white gook in the corner of my drive oil reservoir

I bought my boat 96 sea ray 190br, 4.3 alpha two years ago. At the end of the summer i did a bellows replacement and I drained my outdrive. I noticed there was a dime sized spot of white goo in the corner of my remote resevoir. I cleaned out and i drained my drive oil into a clear glass jar, i didnt see any water in it. This past winter i again noticed this dime sized goo was back in the lower corner again. I drained my oil into the same glass jar, again no water. What is this, and is my outdrive safe?

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Just moisture, very typical. Those reservoirs should really be removed and cleaned each time the gear lube is replaced.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Don S said:

Just moisture, very typical. Those reservoirs should really be removed and cleaned each time the gear lube is replaced.

Click to expand...

Read and commit this statement to memory!

Those drive reservoirs will "sludge up" and get plugged if you leave the oil in them too long. You could have a leak in the drive and the bottle would never drain into it, and your drive would be ruined, all while you're looking at a nice full reservoir bottle.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Just pull it off and clean it out with mean green and wipe the inside with a screw driver and small rag while full of cleaner then rinse. You must clean it when you change fluids as said.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

thanks for the comments, I will sleep better tonight! I do clean it everytime I change the fluid because everything on my boat scares the crap out of me. Im always convinced something is wrong. Even when im driving Im constantly looking in the ski locker for water and turning the bilge pump on just to check!

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

I just bought a boat with a 1996 Merc 5.7 EX and Bravo III

The prebuy included removing the drive, visual inspection and draining and checking the drive fluid. All checked out but the drive oil was probably changed out when the boat was winterized in the fall. The drive was not pressure checked. I noticed water in drive resevoir yesterday while working on the boat. I have not run the boat yet. There is about a 1/2 inch of milky water on the bottom of the resevior. That seems like a lot of water to be the result of accumulated moisture. If the drive had a leak would the water work its way up to the resevior?

Henry


This seems like a lot from just moisture. If there was water in the drive would

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Re: white gook in the corner of my drive oil resevoir.

Welcome to iboats Henry.
Please don't hijack some elses thread with your questions.
Just start a new thread of your own. There is a "Post New Thread" button at the top of the forum.