Outdrive gear oil

tango13

Seaman
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
71
Hey everyone,

I was just going through all my extra oil bottles in the garage and took a careful look at the bottle for the gear lube I put into my boat this fall. I bought this boat at the end of the summer and used it a couple times. It has a chevy 350/ MC-1 "250hp" outdrive that is in great shape.
Due to limited opportunity, I was forced to do a last minute gear lube change on my outdrive this fall. Unfortunately I rushed this job and grabbed the first bottle of outdrive gear oil at Bass Pro that I could find and did the oil change. Now that I'm looking at the bottle, I notice that there is no oil weight specification and it says "for outdrives and jetdrives under 25hp"... It is a quicksilver product so I assumed it would work.. Now I'm nervous that this oil is going to fail me next season.

Since it was just a cheap bottle of oil, should I re-do this in the spring with some quality oil? I'm a firm believer in spending the extra $$ for a quality, reliable product.. Unfortunately this service chore was rushed to avoid freezing water damage in the outdrive over winter. On a side note, the oil that came out was clean of any water/milky fluid, and the oiled appeared to be a dark blue/purple colour so I'm assuming it was some sort of aftermarket oil.

I guess what I'm wondering, what are some recommendations for quality gear lube?
 

thumpar

Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2007
Messages
6,138
I would spend the $15 to put the correct oil in it. You could probably get away with it but personally I wouldn't risk it over the small amount of money involved.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,468
Ayuh,..... I'm a firm believer in Syn-oils for our drives, like the Merc Hi-performance stuff,....

I use Mobil 1, 75W-90, or penzoil in the same weight,....
'bout the only difference is the lack of a color dye,...

Truth is, 'bout any quality hypoid gear oil is fine,...
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,802
Keep in mind you are not supposed to mix the Merc Premium gear lube and the Merc High Performance gear lube....

The High Performance gear lube (greenish blue stuff) is what you want
 
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