How's this gear lube look

[JoLin]

What Bruce said. The trace amounts of water you see haven't hurt anything, but it'll get worse if you don't address it. I don't do a vacuum test. Just pressure. Your lube looks like what came out of my port-side drive the other day. I pressure tested it and saw a slight drop over the course of 1/2 hour. Made up some soapy water and sprayed around everywhere it could be losing pressure/letting in water. It was the seal on the dipstick tube (not all Alphas have it). $1.00 gasket. Last year it was the shift shaft bushing on the other drive. $25.00 part and less than an hour to fix. So, don't assume that your drive needs to be resealed. It's often something simple. Search the forums for how to make a pressure tester and test the drive.

As someone else said, replace the seals on the drain plug and vent plug every year.

My .02

 

[bruceb58]

This is my first year owning the boat so never replaced the gear lube yet. Those light spots in the 3rd picture aren't concerning?

Hard to tell from the picture. Can you take something with more light?

I would definitely do a vacuum test as well as a pressure test. There is a recent poster with a Volvo SX who did both tests and it passed the pressure and failed the vacuum test. His prop shaft was leaking under vacuum.

 

[R055]

Hard to tell from the picture. Can you take something with more light?

I would definitely do a vacuum test as well as a pressure test. There is a recent poster with a Volvo SX who did both tests and it passed the pressure and failed the vacuum test. His prop shaft was leaking under vacuum.

Alright I'll give the pressure test with soapy water a shot first just because it's easier. Thanks

 

[Watermann]

Pull the drive, if you're loosing oil, not seeing it appear anywhere and not gaining water in the drive then the oil may be in your bellows and you'll know for sure then which seal is bad. Personally speaking when one seal goes out it won't be long before the others follow so just do them all.

 

[SkiDad]

to me the oil look normal and looks like the Mercury High Performance stuff - i've used this a few times as well. the stuff actually resists water so keep using it. I made a pressure tester this year out of a pump and the fill hose, there is a youtube video on how to do it.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I'm interpreting the pictures as having a lot of water in it. Must be my eyes.

 

[RobertThoreson]

To me the oil looks just fine. If it's the end of your season and your worried about it, then reseal it and use it as a learning experience. Just did mine just bc my oil looked like peanut butter.

 

[JoLin]

I'm interpreting the pictures as having a lot of water in it. Must be my eyes.

There's definitely water in it. The third picture clearly shows gray 'swirls' in the black lube. That's water, but it isn't an extreme amount. A lot of water will make the lube look like a chocolate milkshake.

Agree with SkiDad- that's the Merc High Performance lube. Good stuff. Keep using it.

My .02

 

[Old Ironmaker]

To us that is far too much water. We would never let it go, changing seals sure costs less than a bottom end repair or replacement. Pay me now or pay me latter.

 

[JoLin]

A pressure test will show him what needs to be replaced, and IMO a full reseal isn't warranted until the test has been done. My drives will be 25 years old next spring. I have a ton of maintenance records from the original owner (I'm the second) and the drives have never been completely resealed. I have found and fixed two simple leaks on them without performing major surgery (see post #21).

My .02

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I'm not insinuating tearing it apart and preforming major surgery, just finding the leak and dealing with it before it does major damage.

 

[R055]

I'm not insinuating tearing it apart and preforming major surgery, just finding the leak and dealing with it before it does major damage.

This I'll do for sure, just not till spring. Already covered everything up till spring. And don't want to start messing with it now that the 7day forecast is all rain.

 

[Fun Times]

Does your stern drive drain and vent plugs have O-rings or gaskets on them?
Roughly how old was that drive oil?
Did the gear oil reservoir appear to have a white to almost silver look to it?
^, Besure to at the very least occasionally clean out the oil reservoir as it's known for the oil to become sludgy on the bottom of the reservoir causing a blockage.
Very fine shavings found on the magnetic drain plug isn't a real big concern as it's not unusual to see a fine buildup of fine shavings on the magnetic plug.
What year and model is the drive?

 

[JoLin]

I'm not insinuating tearing it apart and preforming major surgery, just finding the leak and dealing with it before it does major damage.

I misinterpreted your post(s), then. Agree 100% with the above.

 

[bruceb58]

I'm not insinuating tearing it apart and preforming major surgery, just finding the leak and dealing with it before it does major damage.

I thought you said in post #10 to pull the bottom end and change the seal. He isn't even close to having to do any of that. This is his first gear lube change. He doesn't even know if it's just the plug gaskets that were the issue at this point.

 

[R055]

Does your stern drive drain and vent plugs have O-rings or gaskets on them?
Roughly how old was that drive oil?
Did the gear oil reservoir appear to have a white to almost silver look to it?
^, Besure to at the very least occasionally clean out the oil reservoir as it's known for the oil to become sludgy on the bottom of the reservoir causing a blockage.
Very fine shavings found on the magnetic drain plug isn't a real big concern as it's not unusual to see a fine buildup of fine shavings on the magnetic plug.
What year and model is the drive?

2003 alpha one gen II, reservoir always looked the dark green color. I'll check to see if they have the gaskets on the plugs already forgot since the last time I checked.

 

[bruceb58]

I'll check to see if they have the gaskets on the plugs already forgot since the last time I checked.

And you need to replace them every time you change your gear oil. They are one time use only.

 

[KJM]

Pressure test and track down the leak, the white swirls in photo 3 definitely looks like water, but not a lot. I wouldn't change any seals until I knew where the leak is. That drive isn't very old and shouldn't need all the seals replaced. I always have some fine metal flecks in the oil when I drain it, I think that's normal wear. You can make a pressure tester out of a 12 volt tire inflater with a gauge on it and a tube from an oil filling pump. There are pictures here somewhere. Don't overinflate the drive and damage good seals. I had a leak worse then yours looks for a couple of years, finally found it to be around the shift shaft in the lower unit.