, and almost undetectably while not being used but leaks much more rapidly while running. I've decided to stick with genuine parts as I'm not sure that a bottle designed to hold water is a good replacement. The dealer advised me that the round bottle is no longer available and said I'd have to convert to the square bottle for about $200. He told me that Volvo uses an almost identical round reservoir and suggested that I could get it from the local Volvo dealer for about $80.

I found the square reservoir kit for about $80 online. It includes the mount, reservoir and sensor. See the Square bottle and mounting bracket kit here http://www.mercstuff.com/reservoir.htm [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] MerCruiser # 806193A48[/FONT]

Has anyone else done this conversion? Are these the only parts that I need? Any useful tips?

 

[IronMan]

I've compared these two diagrams and think that the kit mentioned in my last post will be all that is required to convert the round reservoir to the square.

 

[blumtnmn]

I have a 2007 aj270, last year returning to my lube alarms went off with fluid in the bildge. check all that i above water to no avail. When serviced out of water found a kink in line that ruptured, as it was run thru the housing properly, the outdrive trim up and down caused it. Could only fix out of water. Lucky the fluid is in the bilge and not in the water.

 

[IronMan]

Just a follow up. The reservoir kit arrived, it was exactly what I needed and was extremely easy to install. The only complaint that I have is that the bottle is still a two piece design that is welded together vertically, through the bottom. This time the weld does not pass through the sensor hole and the plastic is softer so it probably won't be as likely to fail the same way but I would have preferred a one piece design.