Creamy gear oil. Now what?

[DevonS]

After my first fun-filled summer owning a boat, it's time to put her in the garage for the winter. I threw in some stabilizer, ran the engine for a while, then fogged it. So far so good. I pulled the lower plug to check the gear oil and looky looky... nice and creamy. Obviously had lots of water in there.

So, now what? I changed the gear oil, but is this just something I have to/can live with or is this a must-fix scenario?

 

[dehydrated]

Re: Creamy gear oil. Now what?

replace seals and gaskets oils cheap keep an eye on it

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Creamy gear oil. Now what?

Obviously you put new oil in it. Do you leave the engine in the water all summer? You either have to change the seals or I would consider changing the LU oil halfway through each season.

 

[DevonS]

Re: Creamy gear oil. Now what?

It's trailered all year except when it's in the water for the day. The exception would be a week or so when I go up North and leave it in a slip. How big a job is changing the seals? I'm guessing I'll have to drop the lower unit and dismantle it.

 

[kbait]

Re: Creamy gear oil. Now what?

Did you use new drain plug gaskets last time? They're supposed to be a one-use item.. especially if you go hercules on 'em to tighten. If you did use new, there's obviously water in there not from drain plug gaskets, so a re-seal would be good.
If you just used the old ones, I'd fill w/high-vis gear oil and use new washers and check it after next use.