Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

ebaztec · Oct 16, 2007

Greetings,
I personally own a '69 Silverline with an OMC outdrive-Buick V6. My brother-in-law has a 1985 sterling with a 140hp Mercruiser-hydraulic drive. He and I are relatively new boaters and I was trying to do him a favor by 'prepping' his boat for a day at the lake with both boats. In topping off fluids I foolishly assumed that his mercruiser I/O took gear oil when it is, in reality, a hydraulic drive. I topped-off the drive with hypoid oil (85-90w about 1 cup). The boat ran fine before that day without any issues. The day I put the gear oil in, it overheated. Does the hydraulic fluid somehow run the water pump impeller? If so, have I ruined it? Everything still appeaers to be operating. What should be my next step?

Chris1956 · Oct 16, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

I never heard of a "Hydraulic Drive" I/O Wasn't the Mercruiser of 1985 a pre-Alpha 1? When you topped off the gear oil, did you pump it into the outdrive via the lower screw or the upper screw?

Dakota47 · Oct 16, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

Check the impeller, thats why its overheating.. they are only good for 2-3 years. just drain & change the fluid, i dont think you hurt anything there.

Haut Medoc · Oct 16, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

Welcome to iboats......

Here is a link to manual #6, it will tell you all about it.....
The overheat was not caused by what you did....

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/mainmenu.pdf
Click on the lettered sections on page seven to view what you need.....

180shabah · Oct 16, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

So you topped it off with the wrong oil, so we are talking about 1-2oz. I wouldn't run like that long, but one day didn't hurt anything. Like the others have said, the overheat is totally unrelated.

So you are off the hook, and lesson learned

dcg9381 · Oct 17, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

One cup is 8oz.. Ahh the homemaker days.
I dunno if this would hurt either - as long as both liquids are petro based, I'd simply change the fluid and chalk it up to a lesson learned.

whywhyzed · Oct 17, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

ebaztec said:
I foolishly assumed that his mercruiser I/O took gear oil when it is, in reality, a hydraulic drive.

No it isn't - Mercruiser is gears, shafts and bearings same basic method of power-delivery as your OMC.
80W90 is the proper fluid for the Mercruiser outdrive.

Oddly enough though - it's the WRONG fluid for your OMC electric shift - in there you should be using OMC type C or OMC "Premium Blend". Give all your 80W90 to your brother.

Next step- as others have said - check the waterpump impeller in that Mercruiser drive.

BAYLINER185 · Oct 17, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

80w90 is not what is used in new MERCRUSER outdrives.

Unless Im wrong, the new drives that have the lube monitor on the engine use the blueish premium lube and Im not sure that it is 80w90.

I asked my marine dealer and he just said I need to use Premium gear lube which is what that blue lube is.

Also recomended by MERC is synthetic gear oil and thats what I plan on refilling my lower unit with next season.

wire2 · Oct 17, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

I'm under the impression that Mercruiser "High Performance" gear lube is 80w90 synthetic. I looked at the label just now and of course it doesn't say what it is. I expect Don or Haut will offer the facts sometime soon.

whywhyzed · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

BAYLINER185 said:
80w90 is not what is used in new MERCRUSER outdrives.

He said it was a 1985.
I love oil threads as much as the next guy, but....

Scaaty · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

"gear oil when it is, in reality, a hydraulic drive"

Asked and still waiting...just what the hell is a hydraulic drive...(50 years..still something new daily..)

whywhyzed · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

Scaaty said:
"gear oil when it is, in reality, a hydraulic drive"

Asked and still waiting...just what the hell is a hydraulic drive...(50 years..still something new daily..)

engine drives a hydraulic pump, pump drives a hydraulic motor through a control valve (or the pump may be a hydrostatic type pump with a reversing swashplate). Ultimately a hydraulic motor turns the propshaft.

Some large sailboats use a Sundstrand setup. Large commercial boats use them for bow thrusters and such mainly but sometimes for main propulsion.

Here's one in "leg" form - the blue thing behind the propshaft is a Linde hydraulic motor.

180shabah · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

BAYLINER185 said:
Unless Im wrong, the new drives that have the lube monitor on the engine use the blueish premium lube....

Careful here, Alpha GenII's and ALL Bravos use the High Performance gear lube, not the premium gear lube.

SeaKaye12 · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

So ebaztec ....Does your bro's '85 have something like what's pictured above posted by kjdkjd???

Really?

I've never seen anything like that! I'm so glad I read these forums! I learn so much. I sure realize how very very little I actually know...and I've been around boats since the 50's...

Chuck

BAYLINER185 · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

180shabah said:
Careful here, Alpha GenII's and ALL Bravos use the High Performance gear lube, not the premium gear lube.

Yes the late 80's stern drives did use 80W90 I know thats right.

The new drives as quoted above is what is used. Thats what I meant when I said Premium Gear lube. I thought Premium was better then High Performance? or maby I thought / thinking it was the same? Ok maby Im just confused? yea problably

I have to go look at the quart of QUICK SILVER lube I used to top of my lube monitor thats whats in the drive stock. I thought it said Premium on the bottle I may be wrong it may be high performance lol... But I will try to find some "high end" Synthetic gear lube and use that soon. Problably Quicksilver or Mercruser oil if I can find it.

Rusty Boater · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

So let me get this straight; in my 1999 bayliner with a merc 3.0/ Alpha i am not to use 80w90 gear oil. Will someone tell me what to use then? Thanks!

180shabah · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

Rusty Boater said:
So let me get this straight; in my 1999 bayliner with a merc 3.0/ Alpha i am not to use 80w90 gear oil. Will someone tell me what to use then? Thanks!

180shabah said:
Alpha GenII's and ALL Bravos use the High Performance gear lube

Mercruiser or Quicksilver? Don't matter, it's is the same stuff in different bottles. Bondo uses Mobil synthetic 75W90(If my memory is correct), but he is very proactive when ir comes to preventive maintenance. For the average user I would suggest the merc oil for the extra corrosion protection. It could buy you a little time if you get water in the drive and don't catch it right away.

MercMonster · Oct 18, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

merc oil for the extra corrosion protection

Are there really any studies/research to confirm the extra protection w/ the Merc oil versus others? I'd sure like to see them...just for the heck of it. The words Premium and High Performance alone just make me suspicious...

BAYLINER185 · Oct 19, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

The words Premium and High Performance alone just make me suspicious...
-------------------------------QUOTE----------------------------------

LOL yea I know what you mean...I think I paid like 14 bucks for a quart of Quicksilver High Performance gear lube . Im glad I only needed 2 Oz to top off my monitor bottle.

ebaztec · Oct 21, 2007

Re: Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

OK. Thanks for all the responses. I guess I'm totally unfamiliar with what I'm dealing with. I do know the hypoid I put in smells entirely different from what was in there. And, my only indicator was that the previous trip to the lake was great and my very next trip resulted in overheating. Plus I had just put a new upper unit on my OMC (which is an electric shift BTW), and I refilled it with gear oil. I of course assumed that this would work in his drive. We only just took off from the dock in the sterling and it just kept warming up until it was starting to smoke. So was it only a coincidence that it overheated after this mistake?

Did I ruin my Bro's I/O.....

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