2004 mercury 2 stroke 90 hp lower unit frozen?

[trihunter]

hey guys i got a prob i used my boat a few weeks ago got up the other morning to go to work and notice the prop was notup tight to the lower unit so i walked over to take a look and disaster the prop was about a inch from where it supposed to be i am guessing it got water behingd the prop and frooze but i have no idea never had this happen before i am going to attach a pic please help dont know if ihave to replace the hole lower unit or is it not that bad

 

[Texasmark]

Remove your drain screw on the LU and tell us what comes out.

 

[trihunter]

when i get home this afternoon ill take it out and let you know

 

[bruceb58]

You need to take your prop off and see what damage was caused in there. I take it you don't store in the down position?

 

[trihunter]

it is always stored in the down position it havent touchedtheboat since i noticed it the pic i attched shows it just like i noticed it cant get any father down unless i dig a hole in the ground and that would be crazy i have another boat right beside the one itook a picture ofhad no prob that is y i was assuming water got behind the propeller seals

 

[bruceb58]

There are no pics.

 

[trihunter]

trying with attachment once again

 

[trihunter]

see if the picture shows now it show both on my computer on original post and the attachment i just posted

 

[racerone]

Take it all apart and you MIGHT be able to save a few pieces.--It has had lots of water in it and froze solid.-----Might be best to start looking for a good used lower unit.

 

[bruceb58]

If you had it stored like that, not sure how you got enough water in it to cause an issue. Any way you can post a larger picture?

 

[Faztbullet]

Unit had water inside it where oil supposed to be take it apart and see if bearings rusted. If not you might get by just replacing carrier. If its to bad and you replace it make sure its from a 1998 and up motor due to clutch design....

 

[Texasmark]

Unit had water inside it where oil supposed to be take it apart and see if bearings rusted. If not you might get by just replacing carrier. If its to bad and you replace it make sure its from a 1998 and up motor due to clutch design....

Question for you. The picture is not very clear. The carrier housing is held in place with 2 screws/nuts/bolts. Assume we are seeing the whole carrier housing protruding about half an inch meaning that he didn't have any oil to drain out, milky or not when I asked the question. Assume the whole gearbox had to be full of water for that much expansion. No telling what his maintenance record is on that engine. Funny he didn't have problems before hand indicating that his box was full of water, not oil.

So, either he broke the housing or stripped out the retaining hardware. Any ideas as to which?

Just curious,
Mark

 

[trihunter]

ok guys my boat gets service once a year by a licensed mechanic it was service in july of last year we own 6 boats 2 pontoons and three jet skies ihave never notice any thing like this we own a small carlot that sales car trucks boats and motorcycles would like to start fixing my own stuff its alot less costly and i already knew it had to have gotten water in the lower unit it doesnttake a dumba** to figure that out i was asking for help to understand or knowledge from other on if i should or will have to replace the whole lower unit when i attempted to drain the oil this morning there wasnt anything in the foot not a drop i had no leaks that i had noticed before so i never thought to check i havent had any issues with the boat or motor so i had no reason to look for a prob i did take a closer picture of the lower unit

 

[Mohawkmtrs]

Is it my eyes or does the first picture show that a hose and earmuffs left on?

 

[trihunter]

no if u look that isthe pro that goes from the trailer to the foot when trailering to the lake when i park the boats i raise the motor take it off the trailer and let engine down leaving the support arm connected to the lower unit i dont have earmuffs for my boats we purchased a tank that we back the boats up and run them in it if we need to

 

[Texasmark]

Well this is reading like a suspense novel. I can see in this latest picture what I wanted to see with respect to the bearing carrier housing yielding to the expanding water in the LU. Sooooo couple of questions:

1. How did all the oil disappear from the LU without being noticed?
2. How did the LU get full of water that wouldn't have drained out if someone had left the drain plug out and forgot to fill with oil at the servicing dealership?

 

[trihunter]

i dont know where the oil went i check all of my boats for leaks never notice anything leaking out of the foot if i would have seen oil then it would have been checked i use thisboat usuaslly during the cold months so its killing me at the moment its there a gear chunk that u can buy like a car or do you have to take itall apart and rebiuld orwould it be cheaper to buy another lower unit