Oh no!!! Wrong grease?!?!?!?!

S

Sluggo33

New Member
Oct 5, 2008
37
Ohio
Boat Info
175 Sport 2008
Engines
135hp Merc
Okay, I'm not only freaking out here, but I'm pretty upset with myself as usually, I'm pretty meticulous with my service stuff on my vehicles.

So, recently I started hearing a very very slight (I'm the only one that hears it) "whine" when I run between 15-25mph. So I started poking around the engine and outdrive. Well to my surprise, I JUST NOW (100 hours on boat) noticed the zerks fitting on the right side of the outdrive against the wall. I'm assuming that's for the gimble bearing? So in a panic I went ahead and added grease to it and it probably took 15 pumps (can't be a good sign). Well to make things even worse, I've read that you should use a "special" grease on that? I just used the standard off the shelf grease that I've used all along on my bearing buddies.

I haven't had the boat out yet, but am supposed to go out this weekend, but now I'm in a panic wondering if I potentially screwed something up...UGH!!!!

Any advice?!?!?!?

:smt021
 
nah no reason to panic, I've used nothing but the same marine grease for my steering, outdrive, and trailer for years. at the end of the day grease is grease. it's like worrying about running 10w-30 over 5w-30...not a big deal. I typically grease all the fittings on the drive at the beginning of the season and usually put 50 hours on the boat...so 100hrs is past due sure but nothing to panic about. also keep in mind those fittings for the gimble never "fill" they just start to squeeze out so you could techinically pump a whole tube of grease in there...it'll just make a mess haha.
 
I don't agree. It has been said time after time here by qualified marine mechanics that the grease used on the Gimbal Bearing and U-Joints has to be the Merc Specific Grease due to teflon, non-teflon or something of that nature, I really don't remember but there have been plenty of threads about that here. I am sure it has been done before but I would not do it.

Here is a thread that shows the different types of grease to use. http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/1932-Grease-Paranoia!
 
Last edited:
The Mercruiser manual for the Alpha1 says 8-10 pumps of the $10/tube gimbal/ujoint grease. Are there any indicators to watch for to avoid overfill or running dry?
 
Shew, thanks everyone. Such a knuckle headed move on my part. I'll take it out this weekend and hopefully the noise is gone. I'll keep you guys posted. And thanks for the quick replies. I was in a 3-alarm panic.

LOL!

And, an answer to Kermit's question would be great!

Thanks again!
 
I always use a good marine grease that won't wash out with water. If you tear a bellows and the driveshaft floods, you will still get home with the bearing running in water. It's just a big ole wheel bearing that costs $80, Mike.
 
Someday Lady II said:
Some grease (any grease) is better than no grease.
Click to expand...

Bingo, don't fret, at least you greased it. If it really causes you angst, you can purchase the right stuff and pump it in. The old stuff will be displaced into the cavity in the U-joint bellows. When you have to replace that, then you can clean it all up. :smt001

Mercruiser wants you to purchase a dozen different kinds of greases it seems for each and every bearing, spline, and fitting.

Tom
 
So after greasing the fitting, I'm still getting the whining noise, and it appears to be getting worse. I really hate to take this to a dealer to diagnose. The whine seems to start around 20mph. Any suggestions on where I may start looking first?

As always, thanks again!
 
The gimbal bearing may be near it's end of life. It's a relatively easy thing to replace if you are mechanically inclined at all.
 
I'm usually really good with things mechanically, besides not greasing this. LOL! I work on my own vehicles usually (have replaced transmissions/clutches and such), but know my limits. From what I've heard, this really doesn't sound that difficult of a job, but, I'm not really sure what I should be looking for once I get the outdrive off. Will bearing damage be something easily noticed? Also, I've seen that you need a special tool to remove the bearing. Is that the case? I'm just trying to weigh all my expenses before I decide if I want to take it to a dealer or not.

Thanks again!
 
Sounds like your gimbal bearing is going south...

and about grease... its not all the same. For instance, if you mix red and green/blue grease on your trailer bearings, they are NOT compatible and will actually liquify and run out of the bearings... I have seen this many times with friends trailers. One just recently (two weeks ago). Newer gimbal bearings are permanently lubed too. You need to ask for the old style if you want to grease them yourself. And as posted, your owners manual states how many pumps of grease you need to add.
 
Since it's only got 100 hours, and since you panicked about the grease, I assume you haven't had it serviced? By now you need to have the drive pulled and alignment checked. If the motor is out of alignment you'll get some noise, then spin the coupler. :grin:

In the least, have the drive alignment checked. It's not unusual for them to be out of alignment before 100 hours, or have a motor mount lower nut vibrate loose and drop. It happened to mine by 90 hours.
 
Doug is absolutely correct on this one. The most common bases for the most easily available greases are either a lithium complex, or a calcium complex. This simply refers to the "soap" base that is used as a thickener. Grease with different base complexes are NOT compatible, and mixing two disparate bases can cause a catastrophic viscosity breakdown, rendering the grease ineffective. Mercruiser specifies a specific grease for the gimbal bearings and U-joints for a reason - that material has the correct characteristics of viscosity, thermal resistance, thixotropicity, lubricity, etc.
I am not saying the Earth will stop turning because you used the wrong grease - something is better than nothing. But, at the earliest opportunity, clean out the grease passages, and use the right grease. It sounds like you're going to replace the gimbal bearing anyway, so just make sure you get all the wrong grease out when you do it.

Dale
 
And the saga continues. Finally I gave in and took the boat to the dealer to diagnose the noise. Left the boat at the dealer and they called me a few days later. They said they ran a water test, and the noise I was hearing was considered "normal", and that all Alpha's do it. They did however suggest the "Outdrive Service" which I was going to go ahead and have them do simply because I'm not comfortable removing the outdrive myself. They said they could get to it in a few days which was no big deal because it's the end of the season anyways.

That said, we had a beautiful weekend this past weekend, so I picked the boat up from the dealer (they couldn't get to the service over the weekend anyways) so I could take it out and enjoy it since the dealer determined the noise was "normal". So I get out on the water and notice that the noise is now much more pronounced. So I dropped the boat back off at the dealer and called them to schedule a demo ride where I could ride with the mechanic and confirm that the noise I am hearing is actually okay.

So I get the mechanic on the water and bring the boat up to about 20mph where I'm hearing the noise, and within 20 seconds he's like, "Oh, I hear that, and that doesn't sound right. You said the noise was a whine, and to me it sounds more like a growl.". I found that humorous and we both kind of laughed it off. So he said it didn't sound like an outdrive issue, so maybe it was a motor issue. He popped the hatch and dug around in there while I maintained the 20mph. Within a few minutes he had it narrowed down to the power steering pump bracket.

When he pushed and put pressure on the bracket, the noise would go away. When he would let off the noise would return. He said it appeared that the bracket may be cracked. He said he'd have to get a better look at it back at the shop, then they'd let me know. They called back a few hours later and said that they did confirm that it was a bad bracket and that they could replace it. They had to special order the part from Merc and it's $110, with $210 for labor making a total of $320 for the part installed. Add that to the time they spent "diagnosing" it before and not finding anything, and I'm looking at almost $400.

I can't understand why a boat with only 120 hours on it, has a "bad" power steering pump bracket. Their explanation was that the nature of the inline 4 cylinder is that it vibrates very bad because unlike the v6 and v8 boats, the inline 4 doesn't have the benefit of the the pistons balancing. That I'll buy. But what I don't think is right is that I would think that if Merc knows there are vibration issues, why not produce parts that can handle the abuse? I'm not completely holding SeaRay (they don't make the motor), or my dealer (they are super nice and I feel upfront) accountable for this, but one would think that they would "go to bat" for the boat owner.

Am I just out of line in my thought process?
 
i feel your pain, but the truth is that things just fail sometimes and we may never know why....that is the reasoning behind warranties and insurance policies....sh!t just happens unexpectedly.....i am a lot like you in that when something has an obvious premature failure i would like to know what caused the failure and try to hold somebody accountable....if this were a case of improper engineering i am sure the forum would be full of post about failures of the bracket and hopefully Sea Ray or the engine manufacturer would have issued a recall by now....but it sounds like you were lucky enough (sarcasim) to fall victim to an isolated case of premature failure of the bracket....the metal in the bracket could have been defective....maybe the securing bolt was not tightened enough at the factory and allowed the bracket to suffer excessively from the vibration from the 4 cylinder....who knows...at least you found the problem and it is a relatively easy and inexpensive repair compared to a problem with the outdrive or the engine internals, but i know right now you probably think that is a small comfort...
 
For $210 i would change it myself!
 
Yea same here. Easy fix. However I get the impression the OP isn't comfortable with the mechanicals otherwise he'd probably have lifted the engine cover and diagnosed this himself!
 
It's not really a matter of comfort as I'm quite mechanical. I do all my maintenance and most repairs on all my vehicles. When I was younger, I ran SCCA and drag raced for years and did all the work on those vehicles then. I've done architecture, construction management, and been a contractor for the last 15 years. That said I'm not too worried about something as simple as replacing a power steering pump bracket. My assumption is (I'm waiting to hear back from the dealer) that the $210 labor will also include the second water test that I went with the mechanic on. So now were talking $100 to replace the bracket, and to me, that may not even be worth my time as an hour or two on a Saturday is worth more than $100 to me. I'll wait to see what the dealer says about the labor.

Originally, in my diagnosis (which was wrong) I thought it was an outdrive issue as it sounded like a bearing going bad. If you want to split hairs about it, the mechanic at the dealer TOTALLY missed the problem when he took it for a water test and told me there was nothing wrong. It took me going out on the water with the mechanic a second time to point out the issue to him. Had I been fortunate enough to be born with 2 heads with a 10' neck and 4 arms that were also 10', I probably could have diagnosed the actual problem myself by being able to drive the boat at 20mph AND dig around in the engine compartment at the same time. Unfortunately though, I wasn't born with those things so I chose to take it to a professional. Ironically, the mechanic thanked me for being there and said without a second person to help him, he would have never been able to diagnose the problem alone either, so now I guess I don't feel so stupid.

The reason I didn't originally take off the outdrive myself and try to diagnose it myself was because after researching what I would have to do, I came to the conclusion that for $120 I can have the dealer do the 100 hour outdrive maintenance. Considering the shaft alignment tool was going to cost me $80 alone, I figured it was smarter to just have the dealer to it. Especially because I thought there was an issue with it.

Ultimately this isn't a matter of money or comfort, but instead principle. As a contractor I back my work AND the products I choose to install 100%. If I do a kitchen remodel and in 3 years the faucet starts leaking because of what I feel is a flaw or a manufacturer defect, I remedy the situation (at my cost) and then if I so choose take it up with the manufacturer. That's called good customer service, and I guess that's why 100% of my work comes through nothing but referral as I haven't had to place an ad in over 10 years. This situation is even worse though as an item such as a power steering pump bracket should NEVER fail as it has NO moving or internal parts and a boat isn't used nearly as frequently as a faucet. It's just a piece of cast, and should (if designed, manufactured, and installed properly) should last forever.

I guess I just feel that the dealer should step up in this situation for the customer. I understand it's not SeaRay's fault, or even the dealers fault. In my opinion, the dealer should act as a representative for the customer and do all they can to rectify obvious quality issues like this one.

I guess I'll find out how they choose to handle it....
 
You may want to check out Mercruiser recall notices on our boat we had a bent sea water pump and alternator bracket on the 5.7l that had recall notices on them which caused some belt squeal even though the recall in our case was 10 years old the dealer paid for one bracket and I paid for the other. I will install them this winter when I rebuild the sea water pump. The brackets bent because of the pressure needed on the serpentine belt making the pulleys out of line causing the squeal. The new brackets design is totally different in the weak areas. I just ordered the one for the power steering pump also. Worth a try might get them to pay for everything.
 
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