Alpha 1, Gen 2 oil questiona

[sledman11]

I sure hope some of the Alpha drive expects can help me out. I will try and give you as much info as possible. I removed an Alpha 1, 2nd generation lower unit off of a 03 Bayliner because it had oil in the gear oil. This boat has the lower unit remote oil reservoir in the engine compartment. I clamped off the hose from this reservoir to keep this oil from that remote container from draining out when I drained the lower unit oil. I drained the lower unit oil and removed the lower unit. I replaced the two seals on the propeller shaft, the seal on the shaft and drive shafts. Changed the water pump impeller and the carrier assembly under the water pump. Plus other misc. o rings including the one that seal the oil passage between the upper and lower halves. I pressure tested just the lower unit by plugging the passage way leading to the upper halve. I put the lower unit back on and pumped a pint of gear oil up from the bottom. This is when things went bad. I took the clamp off the hose leading from the remote reservoir. Very slowly the level in the reservoir dropped. At first I figured it was just filling up the hose and passageway to the lower unit. I would top off the reservoir and the level continued to drop. Even though I was not seeing any oil leak out anywhere I knew I was well past the point of simple filling in the oil from the reservoir to the lower unit. I let it sit for a day and the remote reservoir completely emptied out but I never saw any oil leaking from the outdrive. I pulled the lower unit off tonight. When I did there was oil dripping down from the upper half but I could not tell where it was coming from for sure. Maybe the shift shaft or the drive shaft. The oil was holding level in the remote reservoir just fine before I did this work. I did not touch the upper half.
Thanks ahead of time for any suggests on what I might of screwed up.

Don

 

[Bondo]

I sure hope some of the Alpha drive expects can help me out. I will try and give you as much info as possible. I removed an Alpha 1, 2nd generation lower unit off of a 03 Bayliner because it had oil in the gear oil. This boat has the lower unit remote oil reservoir in the engine compartment. I clamped off the hose from this reservoir to keep this oil from that remote container from draining out when I drained the lower unit oil. I drained the lower unit oil and removed the lower unit. I replaced the two seals on the propeller shaft, the seal on the shaft and drive shafts. Changed the water pump impeller and the carrier assembly under the water pump. Plus other misc. o rings including the one that seal the oil passage between the upper and lower halves. I pressure tested just the lower unit by plugging the passage way leading to the upper halve. I put the lower unit back on and pumped a pint of gear oil up from the bottom. This is when things went bad. I took the clamp off the hose leading from the remote reservoir. Very slowly the level in the reservoir dropped. At first I figured it was just filling up the hose and passageway to the lower unit. I would top off the reservoir and the level continued to drop. Even though I was not seeing any oil leak out anywhere I knew I was well past the point of simple filling in the oil from the reservoir to the lower unit. I let it sit for a day and the remote reservoir completely emptied out but I never saw any oil leaking from the outdrive. I pulled the lower unit off tonight. When I did there was oil dripping down from the upper half but I could not tell where it was coming from for sure. Maybe the shift shaft or the drive shaft. The oil was holding level in the remote reservoir just fine before I did this work. I did not touch the upper half.
Thanks ahead of time for any suggests on what I might of screwed up.

Don

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard, Don,..... The drive absolutely Has to be filled by pumpin' the oil in, from the bottom drain screw,.......
It takes alittle under 2 quarts to fill it from drained,....

Donno where ya went wrong, I'da drained the little tank too,....

'n ya keep sayin' ya pulled the Lower Unit,... Pull the Whole drive,....
Much easier to work on, 'n ya get to inspect the gimbal,...

 

[Bt Doctur]

1 Your doing it all wrong and you need the manual to do it right.
Just removing the lower will cause the oil in the upper to drip out . Did you replace the small O ring between the units?
Did you remove the top vent plug and then fill from the bottom plug until it came out the top vent plug?

 

[sledman11]

Thanks for the responses. I did replace the o ring that seals the oil passage between the upper and lower units. I did pump the oil in from the bottom but only put a quart in so there was no enough oil to fill it up to the vent hole. Thought that I could get away with letting the remote reservoir take care of the rest. Sounds like I simple did not put enough oil in from the bottom. I will re-install the lower unit and fill from the bottom until it comes out the vent hole then try and get the oil in the remote reservoir topped off. Hopefully the level in the remote reservoir will not continue to go down this time. Thanks again.

 

[Bt Doctur]

a GEN II outdrive needs the lower installed to prevent oil from running out of the upper unit.

 

[thumpar]

You need to fill from the bottom until the upper vent has lube. Then plug that and continue until you get lube into the monitor bottle. It sounds like you have an air pocket in the drive now.

 

[Fun Times]

Thought that I could get away with letting the remote reservoir take care of the rest. Then try and get the oil in the remote reservoir topped off. Hopefully the level in the remote reservoir will not continue to go down this time.

It's easier plus recommended that you completely drain the reservoir while draining the drive oil. Just remove the black cap and don't lose the black seal under the cap and be careful with not disturbing the orange rubber one way vent valve mounted on the cap as that could cause problems.

It's recommended to clean the reservoir every year or two do to oil sludge build up at the bottom of the reservoir clogging the oil hose fitting hole area.

Plus like Thumpar mentioned, once you've reached the top vent hole, it's best to keep filling from the bottom to fill the reservoir to help purge most of the air. Keep in mind that you may have to add a little more oil to the reservoir after about 10 hours of use but you can add oil directly to the reservoir inside the boat.

Again, you'll need two quarts of oil, one pint is not nearly enough to do the safely. Even by trying to save the oil in the reservoir.

Good luck.